According to the ILO:

Workers participation may, broadly be taken to cover all terms of association of workers and their
representatives with the decision-making process, ranging from exchange of information, con-sultations,
decisions and negotiations to more institutionalized forms such as the presence of workers members
on management or supervisory boards or even management by workers themselves.

Characteristics:
The following are the main characteristics of WPM:
1. Participation implies practices which increase the scope for employees share of influence in decisionmaking process with the assumption of responsibility.
2. Participation presupposes willing acceptance of responsibility by workers.
3. Workers participate in management not as individuals but as a group through their representatives.
4. Workers participation in management differs from collective bargaining in the sense that while the
former is based on mutual trust, information sharing and mutual problem solving; the latter is
essentially based on power play, pressure tactics, and negotiations.
5. The basic rationale tor workers participation in management is that workers invest their Iabour and
their fates to their place of work. Thus, they contribute to the outcomes of organization. Hence, they
have a legitimate right to share in decision-making activities of organisation.

Objectives:
The objectives of WPM are closely netted to the ration-able for WPM. Accordingly, the objectives of
WPM vary from country to country depending on their levels of socio-economic development political
philosophies, industrial relations scenes, and attitude of the working class.
The objective of WPM, as envisaged in the Second Five Year Plan of India is to ensure:
1. Increase in productivity for the benefit of all concerned to an enterprise, i.e., the employer, the
employees and the community at large.
2. Satisfaction of workers urge for self-expression in the matters of enterprise management.
3 Making employees better understood of their roles in the organisation.
In ultimate sense, the objective of WPM in India is to achieve organizational effectiveness and the
satisfaction of the employees.
Accordingly, the objectives of WPM in India are to:
1. Promote mutual understanding between management and workers, i.e., industrial harmony.
2. Establish and encourage good communication system at all levels.
3. Create and promote a sense of belongingness among workers.
4. Help handle resistance to change.

5. Induce a sense among workers to contribute their best for the cause of organisation.
6. Create a sense of commitment to decisions to which they were a party.

Pre-requisites for Effective Participation

The pre-requisites for the success of any scheme of participative management are the following:

Firstly, there should be a strong, democratic and representative unionism for the success of
participative management.
Secondly, there should be mutually-agreed and clearly-formulated objectives for participation to
succeed.
Thirdly, there should be a feeling of participation at all levels.
Fourthly, there should be effective consultation of the workers by the management.
Fifthly, both the management and the workers must have full faith in the soundness of the
philosophy underlying the concept of labour participation.
Sixthly, till the participative structure is fully accepted by the parties, legislative support is
necessary to ensure that rights of each other are recognised and protected.
Seventhly, education and training make a significant contribution to the purposeful working of
participative management.
Lastly, forums of participation, areas of participation and guidelines for implementation of
decisions should be specific and there should be prompt follow-up action and feedback.

Forms of Participation
Different forms of participation are discussed below:
Collective Bargaining: Collective bargaining results in collective agreements which lay down certain rules
and conditions of service in an establishment. Such agreements are normally binding on the parties.
Theoretically, collective bargaining is based on the principle of balance of power, but, in actual practice,
each party tries to outbid the other and get maximum advantage by using, if necessary, threats and
counterthreats like; strikes, lockouts and other direct actions. Joint consultation, on the other hand, is a
particular technique which is intended to achieve a greater degree of harmony and cooperation by
emphasising matters of common interest. Workers prefer to use the instrument of collective bargaining
rather than ask for a share in management. Workers participation in the U.S.A has been ensured almost
exclusively by means of collective agreements and their application and interpretation rather than by
way of labour representation in management.
Works Councils: These are exclusive bodies of employees, assigned with different functions in the
management of an enterprise. In West Germany, the works councils have various decision-making
functions. In some countries, their role is limited only to receiving information about the enterprise. In
Yugoslavia, these councils have wider decision-making powers in an enterprise like; appointment,
promotion, salary fixation and also major investment decisions.
Joint Management Councils and Committees: Mainly these bodies are consultative and advisory, with
decision-making being left to the top management. This system of participation is prevalent in many
countries, including Britain and India. As they are consultative and advisory, neither the managements
nor the workers take them seriously.

Board Representation: The role of a worker representative in the board of directors is essentially one of
negotiating the workers interest with the other members of the board. At times, this may result in
tension and friction inside the board room. The effectiveness of workers representative at the board
depend upon his ability to participate in decision-making, his knowledge of the company affairs, his
educational background, his level of understanding and also on the number of worker representatives in
the Board.
Workers Ownership of Enterprise: Social self-management in Yugoslavia is an example of complete
control of management by workers through an elected board and workers council. Even in such a
system, there exist two distinct managerial and operative functions with different sets of persons to
perform them. Though workers have the option to influence all the decisions taken at the top level, in
actual practice, the board and the top management team assume a fairly independent role in taking
major policy decisions for the enterprises, especially in economic matters.

