ASSESSING EMPLOYEE PARTICIPATIVE DECISION MAKING AND

PERFORMANCE IN GHANAIAN PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS

RESEARCH PROPOSAL
TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION

This proposal presents a blueprint for a study on assessing employee participative decision making

and performance in Ghanaian public institutions. The proposal provides an overview of the

background of the study and the identification of problem as well as the literature that will be

reviewed in the study. The final section of the proposal explains the anticipated research method.

Background of the Study

The success of any organization depends on the human resource. An organisation may have the

non-human resources but still requires its excellent management in the form of effective human

resource. Human resource is therefore the most important resource an organization can have.

Considering the fact that human resource is a determinant of the success of on organisation, there

is need to adopt an effective human resource management style like the participative style.

The use of a participative management style has been suggested by many human resource

practitioners as an ideal means of ensuring growth and productivity in the work place. Participative

management styles usually pertain to the presence of an interactive workspace where the opinions

of the staff are considered. This includes information sharing and involvement in decision making.

Brown and Cregan (2008) in their studies suggest that, an active orientation toward involvement

plays an important role in organisational change. They thus suggest that HR practitioners should

adopt a participatory style of management especially in those workplaces where employees are

more likely to embrace the opportunities for involvement.

An active and valuable human resources management and methods for enhancing asset efficiency,

engagement and transparency were one of the major challenges in organizations. The focus of

organisational research has been participatory management as human resources are considered a

human asset. Previously, for many firms, decision making is up to the ultimate heads of the
organisations. However, in today’s organisations, employees have been afforded the opportunity

to make suggestions and recommendations required to move the organisation closer to meeting its

goals.

Studies have however, noted that employee involvement in decision making can positively or

negatively affect performance. For instance Kuye and Sulaimon (2011) observed that businesses

that promote employee involvement in decision-making perform higher than their competitors.

They also find that workplace engagement in decision-making increases the willingness of workers

to enhance organizational productivity. Williamson (2008) also acknowledges that engaging

workers in decision-making helps staff to build the necessary skills and technical know-how to

achieve high efficiency. It also leads to improving corporate ethics, loyalty and ingenuity,

engagement and job happiness. Kuye and Sulaimon (2011) note, however, that when choices are

complex and difficult to interpret, mission autonomy is very low, and institutional progress is large

the participative approach to decision-making is unacceptable.

Whereas HRM management styles have been variously adopted in the private sector, the public

sector remains titled towards a bureaucratic structure which does not promote participation (Voon,

Lo, Ngui & Ayob, 2011). Berman et al. (2019) indicate that effective human capital strategies to

improve performance and accountability are one of the major public management challenges.

Developing participative decision making within the public sector is expected to be productive in

developing countries (Voon et al., 2011). This is supported by evidence from developed countries

where progressive management styles have ensured public sector performance.

Considering the suggestions that the development of developing economies is partly down to the

effectiveness of their public sector, it can be suggested that the improvement of human resource

effectiveness in Ghana’s public sector is key in the push to development. This, there is reason to
identify how participative management in the form of employee decision making can improve

performance.

Problem Statement

Employee involvement in decision-making is a special form of delegation that empowers

employees to make decisions and choices to fill the current communication gap between

management and employees. It is a degree of autonomy in which employees participate in

organizational activities, such as planning, which promote organizational commitment and

productivity among other things. It is linked to the decision making process.

The Ghanaian public sector continues to expand in terms of its service provision to the Ghanaian

public and in response to growing demand for effectiveness across all organisations. However,

general consensus held on the public sector is tilted towards the consideration of the sector as

bureaucratic organisation, run solely by the decisions of management, who are often under political

influence (Asamoah, Osei-Kojo & Yeboah-Assiamah, 2013). Thus, there is reason to believe that,

the public sector is biased and poorly managed, in terms of employee involvement in decision

making.

The debate continues to exist on how employees can improve participation and how employee

participation is most likely to improve performance. Studies on employee decision making in

Ghana, have focused mostly on community banks (Abdulai & Shafiwu, 2014), commercial banks

(Quagraine, 2010), and organisations that are not specifically public (Akuoko, Dwumah &

Ansong, 2012). Thus, there is a significant gap in studies on employee decision making in the

Ghanaian public sector.

