W. BARRIERS TO PARTICIPATION

INTROWCTION

The oeed for Part icipative Management has been fe l t

and i t s importance need not be over-emphasised now. I t i s an

accepted fact that the Part icipative Management, I n general helps

to improve the functioning of an organisation and also to develop

a cordial environment conducive to the industr ial harmony.

Eventhwgh the employees are expected to part icipate i n the

decision-making process, and though the management can enjoy

many advantages through the use of Part icipative Management, the

employees are not able to fu l ly and effect ively part lcipate to the

maximum extent possible i n the schemes of workers' participation.

This means that some factors are preventing them to partlcipate.

These factors may be organisational or situational i n neture.

kmetimes the management i tse l f may be a constraint o r the

management may feel that i t s subordinates are the main barr iers .

Hence, i n t h i s chapter an attempt i s made to identi fy

the barr iers In the Mi l ls under study through the perception of

the sample respondents. The barr iers have been grouped under

the following four major grwps:

1. Organlsational Barrlere,

2. Situational Barriers,

3. Managerial Barriers, and

4. Subordinate Barriers.

The sample respondents have been given a

comprehensive l i s t of barriers and asked to identify the major

barriers according to their perception. However, managerial

barr iers have been identified by the workers and subordinate

barriers by the Supervisors and Executives.

A frequency distributions based on the perception of

the employees for the different barriers have been worked w t . In

each category of employees, the total number of barriers indicated

by them have been taken as hundred, to work out the percentage

for each barrier. The percentages thus worked out w i l l be

helpful to identi fy the major barriers, as fe l t by the sample

employees.

oRGANISATIONAL BARRIERS (08)

Very often, the organisation i tse l f may become a

serious barrier to effective participation. An organisation has to

co-ordinate different factors l i k e land, labour, capital and raw

materials for i t s production. I n th is process the management

should take decisions at different levels to economise the use of

resources. Under th is sitwtlon, the management i tse l f may either

take decisions without allowing the employees to participate i n I t s

managerial act1;itles. Or Introduce programmes (or may have rules

and regulations) whlch can act as a direct or an Indirect barrler.

These barriers are called orgsnisational barriers. I n the mi l ls

under study a l l categories of sample employees have been asked

to indicate the different organisatlonal barriers present i n their

organisation. Following nine organlsational barriers have been

Included for investigation:

: O r g a n i s a t l o n a l S ize

: T r a d i t i o n bound approach

: Procedure o f Implementing P o l i c i e s

: Q u a l l t y o f Personnel

: S t r u c t u r e o f Organ isa t ion

: Technology and Work process

: Lack o f Support by o t h e r Ca tegor les o f Employees

: Lack o f a p roper reward system f o r P a r t i c l p a t l v e Management; and

: Leve l o f Comnunication.

The responses of the employees have been given i n the

form of a frequency distribution i n Table 9.1.

Among the above nine factors identified as

organisatlonal barriers, the three groups of workers feel that the

size of organisations has been the main barrier affecting

participation. A huge organisation flnds It d i f f icu l t to mobillze I t s

workers and motivate them for active participation. Thia seems to

be the opinion of the majority of the workers. Secondly, the

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technology and work process act as another barrier. Frequent

changes i n technology and the consequent changes i n the work

process act as a restraint on the workers. The quality of

personnel and tradlt ion bound approach are the other two

Important barriers for effective participation. Excluding the above

four factors, the remaining f ive factors, according to the workers

are not the maln barriers.

However, the Supervisors are having a sl ightly

different view. According to them, the followlng factors are the

main barriers of participation:

081 : The size of organisations

088 : Lack of Proper reward system for Participative

Management, and

082 : Tradition bound apprmch

Further, they feel that the organisational structure too

I s to some extent a barrier for participation. Hence, to facilitate

the growth of the effective and active participation of Supervisors

structural changes i n the organisation are needed. This means that

they are not Satisfled with the existing structure of the

organisations.

The Executives also feel that the above four factors

have been the main barrlers for the active participation of

employees. However, the order of importance differs, They feel

that lack of proper reward system for Participative Management i s

the most serious barrier. I n addition to i t the changes i n

technology and work process, procedure of implementing policies,

and lack of support by other categories of employees are also

responsible for reducing the level of participation.

Hence, the factors to which attention should be paid i n

order to promote the participation of the employees In the mi l ls

under study:

081 : The Size of the organlsatlon

086 : Technolgoy and work process

085 : The Structure of the organisation

082 : Tradition bwnd approach

087 : Lack of Support by other categories of employees; and

008 : Lack of proper reward system for Participative

Management.

