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CHAPTER 7 Motivating and Leading Employees 247

nothing more than enhance employee satisfaction, then participative management
is not a panacea to the challenges faced by management.
Participative management cannot be applied to all situations. It is particularly
helpful when the output of goods or service is team-driven. In situations like these,
participative management can be very useful, as team members can and will be
able to figure the best approach to get the job done. The Japanese have largely per-
fected the art of participative management, especially in the automobile industry,
with what are called quality circles, groups of employees that meet regularly to dis-
cuss quality and related issues on their shop floor. Employees are encouraged to
make suggestions on how to improve quality, eliminate waste and unnecessary
assembly line movements, best sequence steps in the production process, and
reduce the number of employees in the team to get the job done. Also, Japanese
employee suggestions on how and where to automate certain operations have
made Japanese auto assembly workers the most productive in the world.
Teamwork in Japan and other countries that have adopted the Japanese
model has participative management having a positive effect on job satisfaction,
motivation, productivity, and pay increases. Yet, whenever production and com-
pensation are based on a piece-rate system, participative management has not
worked well. This is because quick workers within a group are pulled down by the
laggards who are unable or unwilling to pick up speed. This can lead to resent-
ment among employees, job dissatisfaction, and a fall in productivity and wages.
Critics of participative management argue that employee empowerment is
not useful for all organizations. Some employees may prefer to be told what to
do, rather than be asked to suggest what, when, and how they should work.
Some employees are not sure how their suggestions will impact corporate
goals and are willing to participate only where their actions clearly add value
to the firm. It is precisely for this reason that for employee participation and
empowerment to work, management must be closely involved in setting goals,
communicating standards by which employees will be judged, performing
periodic reviews, and conducting final evaluations. If managers are to be will-
ing to change their own behavior and employees are to become involved, orga-
nizational systems need to change as well. Reward systems, training and devel-
opment, modes of communication, career paths, and processes for allocating
resources all need to reinforce and support the empowerment program. This in
turn will enhance employee job satisfaction, motivation, and corporate per-
formance. Several companies, Wal-Mart for one, continue to encourage par-
7
ticipative management, especially where teamwork is the norm, in order to
improve motivation.
reality Is the participative management style better than MBO for mom-and-
CH ECK pop stores?

LEARNING OBJECTIVE 7
Explain why job enrichment and redesign are important and describe how they
can be used to achieve corporate goals.

Job Enrichment and Redesign
Management’s primary objective in job enrichment and job redesign programs is to
make existing jobs more satisfying for employees by incorporating motivating fac-
tors in them.

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