This study thus first asks the question of how employees in Ghana’s public sector are involved in

decision making and second, embodies the task of filling the gap of studies.

Research Objective

The specific objective of the study is to assess employee participative decision making and

performance in Ghanaian public institutions. The objective will be met in these three sub-

objectives:

a. Explore the degree of employee involvement in decision making in the Ghanaian public

sector

b. Establish the impact of employee involvement on employee engagement and motivation.

c. Identify the effect of employee involvement on employee performance and departmental

performance in the public sector.

Significance of the study

The study will be relevant in the sense that, studies on employee decision making in Ghana, have

not covered public sector organisations, leaving a gap in knowledge. Therefore, it is expected that

this study will increase knowledge and provide up-to-date information on employee decision

making and performance of employees in public sector organisations in general. The findings can

be viable contribution to the success and sustainability of public organisations and provide useful

ideas to better enhance information service delivery at the district, regional, national and even

international public sector organisations.

Again the outcomes this research would enable HR managers in both the public and private sector

to identify the best means to involve personnel in management decision making. In addition, the
study will inform public sector policy makers on the need to have a participative workforce and

help in formulating related polices.

Finally, the study will be of assistance to lecturers, scholars, researchers and students on future

studies on employee decision making.

Scope of the study

The study will focus on employee decision making and employee performance in the public sector.

These pertain to public sector organisations in the country and their employees. The scope of public

sector is broad, covering international, continental, national, regional and

metropolitan/municipal/district levels. In view of this, the study was confined to public sector

organisations in Ghana with specific reference to those in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana.

There are many public sector organisations spread across the country, the study will therefore

focus on those organisations in Accra, where majority of the public sector organisations are

headquartered.

LITERATURE REVIEW

The study will review past studies on employee decision making and theories that provide a base

for employee involvement in decision making, and its impact on service.

Theoretical Review

There various theories that explain employee involvement. These theories include the theories of

human capital and the goal setting theory.

The human capital theory proposes that employees with higher skill levels receive higher

compensation because they are more productive (Blair, 2011). For this reason, employee

involvement is considered by employees as a form of improving their worth within the

organisation. Employee involvement may require thus workers with more general skills to perform

more complex tasks, which might result in more rigorous selection and hiring criteria and increase

the demand for and wages of more educated workers (Blair, 2011). New practices may also require

more firm-specific skills, which would increase employer-provided training and wages as well.

Thus, employee involvement in decision making sits in the practice of human capital development.

The Goal-Setting theory states that individuals are motivated to work towards attainment of

predetermined goals or objectives they set for themselves or they are part of (Lunenburg, 2011).

By being part of the whole process, people understand what are involved and strive towards

accomplishing the goals. The theory is linked to participative decision making and employee

performance. The theory explains how people are motivated to work for the goals they participate

in setting together (Lunenburg, 2011). The implication for this theory is that job responsibilities

and roles of employee should be designed in such a way to give them access to job autonomy

which will increase their commitment, morale and level of satisfaction to accomplish pre-

determined goals or objectives

Empirical Review

A number of studies have provided insight into employee involvement in decision making and

performance. Some of these studies will be reviewed in the study for their contribution.

The effect of employee decisions on corporate efficiency in Pakistan's banks was analyzed in

Rehman, Khalid and Khan (2012). The research used as instrument of data collection a concise

method and a questionnaire. The study population comprises 151 branches in the town of Pakistan
for Gujranwala of all public and private limited banks. Random sampling techniques were applied

in data collection using the banking industry. The target population consists of 16% top level

managers, 59% of middle level managers and, 25% of low level managers respectively. Data were

tested statistically using regression technique to compare the relationship between employee

decision making and organizational performance in public and private sector banks. Findings

showed that employee decision making rational have positive influence on organizational

performance.

This study is similar to the current study in the sense that, both are focused on performance and

suits the descriptive survey design. A questionnaire will be used or the current study as was used

in this study. However, the difference between earlier study and present study is that the while the

study focused on banks, this current study considers the public sector. Also, the study was

conducted in Pakistan while the current study focused in Ghana.

Wainaina, Iravo and Waititu (2014), examined the effect of Employee Participation in Decision

Making on Organizational Commitment in the Private and Public Universities in Kenya. The target

population comprised of academic staff of the university. The study adopted a descriptive research

design and used a questionnaire as the main instrument of data collection. The study found that

employee participation in decision making significantly influence university academic staffs’

organizational commitment.

