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Both parties should have a genuine faith in the system and in each other and be willing to
work together. The management must give the participating institution its right place in
the managerial organization of the undertaking and implementing the policies of the
undertaking. The labor, on the other hand, must also whole heartedly co-operate with the
management through its trade unions. The foremen and supervisory cadre must also lend
their full support so that the accepted policies could be implemented without any
resentment on either side.
Participation should be real. The issues related to increase in production and productivity,
evaluation of costs, development of personnel, and expansion of markets should also be
brought under the jurisdiction of the participating bodies. These bodies should meet
frequently and their decisions should be timely implemented and strictly adhered to.
Further,
o Participation must work as complementary body to help collective bargaining, which
creates conditions of work and also creates legal relations.
o There should be a strong trade union, which has learnt the virtues of unit and selfreliance so that they may effectively take part in collective bargaining or
participation.
o A peaceful atmosphere should be there wherein there are no strikes and lock-outs, for
their presence ruins the employees, harms the interest of the society, and puts the
employees to financial losses.
o Authority should be centralized through democratic management process. The
participation should be at the two or at the most three levels.
o Programs for training and education should be developed comprehensively. For this
purpose, Labor is to be given education not to the head alone, not to the heart alone,
not to the hands alone, but it is dedicated to the three; to make the workers think, feel
and act. Labor is to be educated to enable him to think clearly, rationally and
logically; to enable him to feel deeply and emotionally; and to enable him to act in a
responsible way.
Conclusion:
Management should be prepared to give all information connected with the working of the
industry and labor should handle that information with full confidence and responsibility. The
workers should become aware of their responsibilities. The leaders should initiate this in them.
Similarly, the top management should make the lower echelons to show a new attitude in the
light of the new relationship.
(I) (iv) Scope and ways of participation (Forms):
One view is that workers or the trade unions should, as equal partners, sit with the management
and make joint managerial decisions.
The other view is that workers should only be given an opportunity, through their
representatives, to influence managerial decisions at various levels.
In practice, the participation of workers can take place by one or all the methods listed below:
1. Board level participation
2. Ownership participation
3. Complete control
4. Staff or work councils
5. Joint councils and committees
6. Collective Bargaining
7. Job enlargement and enrichment
8. Suggestion schemes
9. Quality circles
both the parties together and develops appropriate mutual understanding and brings about a
mature responsible relationship.
7. Participation through Job Enlargement and Job Enrichment:
Excessive job specialization that is seen as a by-product of mass production in industries, leads
to boredom and associated problems in employees.
Two methods of job designing job enlargement and job enrichment are seen as methods of
addressing the problems.
Job enlargement means expanding the job content adding task elements horizontally.
Job enrichment means adding `motivators to the job to make it more rewarding. This is
WPM in that it offers freedom and scope to the workers to use their judgment. But this
form of participation is very basic as it provides only limited freedom to a worker
concerning the method of performing his/her job.
The worker has no say in other vital issues of concern to him issues such as job and
income security, welfare schemes and other policy decisions.
8. Participation through Suggestion Schemes:
Employees views are invited and reward is given for the best suggestion. With this scheme, the
employees interest in the problems of the organization is aroused and maintained. Progressive
managements increasingly use the suggestion schemes. Suggestions can come from various
levels. The ideas could range from changes in inspection procedures to design changes, process
simplification, paper-work reduction and the like. Out of various suggestions, those accepted
could provide marginal to substantial benefits to the company. The rewards given to the
employees are in line with the benefits derived from the suggestions.
9. Participation through Quality Circles:
Concept originated in Japan in the early 1960s and has now spread all over the world. A QC
consists of seven to ten people from the same work area who meet regularly to define, analyze,
and solve quality and related problems in their area. These circles require a lot of time and
commitment on the part of members for regular meetings, analysis, brainstorming, etc. Most
QCs have a definite life cycle one to three years. Few circles survive beyond this limit either
because they loose steam or they face simple problems. QCs can be an excellent bridge between
participative and non-participative approaches. For QCs to succeed in the long run, the
management needs to show its commitment by implementing some of the suggestions of the
groups and providing feedback on the disposition of all suggestions.
Training in problem-solving techniques is provided to the members. QCs are said to provide
quick, concrete, and impressive results when correctly implemented.
Advantages:
Employees become involved in decision-making, acquire communication and analytical
skills and improve efficiency of the work place.
Organization gets to enjoy higher savings-to-cost ratios.
