Involve workers in decision making
Oct 21, 2008
THE NSSF Temangalo land saga is a typical example of how faulty decision-making can hurt the interests of workers. This follows the failed Nsimbe Housing Estate, quarrels over Workers’ House and the questionable purchase of Udyam House (Social Security House). In all cases, workers (not the Govern
Okodan Akwap
THE NSSF Temangalo land saga is a typical example of how faulty decision-making can hurt the interests of workers. This follows the failed Nsimbe Housing Estate, quarrels over Workers’ House and the questionable purchase of Udyam House (Social Security House). In all cases, workers (not the Government or NSSF management) lost billions of shillings. Yet it was management and government officials who took the bad decisions.
It is time for workers to have representation at top decision-making levels. This would make organisations more responsive to the interests of the stakeholders.
The need for workers’ participation in decision-making process is important because workers constitute the bulk of the organisations’ human resource.
There is need for organisations to explore the possibility of participatory management. This will enable workers to contribute ideas to solutions of problems affecting their organisation, their jobs and their interests.
Renown psychologist Abraham Maslow argues that workers need to feel a sense of belongingness to an organisation. When workers are consulted in the making of decisions that directly affect their welfare, they can be motivated to produce more. A decision that hurts workers’ interests de-motivates them, lowers their levels of productivity and breeds bad labour-management relations.
It was understandable that angry workers clamoured for the dismissal of the top managers at the NSSF. Workers’ participation in the NSSF boardroom would restore their faith in a system they now regard as deeply flawed.
The British Institute of Management describes such participation as a practice whereby employees take part in management decision-making “based on the assumption that both employer and the employees have interest in the long-term prospects of the enterprise.â€
The lesson from the Temangalo land saga is; workers should have a say in the critical decision-making processes involving planning and implementation of policies meant to realise organisational goals and objectives.
The writer is the head of the Mass Communication Department Kampala International University
THE NSSF Temangalo land saga is a typical example of how faulty decision-making can hurt the interests of workers. This follows the failed Nsimbe Housing Estate, quarrels over Workers’ House and the questionable purchase of Udyam House (Social Security House). In all cases, workers (not the Government or NSSF management) lost billions of shillings. Yet it was management and government officials who took the bad decisions.
It is time for workers to have representation at top decision-making levels. This would make organisations more responsive to the interests of the stakeholders.
The need for workers’ participation in decision-making process is important because workers constitute the bulk of the organisations’ human resource.
There is need for organisations to explore the possibility of participatory management. This will enable workers to contribute ideas to solutions of problems affecting their organisation, their jobs and their interests.
Renown psychologist Abraham Maslow argues that workers need to feel a sense of belongingness to an organisation. When workers are consulted in the making of decisions that directly affect their welfare, they can be motivated to produce more. A decision that hurts workers’ interests de-motivates them, lowers their levels of productivity and breeds bad labour-management relations.
It was understandable that angry workers clamoured for the dismissal of the top managers at the NSSF. Workers’ participation in the NSSF boardroom would restore their faith in a system they now regard as deeply flawed.
The British Institute of Management describes such participation as a practice whereby employees take part in management decision-making “based on the assumption that both employer and the employees have interest in the long-term prospects of the enterprise.â€
The lesson from the Temangalo land saga is; workers should have a say in the critical decision-making processes involving planning and implementation of policies meant to realise organisational goals and objectives.
The writer is the head of the Mass Communication Department Kampala International University