Participation by Subordinates in the Managerial Decision-Making Process

Abstract

The role of “participation” by individuals or groups in American culture in general and in industrial organizations specifically has been treated by many writers. Its implications for political theory as well as for a theory of human relations in formal organizations are numerous. However, in spite of this academic and extra-academic interest, a clear-cut, operational definition of the concept, or a precise set of hypotheses regarding its dynamics, has not been developed. While to do so will be the object of this paper, the treatment will not be completely operational. The development of appropriate methods of measurement is conceived as a next step that should follow the preliminary one of conceptual clarification undertaken in this paper. A review of the literature indicates that three major approaches have been taken in dealing with “participation”: (1) The Experiential Approach. This approach is exemplified by writers who in the course of their experience in enterprise work have obtained a “feel” for the role of participation in the decision-making process and have put down their experiences in article or book form. Writings such as these provide a set of insights and hunches whose verification in any systematic fashion has not been attempted. The actual referants from which these formulations are derived often are single sets of observations in a single or in a few enterprises—observations generally made in an uncontrolled fashion.

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