PRESENTED BY:

MANISHA
HR Executive
DDJ Ltd., Varanasi
• International Institute of Labour Studies:
WPM is the participation resulting from the
practices which increase the scope for employees’
share of influence in decision-making at different
tiers of organizational hierarchy with concomitant
(related) assumption of responsibility.
• 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,
consultations, decisions and negotiations, to more
institutionalized forms such as the presence of
workers’ member on management or supervisory
boards or even management by workers themselves
Participation : taking part in sharing of
power and status between the managers
and the workers.

WPM seeks to bridge this gap authorising

workers to take part in the managerial
process.

WPM gives scope for workers to influence

the managerial decision making process
at different levels by various forms in the
organisation.
 Objectives
• An instrument for increasing the efficiency of
enterprises and establishing harmonious relations;
• A device for developing social education for
promoting solidarity among workers and for
tapping human talents;
• A means for achieving industrial peace and
harmony which leads to higher productivity and
increased production;
• A humanitarian act, elevating the status of a
worker in the society;
• An ideological way of developing self-management
and promoting industrial democracy.
 Forms of Worker’s Participation
1. Board level participation
2. Ownership participation
3. Complete control
4. Staff or work councils
5. Joint councils and committees
6. Collective Bargaining
7. Job enlargement and enrichment
8. Suggestion schemes
9. Quality circles
10. TQM
1 1. Empowered teams
12. Financial participation
PARTICIPATION THROUGH JOB
ENLARGEMENT AND JOB
ENRICHMENT

METHODS OF JOB
DESIGNING

JOB ENLARGEMENT JOB ENRICHMENT

EXPANDING THE JOB ADDING MOTIVATORS TO

CONTENT JOB
 PARTICIPATION THROUGH
SUGGESTION SCHEMES
• A means by which employee’s are encouraged and invited
to offer ideas relating to the business.

• New ideas might relate to:

 New products and services;
 Improvement of current products and services;
 Improvement of processes.

• In this way employees interest in the problems of the

organization is aroused and maintained.

• The rewards given to the employees are in line with the

benefits derived from the suggestions.
 Participation through Quality Circles
Quality circles : Small group of employees in the same
work area who voluntarily meet to resolve related problems.

Organizational structure of quality circle:

top management
Coordinating agency
steering committee
facilitators
leaders
members
non members
 The Indian Scenario
• Tried by BHEL, Mahindra and Mahindra, Godrej and
Boyce among others.

• Experienced mixed results:

 M&M (jeep division) with 76 QCs has experienced
favourable results.
Technical problems got solved.
Workers got to get out of their daily routine and do
something challenging.
• Trade unions look at it as:
 A way of overburdening workers, and
 An attempt to undermine their role.
 Total Quality Management
• TQM refers to the deep commitment, almost obsession, of an
organization to quality. Every step in company’s processes is
subjected to intense and regular scrutiny for ways to
improve it.
• TQM is called participative because it is a formal
programme involving every employee in the organization;
making each one responsible for improving quality
everyday. It is a formal programme which involves direct
participation of all employees.
New Principles of TQM:
• Meet the customer’s requirement on time, the first time, and
100% of the time.
• Strive to do error-free work.
• Manage by prevention, not correction.
• Measure the cost of quality.
 
 Empowered or self directed teams
• Empowered to share various management and leadership
functions.
• Plan, control and improve their work.
• Often create their schedules and review their performance
as a group.
• May prepare their own budgets and co-ordinate their
work with other departments.

– Usually order materials, keep inventories and deal with

suppliers.
– Frequently responsible for acquiring any new training
they might need.
– May hire their own replacement to assume
responsibility for the quality of their products or
services
 Financial Participation
• Financial participation involves less consultations or even
joint decisions.
• Performance of the employee is linked to the performance
of the organization.
• If an employee has a financial stake in the organization,
he/she likely to be more positively motivated and involved.

Some schemes for financial participation:

• Profit-linked pay.
• Profit sharing and Employees’ stock Option schemes.
• Pension fund participation.
 Works Committee
It consists of equal number of representatives of both
employers and workers. It meets frequently for discussion
on common problems of the workers and the management.
After discussion, joint decisions are taken and such
decisions are binding on both the parties. Matters like wage
payment, bonus, training, discipline etc are discussed in
such meetings.
Joint Management Council: It involves setting up of joint
committees represented by the workers and the
management to discuss and give suggestions for
improvement with regard to matters of mutual interest. The
decisions of such committees are not binding on either
party, yet they are implemented as they are arrived at by
mutual consultations. The subject-matter of joint
consultations includes such problem areas as labour
welfare, safety measures, grievance redressal, training,
working hours, etc.
Collective bargaining: It is an industrial relations process
in which employees through their elected leaders,
participate on equal basis with management in negotiating
labour agreements, in administering the agreements, and
in redressing grievances of the workers.
Participation at the Board Level: The workers’
representative on the Board can play a useful role in
safeguarding the interests of workers. He or she can serve
as a guide and a control element.
• He or she can prevail upon top management not to take
measures that would be unpopular with the employees.
• He or she can guide the Board members on matters of
investment in employee benefit schemes like housing, and
so forth.
Participation through ownership: This involves making
the workers’ shareholders of the company by inducing
them to buy equity shares.

Participation through complete control: Workers

acquire complete control of the management through
elected boards.

Participation through Staff and Works Councils: Staff

councils or works councils are bodies on which the
representation is entirely of the employees. There may be
one council for the entire organization or a hierarchy of
councils. The employees of the respective sections elect the
members of the councils.
 Evolution of Participative Management in
India
• The beginning towards WPM was made with the Industrial
Disputes Act, 1947, which made Works Committees
mandatory in industrial establishments employing 100 or
more workers.

• The Industrial Policy Resolution adopted by the government

in 1956 stated that there should be some joint consultation to
ensure industrial peace, and improve employer-employee
relations. But this gradually waned.

• Titan, Reliance, ABB, GE Plastics (India), Wipro

Corporation and Wipro InfoTech are empowering
employees – both frontline as well as production staff, and
are enjoying positive results.
• During the emergency of 1975-77, the interest in these
schemes was revived by the then Prime Minister by
including Workers’ Participation in industry in the
government’s 20-point programme.

• The government started persuading large enterprises to set

up joint consultative committees and councils at different
levels.

• But the response from the employers and employees

stayed lukewarm till the introduction of the workers
participation bill in Rajya Sabha in 1990.
 CASE STUDY
TISCO are the pioneers in establishing joint
consultation in India, it is worthwhile to look at
workers' participation at TISCO. Closer association
of employees with management at TISCO began in
1919 and was formalized in August 1956. The
purpose was to promote increased productivity,
provide a better understanding to the employees of
their role and importance, and to satisfy the urge
for self expression. The scheme as set up at TISCO
consist of a three-tiered system with joint
department councils (JDCs) constituted at the
departmental level. Next, joint works councils
(JWC) for the entire work, and at the top the joint
consultative council of management (JCCM).
The specific functions of these three bodies were as
follows:
JDCs were “to study operational results and
production problems, advice on the steps deemed
necessary to promote and rationalize production,
improve productivity and discipline and economize
cost. Promotion of welfare and safety,
encouragement of suggestions and improvement of
working conditions also fell within their purview.”
JWCs were “to discharge special function of
reviewing every month the working of JDCs and
other committees such as Suggestion Box
Committee, Safety Committee, Canteen Managing
Committee, etc.”
Discussion

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