Improving Organizational and Employee Performance through Employee Participation and Involvement

The road to improved organizational and employee performance must have at it’s roots the participative involvement of employees.

This requires a shift in the style of leadership to participative rather than control. Leaders tend to lean towards a participative style of leadership, while managers are more controlling. To find out if you are more of a leader or a manager, take our leadership style test.

Participative involvement of employees in decision making and improving performance and productivity leads to employees having a feeling of influence.

When one feels they can influence the decision and improvement process they acquire psychological ownership of the decision and process.

This leads to a commitment to what they need to do to support the decisions and changes. Employees are then committed to take responsibility for the tasks they need to perform because they now feel ownership of the process.

Improved performance of employees is what results, and this contributes to a more nimble and productive organization.

Participative involvement is a leadership style. Its purpose is to create an environment where every person can contribute to the maximum of his/her capability. It’s a way of interacting with employees which allows and encourages them to communicate freely about what’s on their minds. It calls on managers to proactively uncover performance barriers, to solicit ideas for improvement, and to share responsibility and authority with employees.