Employee participatory mechanism used in Organizations:Evidence from Moi university, Kenya

Abstract

Participatory management approach has become part and parcel of management in modern organization and its relevance in Moi University cannot be gainsaid. This study sought to: identify the types of participative mechanisms used at Moi University and investigate the views of employees toward participatory management system. A survey design was adopted as a framework to guide the study. The study targeted 2536 employees but a sample of 507 drawn proportionately across the entire organizational hierarchy, was selected using Stratified random sampling procedure to participate in the study. Participatory management was found to be beneficial to the organization in many ways such as boosting the employee morale, improving quality of decisions and trust between management and employees. However, its implementation in public institution must be done within the limits set in the statutes that created the organization. It was concluded that participatory management has not been very effective in Moi University because of management’s reluctance to share power, non-liberal information sharing, and crisis of confidence and lack of preparedness on the part of workers representations. It was recommended that university management should try to introduce changes that would reduce the current bureaucratic procedures that are in place in order to expand the space for employee participation.