Streaning Star Trek: Insurrection Full Movie
6 years ago
Monday, October 13, 2008
Defining Participation (Ch 8)
I never stopped and really thought of democratic participation at work and what it meant for me. I suppose that my definition would be something like taking into consideration everyone’s input. If I asked myself is this something that really happens in the work place? I would probably say that it depends on the level at which decisions are made. My perception is that democratic participation happens more towards the top of the organization, not in lower levels. My manager often asks for my option but has never, once, done what I suggested. So now, I only tell him what he wants to hear. Some organization promote being democratic but are not really.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I agree that many organizations try to present themselves as democratic, but they're really quite autocratic. I like to think of my department as democratic, but we generally only involve tenure-track and long-term lecturers in decision making. And students are never included (unless we let them, as with ideas for the department's tagline, which the tenure-track faculty ultimately chose). It may be that full participation isn't essential. Do I really want to participate in all organization decisions, such as if the university should devise a new fundraising campaign? Not really. But there are decisions that those in upper administration make without involving faculty and staff (and students) that have a direct impact on our lives. For example, faculty teaching online were not involved at all in choosing the new Blackboard learning management system. So people who don't even use it made the decision--and it turned out to be a poor one.
Your experience with your boss is quite common and the reason why information often doesn't travel up the organization's hierarchy--even important information--because managers have indicated there's only certain stuff they want to know about.
So am I. I have always thought that democratic participation at work was the same as taking into consideration everyone’s input. But so far I have seen, that is not what it really means when it comes to lower levels within the organization.
The group I work with attends a weekly meeting. Usually prior to this meeting the team lead sends an email asking if anyone has anything to add to the meeting agenda. Although some of the topics are included to the meeting agenda, they rarely become practice within the group.
I strongly doubt that the same would happen if the suggestion had been provided by a team lead or a manager. It comes to what you said: it is all about what the organization wants to hear. Being democratic is a slogan that many companies carry, but only some few understand the real meaning of it.
I totally agree. It’s kind of annoying when management makes you think that your opinion counts, but really they are just trying to make you think that your opinion counts. I think this is a good tactic to improve employee morale, however, when management asks for input and then ignores it, they are doing more harm than good. Management should at least recognize different peoples input and efforts. Some organizations try to be democratic, but this process must take place from the top down.
I think it’s unfortunate that employees sometimes resort to telling their bosses only what they want to hear. I believe this is a poor reflection on management.
I have a comment along the same lines: democratic outlines appear in the company literature, but realistic operation goes according to the rank, not the file. In training courses, democratic ideals are taught and encouraged: ask questions, give input, get involved, be entrepreneuristic. But when there are problems in stores, the only person responsible is the manager. What this implies, I think, is that willingness to listen to other suggestions, or make decisions as a store, would involve some acknowledgment that the store manager doesn't know everything. Of course, people all readily admit that, but showing it through democratic decision-making processes is entirely another matter. Of course, if the store is succeeding, there is no need to be upset. It's when there's a problem that these things come up.
Post a Comment