Types of worker participation

There are as many types of worker participation as organizational levels where worker participation is
practiced in some form. Let me explain first three basic forms of joint consultation system within a
typical large manufacturing firm, and then proceed to explain more informal systems of de factory
worker participation at the workshop, and a formal joint consultation at industry or economy level.
Corporate level worker participation: In a large Japanese corporation, there usually exists a formal
system of joint consultation, where union leaders and top corporate executives participate and discuss a
broad range of issues relating economy, industry, and management prospects sharing relevant
information. The JC is held regularly, say monthly or several times a year.
Plant level worker participation: The system and the way it operates are basically comparable to the
one at the corporate level, except that in this case, representatives of both labor and management are
from within the plant, and the scope of issues discussed is more geared to plant specific topics.
Workshop level worker participation: The system of worker participation tends to be less formal, but
more closely related to issues of the workshop. Topics to be discussed are more closely tied to day-today problems such as transfer, job assignment, training, holidays, shift systems, etc. Workshop union
committee men and first-line supervisors play critical roles in resolving workshop issues through de
facto joint consultation.

Benefits
Productivity and quality improvements: Worker participation of various forms at various levels as
described above has contributed greatly to promote productivity and quality improvements at the
workshop, company and industry. Productivity improvement has been attained through both cost
cutting and introducing new technologies. Quality improvement has been attained by increasing care
and control of workers and also implementing new production methods. In either case, the most critical
was the understanding, sharing of goals, and active and responsible involvement of workers. Increased
productivity and improved quality of products contributed not only to management but also to workers
in the form of higher wages and security of employment.

Labor adjustment: With changes in business conditions, changes in production structure, and
introduction of new technology, work loads and work assignments need to be altered. The consequent
labor adjustment may require transfer of workers to new jobs, new workshops or to new plants
somewhere else, if not dismissals. Such labor adjustment plans are normally discussed first at the table
of joint consultation before actually put into practice. Usually, the total plan of adjustment is presented
and discussed at the corporate level joint consultation, and after reaching agreement, broken down
plans more specific to plants or workshops are discussed at joint consultation of relevant levels. These
adjustment plans are often negotiated at collective bargaining. However, these plans are almost always
disclosed, explained and discussed at joint consultation tables prior to be picked up at collective
bargaining. Through this process, relevant information is shared somewhat more in advance and more
in detail also with contextual information so that both workers and employers can prepare and adjust
for changes more smoothly.
Adaptation to economic changes: The complex system of worker participation and information sharing
of various forms and at various levels, as described above, has served the purpose of moderating shocks
of economic changes and provided more room for both management and workers to prepare to adapt
such changes. With cooperation of workers, companies, and industries have been able to adjust wages
and working hours more flexibly, thereby maintain employment more stably. This has been beneficial
both to industry and economy with a long-term perspective, and to workers in the sense of assuring
them employment security.

Levels of Participation:
Having known the objectives of WPM, the question then is to what extent workers can participate in
decision-making process. In other words, it is important to know the extents/levels of co-determination
in an organisation.
Informative Participation:
This refers to managements information sharing with workers on such items those are concerned with
workers. Balance Sheet, production, economic conditions of the plant etc., are the examples of such
items. It is important to note that here workers have no right of close scrutiny of the information
provided and management has its prerogative to make decisions on issues concerned with workers.
Consultative Participation:
In this type of participation, workers are consulted in those matters which relate to them. Here, the role
of workers is restricted to give their views only. However the acceptance and non-acceptance of these
views depends on management. Nonetheless, it provides an opportunity to the workers to express their
views on matters involving their interest.
Associative Participation:
Here, the role of the workers council is not just advisory unlike consultative participation. In a way, this
is an advanced and improved form of consultative participa-tion. Now, the management is under a
moral obligation to acknowledge, accept and implement the unanimous decision of the council.

Administrative Participation:
In the administrative participation, decisions already taken are implemented by the workers. Compared
to the former three levels of participation, the degree of sharing authority and responsibility by the
workers is definitely more in this participation.
Decisive Participation:
Here, the decisions are taken jointly by the management and the workers of an organisation. In fact, this
is the ultimate level of workers participation in management.

Forms of Workers Participation in Management

The forms of workers participation in management vary from industry to industry and country to
country depending upon the political system, pattern of management relations and subject or area of
participation. The forms of workers participation may be as follows:

Joint Consultation Model

Joint Decision Model
Self-Management, or Auto Management Scheme
Workers Representation on Board

1. Joint consultation model: In the joint consultation model the management consults with the workers
before taking decisions. The workers represent their view through Joint consultative Committees. This
form is followed in United Kingdom, Sweden and Poland.
2. Joint decision model: In this form both the workers and management jointly decide and execute the
decisions. This form of participation is followed in U.S.A. and West Germany.
3. Self management of auto management: In this model, the entire control is in the hands of workers.
Yugoslavia is an example to this model. Where the state industrial units are run by the workers under a
scheme called Self Management or Auto Management Scheme.
4. Workers representation on board: Under this method, the workers elect their representative and
send them to the Board to participate in the decision making process.