New Survey Shows Employee Participation Slow to Get Started

A report from the University of Southern California shows that only 10% of the Fortune 1000 companies are engaged in sophisticated approaches to participative management. The study was commissioned by the Association for Quality and Participation. According to the study, 37% of all employees have no involvement in any company decisions. Thirty-one percent can make recommendations, but have no power to act and get little information or training to help them. Just 12% of the employees participate in teams, but this group only receives information directly related to its work. Ten percent of the employees participate in broad corporate issues, receive extensive information and training, and have information on how the group processes relate to overall business conditions. The study shows that companies that share power broadly have consistently better financial results. The return on sales, for instance, was 10.3% among high involvement firms and 6.3% among low involvement firms.