Kuye and Sulaimon (2011) studied the connection between decision making by workers and

industrial quality in Nigeria. A survey design and the questionnaire were used as a data collection

tool in this analysis. The results of the study showed that employees ' participation in decision

making and company performance are positive. The research by Kuye and Sulaimon (2011) and
present research are close as both worker engagement in decision-making and organisational

involvement are concerned.

Conceptual Framework

The studies discussed in the empirical review have dealt with employee participation in the

organisation and reported that participation in decision making may have positive effects on

employees’ attitudes toward their work and on employee performance.

This framework presents the idea of assessment by the researcher.

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE DEPENDENT VARIABLE

EMPLOYEE EMPLOYEE
PARTICIPATION IN PERFORMANCE
DECISION MAKING ORGANISATIONAL
PERFORMANCE

Source: Researcher (2019)

METHODOLOGY

The proposed methodology for the study is given below. This includes the research design, study

population, sample and sampling procedures, method of data collection and analysis, ethical

consideration, and anticipated challenges.

Research Design

A descriptive and quantitative research design will be adopted as the primary approach to

collecting and analysing data.

A descriptive design entails observation of a subset of a population, description of the current

nature and conditions that exists, studying of the relationship between different variables at a single

point in time and showing how variables affect each other. It involves compromise or contrast and

attempts to discover relationships between existing variables (Creswell, 2009). As a descriptive

study, it was designed to obtain relevant and accurate information on involvement in decision

making among public sector workers in Accra. The choice of the design is because it is suitable

to observe and describe events and then organise, tabulate, depict and describe the data collection

on the subject of the study.

Creswell (2009) define quantitative research design as an approach in which quantitative

techniques in the form of descriptive and inferential statistics are used to describe issues in a study.

This research method can be executed through experiments and surveys. However, this study will

adopt the survey method of quantitative research design.

Study Population

The population of the study constitutes all public sector workers in Ghana.
Sample Size and Sampling Technique

The sampling frame for the study comprises public sector workers in the Greater Accra Region. A

multi-stage sampling procedure will be used to sample respondents for the study. Creswell (2009)

defines multi-stage sampling as a process of taking sample in series of steps with the sampling

portions constituting the sample (units or increments) at each step being selected from the larger

or greater number of portions of the previous step, or from a primary or composite sample. This

method is used when the population is very large and extensive. Multi-stage sampling is prefered

due to the vast number of public sector workers. The first stage will group respondents into two

stratified groups of middle level employees and top level employees. The second step will employ

both purposive and random sampling techniques to sample the working groups from the

classifications. Thus, purposive sampling technique was used to sample the two workers groups

Data Collection

Data for the study will be collected from both primary and secondary sources. The primary data

will be obtained from public sector workers in Accra. The study will employed survey data

collection method (questionnaire) which is less costly and ensures the standardisation of

measurements.

Data Analysis

Data gathered from the field study will be thoroughly edited, coded and verified for grammatical

errors and consistency. Raw scores will be fed into the computer and analysed, using Statistical

Product and Service Solutions version 15 software. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies and

percentages will be used. Regression will be used to measure the variables. Frequency tables and

charts will be used to present the findings of the study.

Organisation of the Study

The study will be organized in five (5) chapters.

Chapter one will cover the background, statement of the problem, research questions, and

objectives of the study, significance of the study, scope and limitation of the study. Chapter two

will discuss relevant literature on the topic. In chapter three, methods of data collection and

analysis are discussed. This includes research design, research population, sampling procedures

and techniques of data collection. Chapter four discusses data analysis and findings and chapter

five, the conclusion, recommendations and suggestions.

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productivity. A case study of community banks in the upper east region of Ghana. Business and
Economics Journal, 5(3), 1.
Akuoko, K. O., Dwumah, P., & Ansong, F. (2012). Employee involvement in decision making
and workers’ performance in selected organizations in ashanti region of Ghana. International
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Asamoah, K., Osei-Kojo, A., & Yeboah-Assiamah, E. (2013). Enhancing public sector
productivity in Ghana: A qualitative study. Journal of Public Administration and
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management in public service: Paradoxes, processes, and problems. CQ Press.
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