4. Employee participation in organizational decision.

Employee participation is the process whereby employees are involved in decision making
processes, rather than simply acting on orders. Employee participation is part of a process of
empowerment in the workplace. Empowerment involves decentralizing power within the
organization to individual decision makers further down the line. Team working is a key part of
the empowerment process. Team members are encouraged to make decisions for themselves in
line with guidelines and frameworks established in self managing teams.
Employee participation is in part a response to the quality movement within organizations.
Individual employees are encouraged to take responsibility for quality in terms of carrying out
activities, which meet the requirements of their customers. The internal customer is someone
within the organization that receives the 'product of service' provided by their 'supplier' within
the organization. External customers are buyers and users outside of the organization. Employee
participation is also part of the move towards human resource development in modern
organizations. Employees are trusted to make decisions for themselves and the organization. This
is a key motivational tool. Employee participation is also referred to as employee involvement
Examples of employee participation include:
i. Project teams or quality circles in which employees work on projects or tasks with
considerable responsibility being delegated to the team.
ii. Suggestion schemes - where employees are given channels whereby they can suggest new
ideas to managers within the organization. Often they will receive rewards for making
appropriate suggestions.
iii. Consultation exercises and meetings whereby employees are encouraged to share ideas.
iv. Delegation of responsibility within the organization. In modern organizations ground level
employees have to be given considerable responsibility because they are dealing with customers
on a day-to-day basis often in novel situations. Such employees need to be trusted to make
decisions for themselves.
v. Multi-channel decision making processes. In such situations decisions are not only made in a
downward direction, they also result from communications.

An interview conducted by Balakrishnan Parasuraman, Badariah Ab Rahmanand Balan
Rathakrishnan in their study entitled "employee participation in the public sector in Malaysia :
General view" stated a Senior Government Official quoted that government servant participation
in decision making as We as the public service servants we have to follow the directive from the
government. All the activities planned are to achieve the goals and objectives set by the
government. The same view was shared by the employer of a public service department
whereby direct participation refers to activity planned by the management to encourage
employee participation. As a public servant, employees are expected to follow the instructions.

Therefore, as a public government organization, Koporasi Pembangunan Desa (KPD) have to
follow the directive from the state government. All the activities planned is to achieve the goals
and objectives set by the state government. Employees need to refers to activity planned by the
management to encourage employee participation. As a public servants, non-management are
expected to follow the instructions that known as a programmed decision. programmed decision
are repetitive and well defined, and procedures exist for resolving the problem. They are well
structured because criteria of performance are normally clear good information is available about
current performance, alternatives are easily specified, and there is relative certainty that the
chosen alternative will be successful.
For example, in KPD's client charter, stated there that KPS is committed to provide quality,
consistent, competitive and reliable products to meet customer satisfaction. Efficiency,
effectiveness, compliance with regulations and continuous quality improvement are the core
services in KPD. Therefore, to achieve this, KPD clearly list down a guideline that must be
follow by its non-management employees as follow

I. To response to customers complaints within seven (7) working days, and where
appropriate, a complain will be settled within 30 days from the date of receipt of the said
complaints;
II. Provide resource requirements for service delivery/quality products immediately or
within 30 days from the date of approval of the application (except for the supply of labor
and physical capital equipment);
III. Make payment of bills, proceeds of sale of project participants immediately or within 30
days from the date the bill is received, or after the revenues have been collected (except
payments to be made prior to the BTS before 21st of the following month, and before the
10th of the following month for payment of mushrooms sales);
IV. Ensure that the products are in accordance with the minimum requirements of industry
standards and/or according to customer requirements; and
V. Ensure that 50% of KPD employees receive training of at least 3 MANDAYS in a year.

In summary of the above views, the non-management employees in the public sectors are
expected to follow instructions and directive from the government. There are many programs
drawn with the objective to improve the service delivery systems and productivity. This is to
ensure that the goals and objectives of each ministry, department, and agencies are achieved.
And to make sure that employees perform, there are criterias or KPIs being formalized for
employee at every level must achieved. In relation to this, the employer was in the view that;
the struggle of the private sector is very different from the public sector. Private sector
emphasizes on productivity and profitability. Those in the public sector, their focus is more on
productivity and quality of their delivery system. They are service oriented organization.