SITUATIONAL BARRIERS (SIB )

Apart from the Organisational barriers, I t may be

possible that the employees may have other type of barriers.

These may be related to the pol i t ical condition prevailing i n the

country, or policies of Government and so on. Theme barriers are

know as situational barriers. However, these barriers can also be

effective constraints on participation. Further these barriers w i l l

commonly affect a l l categories of employees. As such three

groups of Workers, Supervisors and Executives have been asked to

mentlon whether M' not these barrlers are exletlng I n the ml l ls

under study. The following situational barriers have been included

i n the analysis:

SIB1 : Lack of Time

SIB2 : Poli t ical Condition of the country

SIB3 : Attitude of Trade Unions i n the plant

SIB4 : Mult ipl ici ty of Trade Unlons

SIB5 : Attitude of Central Trade Unions

SIB6 : Attitude of Central Employers Organisation, and

SIB7 : Lack of Support from the Government.

The responses of the employees of the two mi l ls have

been summarized i n Table 9.2. The workers i n general feel that

the main situational barriers whlch reduce their participation are:

Attitude of Trade Unions i n the Plant and time. They feel that

the attitudes of the existing trade unions I n the organisation are

not stable. They also feel that lack of time i s another important

constraint. Further, the impact of the pol i t ical condit im of the

country and the attltude of Central Employers Organisations which

form the other two important Situational Barriers has also been

felt. The rernalning three Situational Barriers have not been felt

eo seriously at a l l .

However, Sopervlsors feel that the most serious

S i t w t i m l Barr ier I s the mul t ip l ic i ty of trade unions. The

attitude of the trade unions I n the plant, the attltude of the

Central trade unlons, Time and pol i t lca l conditions of the country

are coming only next In importance. Accwdlng to the Executives,

the mult ipl ici ty of trade unions, the pol i t ica l condition I n the

country, the att l tude of trade unions i n the plant, time and

attitude of the Central Employers Organisations are the serious

situational barr iers and a l l of them have been equally effective in

preventing the i r participation.

Consolidating the views of a i l the employees, the

S i t ~ t l o n a l Barr iers which act as the foremost constraints are: Lack

of Time, Attitude of trade unions i n the plant, and pol i t ica l

conditions In the country. The mult lpl Ici ty of trade unlons and

the att i tude of Central trade unions are occupying a place of only

secondary Importance as constraints.

MANAGERIAL BARRIERS (MB)

Manegerlal Barr iers existing i n an organisation can very

well be fe l t by the workers and these barr iers can also be a

serious constraint on the lntroductlon and implementation of

programmes of Part iclpatlve Mamgement. Hence, the workers have

been asked how far these barr iers are existing i n the m i l l s under

study. The following four managerial barr iers have been included

I n the anslysis.

MB1 : Style of functlonlng of the manager

MB2 : Difficult to implement

M83 : Lack of Security, and

MB4 : Not wl l l lng to share the power.

A frequency distribution of the different categories of

employees who felt the presence of these constraints have been

given i n Table 9.3. The responses of the workers show that,

among the four important managerial barr iers, the style of

functlonlng of the managers occupy a place of primary Importance

In Impeding the implementation Programme of Part lclpatlve

Management. This means that the managers function i n a tradit ion

bound way on the basis of their habit and they are not functioning

I n a scientific manner. A l l these imply that, the workers expect

the managers to be objective and scientlflc i n the l r functlonlng and

thereby encourage their particlpatlon.

The next important barr ier, according to the workers

I n the mi ls under study I s the approach of the managers to the

problems of implementing schemes of workers' partlcipatlon. In

the opinlon of the workers the managers of the organlsatlons feel

that i t would be very difficult to Implement the Part icipative

Management schemes. This kind of a feeling would have been

created among the managers by the fact that successful

participation of workers I n the managerial functions would require

a higher level of education and tralnlng.

The fear about the lack of disclpl lne has been the

th i rd Important barr ler. Here the workers feel that the

managements fear that the deterioration of dlsclpl lne among the

workers cannot be prevented as long as they are allowed to

partlclpate i n the decision-maklng process and managerlal functions,

Thls type of fear can be removed only by the workers th rwgh

the l r self-dlsclpllned behavlour. They must prove that they can

partlclpate In the managerlal functlons without affecting the smooth

functioning of an organlsatlon and I t s organlsatlonal envlronment.

