Introduction
As Miller (2001, p.1) argues, involving employees in the decision making process is one of the primary methods of motivating employees as it will encourage active participation and dedication to duties.
In any organization setting, the level of motivation in employees is one of the primarily determinants of an organization’s level of success, because the business and financial position of a business is primarily dependent on the amount of work output from employees.
In addition, encouraging active participation of employees in the decision making process is a show of how much an organization is committed to the welfare of its employees.
On the other hand, because in a cohort of workers each employee has different talents, involving them in the decision making process will encourage formulation of better and innovative ideas that may help to improve an organization’s level of work output.
Although this can be a daunting task to manage, because of differences that may exist between employees; hence, each may want something else for an organization; collaborative decision making is something that is possible if it is well planned and implemented.
Therefore, involving employees in the decision making process is not only management philosophy, but also it is a leadership principle that is meant to help an organization to achieve its strategic goals and maximize its employees’ potentials.
Benefits of Participative Decision Making
One primary benefit of encouraging employees to participate in the decision making process is that, this management orientation can help to expand the level of success of an entity. Since in an organization every employee is talented differently, active involvement of employees will help to shape a team’s decisions and encourage the formulation and implementation of more innovative ideas.
In addition, because collaborative participation encourages the sharing of ideas, collective bargaining, and collaborative problem solving, most employees will always be passionate about implementing any agreed upon idea. This in turn will promote the level of success of any agreed upon idea, as every employee will be motivated towards achieving it.
Although it is very hard to have a consensus in most working scenarios, because of the numerous differences that may exist between employees, adoption of good managerial policies is the only solution needed for these like cases (Mir, 2010, p.1).
Another advantage of involving employees in the decision making process is that, not only does this management orientation create a positive energy in an organization, but it also motivates employees. The level of motivation in employees is one of the primary determinants of an organization’s level of success.
Encouraging collaborative decision making is a way of showing that an organization is concerned with its employees’ affairs, as they are the primary assets of an organization. In addition, this management philosophy is very important for an organization in scenarios where problems arise in the implementation process, as it will limit conflicts between employers and employees or between employees and management teams.
This like a scenario results primarily because; no employees can revolt against ideas they helped to formulate and implement (Dolatabadi & Safa, 2010, pp. 33-35)
On the other hand, encouraging employees to participate in the decision making process can help a manager to employees with the right leadership and managerial qualities, which an organization may require. This like a scenario arises, because any participative decision making process is a teamwork endeavor where employees are encouraged to give their best suggestion n any arising matter.
Further, because under participative decision making every employee is required to make decisions while avoiding the tried-and-true decisions that they might have made previously, this orientation will help an organization to achieve not only its corporate targets, but also promote the development of leadership qualities in employees.
Therefore, because this management method encourages the development of employees with desired work qualities, likelihoods of any organization that has adopted this leadership and managerial orientation failing are low (Lunney, 2001, p. 1).
Conclusion
In conclusion, because involving employees in the decision making process promotes the level of cooperation and communication between all organs of an organization and gives employees a chance of having control over their responsibilities, this is one of the best management orientations if well implemented.
To make sure that this method works, it is important for managers to take the frontline in guiding and controlling their employees’ activities in the desired way.
Reference List
Dolatabadi, H. R., & Safa, M. (2001). The effect of directive and participative leadership Style on employee’s commitment to service quality. International Bulletin Of Business Administration, 9. Web.
Lunney, K. (2001). Managers should involve employees in the decision making process. Govexec. Web.
Miller, D., & Lee, J. (2006). The people make the process commitment: commitment to employees, decision making, and performance. Journal of Management, 27(2) 163-189.
Mir, A. J. (2010). Involving employees. Web.