Traditional Organization
Layered, individual
Narrow, single task
Direct, control
Top-down
Controlled, limited
Individual, seniority based
Managers plan, control,
improve
Empowered Teams
Flat, team
Whole process, multiple tasks
Coach, facilitate
Shared with the team
Open, shared
Team-based, skill-based
Teams plan, control, and
improve
Titan, Reliance, ABB, GE Plastics (India), Wipro Corporation and Wipro InfoTech are
empowering employees both frontline as well as production staff, and are enjoying positive
results.
11. Total Quality Management:
TQM refers to the deep commitment, almost obsession, of an organization to quality.
Every step in companys processes is subjected to intense and regular scrutiny for ways to
improve it.
Some traditional beliefs are discarded.
High quality costs more.
Quality can be improved by inspection.
Defects cannot be completely eliminated.
Quality in the job of the QC personnel.
New principles of TQM are:
Meet the customers requirement on time, the first time, and 100% of the time.
Strive to do error-free work.
Manage by prevention, not correction.
Measure the cost of quality.
TQM is called participative because it is a formal programme involving every employee
in the organization; making each one responsible for improving quality everyday.
Limitations of participation:
Technology and organizations today are so complex that specialized work-roles are required.
This means employees will not be able to participate effectively in matters beyond their
particular environment. Everybody need not want participation.
The role of trade unions in promoting participative management has been far from
satisfactory.
Employers are unwilling to share power with the workers representatives. Managers
consider participative management a fraud.
For the successful initiation and functioning of the institutions of workers participation in
management, serious attention has to be given to the removal of the hurdles (as above). Efforts
should be made to stir up the management and workers at the local or enterprise level to
understand the schemes and to derive concrete benefits from them.
The government efforts should be confined to giving guidelines and to remove the impediments
in the way, for example, reducing trade union rivalry by amending trade union laws, regulating
procedural aspects of collective bargaining, expanding workers education programme and
evolving a system of sharing the fruits of participation.
(I) (vii) Evolution of participative management in India:
The beginning towards WPM was made with the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, which made
Works Committees mandatory in industrial establishments employing 100 or more workers. The
Industrial Policy Resolution adopted by the government in 1956 stated that there should be some
joint consultation to ensure industrial peace, and improve employer-employee relations. The
functions of both these joint bodies were to be consultative and were not binding on the
management. The response to these schemes was encouraging to begin with, but gradually
waned.
A study team was appointed in 1962 to report on the working of joint councils and
committees. The team identified some reasons for their failure.
o No concrete steps were taken to remove the difficulties, or change the pattern of
participative management.
During the emergency of 1975-77, the interest in these schemes was revived by the then
Prime Minister by including Workers Participation in industry in the governments 20point programme (refer for detail Page 246 of Industrial Relations, Trade Unions and
Labour Legislation by P.R.N.Sinha, Indubala Sinha, Seema Priyadarshini Shekhar).
The government started persuading large enterprises to set up joint consultative
committees and councils at different levels.
The Janata Government who came to power in 1977 carried on this initiative. It was
again emphasized by the Congress government who came back in 1979. This continued
in a non-statutory vein till the late 1980s, and the response from the employers and
employees stayed Luke-warm. Then, the 42nd Amendment to the Constitution was made.
Now, Article 43-A reads: The State shall take steps, by suitable legislation, or in any
other way, to secure the participation of workers in the management of undertakings,
establishments or other organizations engaged in any industry. Thus, participative
management is a constitutional commitment in India.
And then, on May 30, 1990, the government introduced the Participation of Workers in
Management Bill in the Rajya Sabha.
o The bill requires every industrial enterprise to constitute one or more `Shop-Floor
Councils at the shop floor level, and `Establishment Council at the establishment
level. These councils will have equal representation of employers and employees.
Shop-Floor councils enjoy powers over a wide range of functions from production,
wastage control to safety hazards. The Establishment Council enjoys similar powers.
The bill provides for the constitution of a Board of Management of every corporate
body owning an industrial establishment.
o The bill also provides for penalties on individuals who contravene any provision of
the bill.
In spite of all these efforts, only the government and the academicians have been interested in
participative management. But participative management is staging a comeback. The
compulsions of emerging competitive environment have made employee involvement more
relevant than ever before. Managers and the managed are forced to forget their known stands,
break barriers, and work in unison. Managers and workers are partners in the progress of
business.