2. WORKERS PARTICIPATION IN
MANAGEMENT
INTRODUCTION AND MEANING
• Workers participation in management refers to the
participation of non-managerial employees in the
decision-making process of the organisation.
• Workers participation gives employees the mental
and psychological satisfaction and thereby increase
their involvement in the affairs of the organization.
Workers participation in management is the most
accepted principle of industrial relations in modern
industry throughout the world and in India too
3. DEFINITION
• In the words of Keith Davis “Participation is a mental
and emotional involvement of a person in a group
situation which encourages to contribute to group goals
or objectives and share responsibilities.”
• According to the British Institute of Management
Workers participation in management is the practice in
which employees take part in Management decisions
and it is based on the assumption of commonality of
interest between employer and employee in furthering
the long term prospects of the enterprise and those
working in it.
4. • Workers participation is a system where the workers
get the rights to participate in decisions on issues
which are of concern to the workers like wages,
working conditions, safety, welfare, sharing of gain,
production related aspects, incentives and
allowances were considered to be legitimate areas of
workers concern and therefore workers should be
consulted when these are determined.
• Participation has to be done at different levels of
management.
• a) At the shop floor level.
• b) At the department level and
• c) At the board level
5. OBJECTIVES OF WORKERS
PARTICIPATION IN MANAGEMENT
1. To prevent workers from exploitation by the
management or by the owners of the organisation
2. To have democracy in the organization.
3. To have proper development of the working class.
4. To resolve conflicts and differences between
management and employees in a democratic
manner.
5. To create in employees a sense of participation in
industry.
6. • 6. To encourage suggestions from employees.
• 7. To improve the working and living conditions
of employees.
• 8. To promote better understanding between
labours and management on the various issues o
f the organisations.
• 9. To give employees a better understanding of
their role in the working of the industry.
• 10. To give the employees an opportunity for self
expression leading to industrial peace, good
relations and increased co-operation
7. LEVELS OF PARTICIPATION
• There is no hard and fast rule as to which level
o f management, workers participation in
management should be introduced. In fact
participation is possible at all levels of
management. The only difference is that of
degree and nature of application. For
example, it may be light or not so vigorous at
the top level and may be very strong and
vigorous at a lower level.
8. • A lot depends upon the nature of work, nature of functions,
quality of manpower, strength of workers, attitude of trade
unions, attitude of management and the organisational
culture.
• There are other factors which are also responsible for the
application of workers participation in management like the
government policy on labour. Industrial Acts, phases of trade
cycle, economic and political stability and situation. Workers
participation is more o f a balancing situation.
• When there is more use of authority in decision making
participation in management will be negligible but when the
use of authority is in small proportion, participation will be
maximum.
• In between the two elements more use of authority and less
use of authority the nature of participation will also depend
upon the type of issues, attitude of employees, management
culture and the past experience of management.
9. Broadly speaking there are five levels of workers
participation in management
• 1. INFORMATION PARTICIPATION LEVEL:
• Sharing of information with the workers
relating sales, production, profit and other
financial matters, introduction of new
technology, by the management denotes
informative participation where the workers
have no role in the managerial decision
making.
10. CONSULTATIVE PARTICIPATION LEVEL
• In such level of participation workers are
consulted on the matters of employee welfare
such as work, safety, health and training. It
involves a higher degree o f sharing of views of
the workers and giving them an opportunity to
express their feelings and opinions. In this level of
participation it is the managements prerogative
to accept the suggestions of the workers given at
the participative forum. Workers suggestions are
only o f advisory nature.
11. Associative Participation
• Associative Participation puts the
management under a moral obligation to
acknowledge, accept and implement the
unanimous decision of the workers group,
thereby offering the employee’s group a
greater role to play.
12. ADMINISTRATIVE PARTICIPATION
LEVEL
• Administrative participation gives a greater
degree of sharing o f authority and responsibility
o f management functions. The issues taken at
this level are welfare, safety, training, preparing
work schedules, working hours, incentives,
holidays and rewards for valuable suggestions. In
this level of participation alternatives are given by
the management and the workers select the best
from those decided for smooth implementation
and efficient administration.
13. DECISIVE PARTICIPATION LEVEL
• This is the highest form o f participation where
decisions are taken jointly on the matters relating
to production, welfare, economic, financial and
administrative policies. Delegation o f authority
and responsibility o f managerial functions to the
workers is maximum at this level of participation.
