Participatory management: Some thoughts

Hy Resnick

Human Service managers working in child care agencies often make use of input from service delivery staff to make or modify decisions on agency policy, client behavioral management and organizational procedures. This form of leadership, called participatory management (PM), is well known and successfully employed in many non profit and profit making organizations.

I thought it might be useful to our readers who are often at the receiving end of various management models including PM to look at a definition of PM, learn some of its advantages, and see how it is typically used in agencies (and also how it unfortunately is misused).

First – what is PM?
It is a method of operating and managing an organization to enable employees not only to implement management decisions but also influence them – sometimes substantially. Although some managers limit participation to employees implementing management initiatives and decisions (the traditional role of employees) others involve employees more fully. These managers not only seek out staff ideas about the utility, feasibilities and implications of their decisions. Some managers, mostly in the profit-making world, give real decision making power to the lower echelon employees, including the hiring and firing of new or non-productive workers, slowing down or stopping production lines (in the manufacturing industry) and even recommending basic organizational changes to top management when they sit on Boards of Directors.

What are some benefits of PM?
Participatory management in our field can lead to the empowerment of lower and middle echelon workers, and by extension it can improve staff motivation, commitment to (and identification with) the agency, leading ultimately to better service for children in care.

Another obvious benefit is the potential to improve the quality of decisions. The staff often know better than managers the day-to-day reality of delivering services to troubled kids, and if they are asked about a management idea they can help fine tune it “or even indicate its limitations.

A further payoff of PM is its potential to help managers to better understand the culture of the work force ,which can also lead to better decisions.

Arguably most important, PM as a management approach, creates conditions which help workers feel like adults who are trusted and respected, and who are wanting to help improve the organization – an important component needed to enhance the performance and morale of staff.

How is PM used?
PM is “done” in a number of ways in organizations throughout the country – and indeed the world. For some managers PM means semi-autonomous work teams where staff members meet regularly with members of their teams (with or without supervisors present) to make significant decisions about their work as a team. These teams may report their decisions as recommendations to mid- or upper-management, but may also be given authority to make and implement those decisions.

Another and quite different mode of PM is when worker representatives sit in on Board meetings as voting members. (This is sometimes seen in France and Germany). A different model of PM is seen when workers/staff actually own the organization and make decisions collectively (some interesting examples occur in Spain and in different parts of the states).

One downside of PM
Sometimes PM is used in a way to make staff feel that their input on some policy or child management approach is sought – but not used. This form of PM is what social scientists have labelled “pseudo participation” . Workers in child care agencies complain frequently about this method and recognize it for what it is, namely a phoney attempt to get them to accept a management’s top-down decision disguised as a participative decision. The misuse of this management model is quite destructive and builds distrust amongst the staff towards management.

More on this and other aspects of PM in my next months column.