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Employee Empowerment and Job Satisfaction: A Study of the
Employees in the Food Manufacturing Sector in Zimbabwe
Zuvarashe Judith Mushipe (PhD) Assistant Professor, ST Thomas
University, Miami Gardens, Florida, USA
Abstract
This study is based on the Zimbabwe employee involvement model
that focuses on three
areas which are decision-making, information-sharing and power
sharing. The model was
initiated in the country in the 1980s as a way of empowering
employees in different
companies in the land. Government initiated the model as a way
of addressing the inevitable
change in the business environment. The study carried out in the
Food Manufacturing Sector
argues that involving employees in decision-making,
information-sharing and power sharing
results into the employees experiencing job satisfaction. The
study is in a case study format
was carried out in four different companies in Zimbabwe. After
experiencing a number of
obstacles data was obtained and analyzed. The results indicated
a positive relationship
between employee involvement and job satisfaction.
Key words: Employee Empowerment, Employee involvement, Change,
Resistance to
change, Job Satisfaction.
Introduction
Research Objective
The research objective is to establish the impact of employee
empowerment/involvement or lack of it on employee job satisfaction.
The construct of employee empowerment/involvement is broken down to
include decision-making, information sharing and power sharing.
Propositions Proposition 1: Decision-making is positively
associated with job satisfaction. Proposition 2: Information
sharing results in job satisfaction Proposition 3: Power sharing
results in job satisfaction
Need for Change In the 1980s the Zimbabwe Government initiated
an empowerment model that
recommended employee involvement in the general running of the
organizations they worked
for. This was a way of addressing the changes that were taking
place in the general business
environment. The empowerment model conceived under the umbrella
of the Labour Act
included some aspects of the workers committees and works
councils.
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Change is necessitated by the escalating development of global
markets, increasing
rapid changes in work technologies, shifting workforce and
customer demographics, and
increased emphasis on quality, productivity, customer
satisfaction and flexibility in products
and services (Hammuda and Dulaimi, 1997). The driving forces for
change are well known: new technology, new types of competition,
economic uncertainty, evolving customer needs,
deregulation, globalization and fragmentation of markets. So
many factors argue for change
that to not change is to assure obsolescence (Lawler 111, 1991).
Subsequently, given the
changes in the environment, the need to change the way
organizations conduct business has
never been greater.
Literature has it that the environment people work in can shape
their attitudes and
behaviour in either positive or negative ways; and that being
the case an understanding of
how individuals in organizations are influenced by the
organizational context becomes
imperative (Robertson, 1994). As Bayat (1991) observes human
beings as history has
repeatedly shown, tend to develop a strong desire to exercise
control over their own lives, and
by the same token to reject attempts by other humans to restrict
their freedom.
Employee Involvement
Empirical research has recommended empowerment as a change
strategy that
will align organizations with the changes in the environment
(Nykodym, Simonetti,
Nielsen and Welling, 1994; Alkahtani, 2000; Des and Peken,
2000). Employee
empowerment here refers to sharing of information among
individuals who are
otherwise hierarchically unequal (Locke and Schweiger, 1979;
Wagner, 1994; Hickey
and Casner- Lotto 1998), the involvement of employees in
decision-making
(Nykodym et al., 1994; Cotton, 1988) and sharing of power (Pun,
Chin and Gill,
2001). At the same time Johnson and Thurston (1997), give
examples of TRW,
Hercules, Whirlpool and McClanahan Book Companies as
organizations that have
realized organizational benefits from their empowerment
initiatives.
Contextualization of employee involvement In this study employee
involvement is synonymous to worker- participation in
decision-making, information sharing and power sharing and that
is also generally
equated to employee empowerment. The three aspects of employee
involvement
address how one perceives his/her total work situation to be an
important part of his
life and central to him / her and his/her identity because of
the opportunity it (the
work situation) affords him/her to meet important needs. Central
to that definition is
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the notion of the opportunity to meet important needs. For
someone to feel that
opportunity they need to have power to participate in decision-
making and
information to make informed decisions. However,
decision-making, information-
sharing and power sharing are very much intricately interlinked.
The components are
further explained for a better understanding of each
construct.
Different attributes of the constructs of employee involvement
discussed in this study
are decision-making, information sharing and power sharing.
(a) (b) (c)
Literature Review Employee involvement or empowerment is a
complex concept; it tends to
mean different things to different people. According to Nielsen
and Pedersen, (2001),
employee empowerment as defined by (McClelland, 1975; Conger and
Kanungo,
1988) may be seen as part of the broader concept of employee
involvement which
also includes participative management (Lawler et al., 1992;
Cummings and
Worley, 1997) job enrichment (Hackman and Oldham, 1980), and
industrial
democracy (Poole, 1986. The term empowerment is elastic and so
it is not always
clear what it means in different organizations (Wilkinson1998;
Dainty, et al, 2002). Notions of empowerment are derived from
theories of participative management and
employee involvement (Spreitzer, Kizilos and Nason, 1997). The
theories of participative
management advocate that managers share decision- making power
with employees to
enhance performance and work satisfaction (Wagner111, 1994).