When participation is done at this level it speaks
of democracy and the democratic style o f
management. It also shows the faith and trust
between management and the employees.
14. Strategies / Methods / Schemes /
Forms of WPM:
Suggestion schemes: Participation of workers cantake place through
suggestionscheme.
Under this method workers are invited and encouraged to offer suggestions for
improving the working of the enterprise.
A suggestion box is installed and any worker can write his suggestions and
drop them in the box.
Periodically all the suggestions are scrutinized by the suggestion committee or
suggestionscreening committee.
The committee is constituted by equal representation from the management and the
workers.
The committee screens various suggestions received from the workers. Good
suggestions are accepted for implementation and suitable awards are given to the
concerned workers.
Suggestion schemes encourage workers’interest in the functioning of an
enterprise.
19. Work directors:
Under this method, one or two representativesof
workers are nominated orelected to the Board of
Directors.
This is the full-fledged and highest form of
workers’ participation in management. The basic
idea behindthis method is that the representation
of workers at the top- level would usher Industrial
Democracy, congenial employee-employer
relations and safeguard the workers’ interests.
The Government of India introduced this scheme in
several public sectorenterprises such as Hindustan
Antibiotics, Hindustan Organic Chemicals Ltd
etc. Howeverthe schemeof appointmentof such
a director from among the employees failed
miserablyand the scheme was subsequently
dropped.
20. Co-partnership: Co-partnership involves
employees’ participation in the share capital of
a company in which they areemployed.
By virtue of their being shareholders, they
have the right to participate in the
management of the company. Shares of the
companycan be acquired by workers making
cash payment or by way of stock options
scheme.
21. Joint Councils: The joint councils are constituted
for the whole unit, in every Industrial Unit
employing 500 or more workers, there should be a
Joint Council for the wholeunit.
Only such personswho are actuallyengaged in
the unit shall be the members of JointCouncil.
A joint council shall meet at least once in a quarter.
Thechief executiveof the unit shall be the
chairperson of the jointcouncil.
The vice-chairman of the joint council will be
nominated by the worker membersof the council.
The decisions of the Joint Council shall be based
on the consensus and not on the basis of voting.
22. Shop councils: Government of India on the 30th of
October 1975 announced a new scheme in WPM. In
every Industrial establishment employing 500 or
more workmen, the employer shall constitute a shop
council.
Shop council represents each department or a shop in a
unit. Each shop council consists of an equal number of
representatives from both employer andemployees.
The employers’ representatives will be
nominated bythe management and must consist
of persons within the establishment.
The workers’ representatives will be from among the
workers of the department or shop concerned. The
total number of employees may not exceed 12.
23. The International Labour Organization
(ILO)
• The only tripartite U.N. agency, since 1919 the ILO brings
together governments, employers and workers of 187
member States , to set labour standards, develop policies and
devise programmes promoting decent work for all women and
men.
• The International Labour Organization (ILO) is built on the
constitutional principle that universal and lasting peace can be
established only if it is based upon social justice.
• The ILO has generated such hallmarks of industrial society as
the eight-hour working day,
maternity protection,
child-labour laws,
and a range of policies which promote workplace safety and
peaceful industrial relations.
24. Origin of the ILO
• The International Labour Organization emerged
with the League of Nations from the Treaty of
Versailles in 1919. It was founded to give
expression to the growing concern for social
reform after World War I, and the conviction that
any reform had to be conducted at an
international level.
• In 1946, the ILO became the first specialized
agency associated with the newly formed United
Nations Organization. On its 50th anniversary in
1969, it was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
25. Origin of the ILO
• The Constitution of the ILO was drafted in early 1919
by the Labour Commission, chaired by Samuel
Gompers, head of the American Federation of Labour
(AFL) in the United States. It was composed of
representatives from nine countries: Belgium, Cuba,
Czechoslovakia, France, Italy, Japan, Poland, the United
Kingdom and the United States.
• The process resulted in a tripartite organization, the
only one of its kind, bringing together representatives
of governments, employers and workers in its
executive bodies.
26. Members of the Commission on International Labour Legislation
to the Paris Peace Conference. Samuel Gompers in the first row,
third from the left.
27. • The driving forces for the ILO's creation arose
from security, humanitarian, political and
economic considerations.
