Participative management

Definition of participative management

Participative management can be defined as a work management approach where decision-making and responsibilities are shared between managers and team members. Unlike the traditional hierarchical structure where decisions are made in a centralised manner by the manager, the participative management style encourages the integration of employees in the decision-making process. It is based primarily on communication and mutual trust.

Companies implement this work organisation to improve their performance and innovations, with the joint help of managers and their teams.

The 6 principles of participative management

1. The mobilisation and involvement of employees: asking employees for their opinion means putting them at the heart of projects while consolidating their sense of belonging. With employees equipped with collaboration tools, it can be easier to involve them.
2. Collective decision-making through the sharing of ideas: to share their ideas and work together, employees and managers use collective intelligence. The term collective intelligence refers to the ability of a group of people to work together to achieve results that surpass each of the members, through the sharing of ideas and collective decision-making.
3. Employee empowerment: employees are more involved in the company's decisions, which gives them new responsibilities. The manager can delegate certain tasks to their team, which demonstrates a sign of trust.
4. Skills development through training: training teams and developing their skills, in communication or organisation, is a good opportunity for greater efficiency in participative management, but also for the employability and career of employees.
5. Work regulation: it is beneficial to set up performance indicators for employees and teams, such as acceptable margins of error in their tasks. It is also possible to guide them with the help of a self-monitoring guide which allows them to monitor and examine the quality of a product or service with different standards and verification steps. These indicators provide detailed instructions on the evaluation methods and practices to be put in place in order to identify risks in order to manage them as well as possible.
6. The management of problems and conflicts: given that employees have more responsibilities, communicate more and take the time to listen to each other, conflicts within teams can be greatly limited. Employees will tend to resolve their conflicts themselves, before talking about them to their manager or to management.

The advantages and disadvantages of participative management

The advantages

In the context of participative management, the advantages are numerous. It promotes the development of autonomy among employees, strengthens their motivation and their commitment to the company. In addition, this can lead to better quality of work and greater productivity, as employees feel fully responsible for their actions and are more invested in the success of the company. In general, life in the office and the company's business are improved.

The disadvantages

The type of participative management is not without limits and can take time to implement. It requires skills in communication, project management and the development of interpersonal relationships. To avoid a too long implementation of participative management, managers, employees and the entire company must then be trained on this type of management.

However, this practice may be less effective in situations where quick decisions and directive leadership are necessary, for example in the event of a crisis, hence the importance of training.

In summary

Participative management is a work organisation that encourages the active involvement of employees in decision-making and the management of the company's activities. It offers many advantages: greater motivation and productivity, as well as an improvement in the quality of work. For participative management to be effective, teams must be trained in this approach.