The unwllllngness of the management to share i n the

process of decision-making has also been ldentl f led by the

workers as one of the managerial barr iers. However, I t occupies

only the last place In the i r order of preference. Thus, some of

the workers feel that the management i s not wi l l ing to share i n the

process of decision-making with the workers. They are under the

lmpresslon that the management expects them as to do the work for

whlch they are paid. In other words, the management wants to

keep the workers only as subordimtes. ow ever, th i s type of

feeling has to be changed In the modern days and the management

s h w l d reallse the fact that the employer-employee relationship has

undergone radical change In recent tlmes, and they are expected to

play a poslt lve and concrete ro le In the managerlal activities of

the organlsatlon.

SUBORDZNATE BARRIERS (SUB )

I t cannot be denied that the workers are also to a

certaln extent responsible for the growth of 'managerial barr iers' .

I n a less developed or developing country, the workers may not be

aware of their ro le i n Participative Management. Even i f they

know, they may not be wil l ing to participate or they may not have

the competence and expertise generally requlred to render thei r

participation effective. The workers may not be i n a position to

reallse thelr own inadequecies. These are called Subordinate

Barrlers. Supervisors and Executives of the mi l ls under study

have been asked to mentlon the different types of Subordinate

Barriers prevailing i n their mil ls. To assist them, they are

furnished with the following l i s t of Subordinate Barriers.

SUB1 : Lack of Competence

SUB2 : Lack of Desire

SUB3 : Lack of Expertise, and

SUB4 : Unawareness of being expected to participate.

The views of the Supervlsors and. Exocutlves of the

two mi l ls about the presence of Subordinate Barriers have been

presented I n Table 9.4.

According to the perception of the Supervisors and

Executives, the most important Subordinate Bsrrler i s the lack of

expertise on the part of the workers. Thls means that the

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workers do not possess the knowledge abwt the concept of

Part iclpative Management, which can help them to make significant

contributions th rwgh their participation. When the workers lack

the expertise necessary for effective participation, they may not

be able to show any Interest i n the programmes of Part icipative

Management. Thls has been a serious barr ier i n the mi l ls under

study.

The second Important barr ier that prevai ls among the

workers, as realised by the managerial staff, I s the i r lack of

competence. The Supervisors and the Executives feel that though

the workers are allowed to participate I n the declslon-making

process, they do not freely come forward to do so. Under such

circumstances, the scheme meant for promising workers'

part lcipatlon w i l l not be a success at a l l . Unless and unt i l the

employees are educated as to how to participate, th i s would

remains as a barr ier.

The next barr ier i s the lack of awareness among the

workers a b w t the opportunities they are given to part icipate i n

the decision-making processes. The workers fa i l t o part icipate I n

the declslon making process, simply because of the i r ignorance.

This may happen due to communication gaps as well.

The lack of desire or willingness to part icipate i n the

managerial functions of the organisation has been regarded as the

last barr ier. for effectlve .participation. Very often the workers

tend to feel that participatlon In decision-maklng warld add to

their respbnsibillty. Besides they also, probably think that they

w i l l not be rewarded for the i r participation i n decision-maklng or

they f a i l t o realise the fact that participation i n decision-making

i s a part of their job.

Whatever be the nature of Subordlnate Barriers, I t I s

the responsibillty and duty of the management to take suitable

measures to provide necessary education and training to the

workers as a major pre-requisite to faci l i tate the growth of the

workers' knowledge abwt part icipative management. Perhaps th ls

may require a long period of time. But i t should not be given up

as same thing beyond the reach of the organisation.

SUMMARY

The study makes i t evident that the following barr lers

for effective participation could be seen i n the m i l l s under study.

The main constraints of participation are organlsational barriers,

Situational Barriers, managaria1 barr iers and the Subordinate

Barriers. The components of different barr iers under each of

these four broad classifications are summarised below.

ORGANISATIONAL BARRIERS

081 : Slze of the Organisation

086 : Technology and work process

005 : Organisatlonal Structure

082 : Tradition bwnd approach

087 : Lack of support by other categories

of employees, and

088 : Lack of proper reward system for

Participative Management.

SITUATIONAL BARRIERS

SIB1 : Lack of time

SIB3 : Attitude of trade unions i n the plant

SIB2 : Poli t ical condition i n the country

SIB4 : Mult ipl ici ty of trade unlons, and

SIB5 : Attitude of central trade unions.

MANAGERIAL BARRIERS

MBl : Style of functioning of the manager, and

MB2 : Difficult to implement.

SUBORDINATE BARRIERS

SUB3 : Lack of expertise, and

SUB1 : Lack of competence.