• The founders of the ILO recognized the
importance of social justice in securing peace,
against a background of the exploitation of
workers in the industrializing nations of that
time.
28. • The areas of improvement listed in the Preamble
remain relevant today, including the regulation of
working time and labour supply, the prevention
of unemployment and the provision of an
adequate living wage, social protection of
workers, children, young persons and women.
• The Preamble also recognizes a number of key
principles, for example equal remuneration for
work of equal value and freedom of association ,
and highlights, among others, the importance of
vocational and technical education.
29. Objectives of ILO
1. Provide social justice to workers.
2. Avoid injustice, depravation and exploitation of
labour.
3. Build up human working conditions to the labour
4. Full employment and raising of living.
5. Protection for the life and health of workers in all
occupation.
6. Provision for child welfare and maternity protection.
7. Assurance of quality education.
30. STRUCTURE OF ILO
• The principal organs of the ILO are:
• The International Labour Conference,
• The Governing Body, and
• The International Labour Office, headed by a
Director General.
31. International Labour Conference
• The member States of the ILO meet at the International Labour Conference, held
every year in Geneva, Switzerland, in the month of June.
Each member State is represented by a delegation consisting of two government
delegates, an employer delegate, a worker delegate, and their respective advisers.
(Employer and Worker delegates are nominated in agreement with the most
representative national organizations of employers and workers.)
• Every delegate has the same rights, and all can express themselves freely and vote
as they wish. So it happens that worker and employer delegates sometimes vote
against their government's representatives or against each other. This diversity of
viewpoints, however, does not prevent decisions being adopted by very large
majorities, or in some cases even unanimously.
Many of the government representatives are cabinet ministers responsible for
labour affairs in their own countries. Heads of State and prime ministers also take
the floor at the Conference. International organizations, both governmental and
others, attend as observers.
32. • The functions performed by the ILC are to:
• 1. Formulate international labour standards.
• 2. Fix the amount of contribution to be paid by the member states.
• 3. Decide budget and submit the same to the Governing Body.
• 4. Study the labour problems submitted by the Director General
and assist in their solutions.
• 5. Appoint committees to deal with different problems during its
sessions.
• 6. Select members of the Governing Body.
• 7. Develop policies and procedures.
• 8. Seek advisory opinion from International Committee of Justice.
• 9. Confirm the powers, functions and procedure of Regional
Conference.
33. 2. Governing Body:
• The Governing Body is the executive body of
the International Labour Organization (the
Office is the secretariat of the Organization). It
meets three times a year, in March, June and
November. It takes decisions on ILO policy,
decides the agenda of the International
Labour Conference, adopts the draft
Programme and Budget of the Organization
for submission to the Conference, and elects
the Director-General.
34. • The Governing Body is composed of 56 regular
members (28 Governments, 14 Employers and 14
Workers) and 66 deputy members (28 Governments,
19 Employers and 19 Workers).
• Ten of the regular government seats are permanently
held by States of chief industrial importance (Brazil,
China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Russian
Federation, the United Kingdom and the United
States). The other Government members, and the
worker and employer members, are elected by the
Conference every three years.
35. The functions of the Governing
Body are to:
• 1. Co-ordinate work between the ILC and ILO.
• 2. Prepare agenda for each session of the ILC.
• 3. Appoint the Director General of the office.
• 4. Scrutinize the budget.
• 5. Follow up with member states in regard to
implementation of the conventions and recommendations
adopted by the ILC.
• 6. Fix the date, duration, schedule and agenda for the
Regional Conferences
• 7. Seek as and when required, advisory opinion from the
International Court of Justice with the consent of the ILC.
36. 3. International Labour Office:
• This is the secretariat of the ILO in Geneva and is the third
major organ of the ILO. The Director General (DG) of the
ILO is the Chief Executive Officer of the Secretariat
appointed by the Governing Body. He also serves as the
Secretary General of the ILC. His tenure is for 10 years and
extendable by the Governing Body.
• The Director General is assisted by two Deputy Director
Generals, six Assistant Director Generals, one Director of
the International Institute of Labour Studies, and one
Director of the International Centre for Advanced Technical
and Vocational Training, Advisors, Chief of Divisions from
100 nations.
37. • The Office employs some 2,700 officials from
over 150 nations at its headquarters in
Geneva, and in around 40 field offices around
the world. Among these officials, 900 work in
technical cooperation programmes and
projects.
