Attitudes Towards Participation among Local Authority Employees

Employee attitudes towards participation in management decision-making is recognized as a subject which, though under researched, is of considerable contemporary importance. A questionnaire study of the attitudes of one hundred and twenty seven blue-collar employees leads to the following conclusions. First, whilst employees experience little participation they do express strong desires to be involved in decision-making. Second, the form of participation preferred depends upon the nature of the decision involved. In middle-management decision-making most employees would like to participate through personal contact with management; in top-management decisions employee representation is desired; and in pay related decisions participation through trade union representation is favoured. Finally, attitudes towards participation are positively related to job satisfaction. The usefulness of such questionnaire data as a starting point for the implementation of participative practices is discussed.