Participatory Management

Abstract

Abstract The concept of participatory or participative management has been used in the context of traditional hierarchical industrial organizations or bureaucracies. It means that, to a greater or lesser extent, managers share their power with employees, managers, or non‐managers who are lower in the structure. The opposite of participative management is autocratic or dictatorial management. Within the traditional organizational framework, there are three degrees of participative management: consultation, value‐based influence, and formal power sharing. This article first describes the experience of participative management in traditional industrial organizations and then reports recent organizational initiatives that have redefined participative management in terms of empowerment and interactive management. It addresses (i) why management invites participation, (ii) limits to participation, and (iii) going beyond participative management (i.e., a new organizational model). Participatory management often implies that while managers may listen to or even share power with those lower in the hierarchy, they reserve the right to make the final decisions. Exceptions to this rule are those cases where through collective bargaining there is a contractual agreement with a union to share power – for example, in setting wages and evaluating working conditions. In some organizations there is a mixture of consultation, influence, and power sharing, depending on the type of decisions involved.