Lawler 111, (1991) on the
other hand argues that employee involvement emphasizes cascading
power, information,
rewards, and training to the lowest level possible in the
organizational hierarchy to increase
worker discretion. As it turns out employee involvement is a
multidimensional concept.
Decision-making Planning daily activities Setting targets
Setting policies and procedures Using personal judgment
Information sharing Team work Suggestion boxes Feedback
Consultation with supervisor
Power sharing Ownership programs Labor-management partnerships
Profit sharing
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However, in this study employee involvement is about
decision-making, information sharing
and power sharing.
Some researchers have also equated it to decision-making. For
example Nykodym et
al., (1994) posit that employee empowerment or participative
decision-making is neither a
new or simple management concept; while Bowen and Lawler, (1992)
point out that
empowerment enables employees to make decisions and Pastor
(1996) emphasizes the taking
of responsibility for decisions made. From a mechanist or
top-down approach, employee
involvement is about delegation and accountability (Quinn and
Spreitzer, 1999). Collins
(1996) argues that that is a narrow definition of empowerment
since it hinges more on
accountability than any wider change in the process of work and
decision-making which
might be implied by a more active modeling of empowerment.
According to Olshfski and Cunningham (1998), empowerment is
about delegation or
sharing of power, authority or responsibility by those in the
organizational structure to those
lower levels of the organization. This in essence is the process
of decentralizing decision-
making in an organization where managers give more discretion
and autonomy to the front-
.line managers. Wagner 111, (1994) calls it a process in which
influence is shared among
individuals who are otherwise hierarchically unequal. Collins
(1995) sees that as a limiting
type of empowerment as at the end of it, the workers are
empowered only in the sense that
they have a greater responsibility to act within a narrow sphere
and then held accountable for
their limited action.
Hickey and Casner-Lotto (1998:58) state that empowerment is
about delegating
directly to non-management employees a significant amount of
decision-making authority
commonly reserved for managers. They further argue that a truly
participative organization is
characterized by work systems that are structured to make
employee involvement ongoing.
This is what Estad (1997) refers to as the involvement of
everyone, including both
management and employees, that results into the disappearance of
boundaries between formal
and informal leader to that of an inclusive organization where
there are leaders of leaders.
At that level everyone in the organization feels empowered. That
kind of participatory
management practice in a way balances the involvement of
managers and their subordinates
in information sharing, decision-making or problem solving
endeavors (Wagner 111, 1994).
However, (Hammuda and Dulaimi, 1997) posit that empowerment is
not meant to be a
delegation revisited, but rather a wider meaning of employees
controlling their own destinies.
Conger and Kanungo (1988), define empowerment as a process of
enhancing feelings
of self-efficacy among organizational members through the
identification of conditions that
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foster powerlessness and through their removal by both formal
organizational practices and
informal techniques of providing efficacy information. Brewer
(1994), lending support to
Conger and Kanungos definition, posits that empowerment entails
suggestion involvement
that culminates into suggestion schemes, quality circles and job
involvement where
employees are in control of their jobs by designing job
content.
Collins, (1995) argues that democratic empowerment, represents a
much more active,
or activist model of empowerment that is representative of a
process whereby workers gain or
assume power and represent a process in which workers act with a
greater grasp and sense of
their own powers. Consequently, empowerment only truly occurs
when workers actively
take the initiative and attempt to wrest control from managers
(ibid).
Pun, Chin and Gill, (2001) points out that empowerment is a
process whereby
employees are taking part or having shares in managerial
decision - making. They further
point out that true involvement draws people on the hierarchy up
to the levels above them and
then shares the power that is available. They however, point out
that many conventional
managers would see employee involvement as the giving away of
control since true
involvement draws people lower on the hierarchy up to the levels
above them and then shares
the power that is available. Most definitions of empowerment
refer to some aspect of control-
control over decision making, control over work processes,
control over performance goals
and measurement, and /or control over other people (Howard and
Foster, 1999).
Ford and Fottler, (1995) emphasize that the empowerment
process
necessitates the sharing of information and knowledge necessary
to enable
employees to contribute to organizational performance. At the
same time Bluestone
and Bluestone (1997) posits that participation turns out to work
best when it is
organized jointly between union and management and when workers
have a voice
independent from management that cannot be unilaterally stifled.
Obviously, the
transfer of power and decision making authority, are at the
centre of the
empowerment process. As Gilbert (1991) puts it, empowerment is
about trust, and
most importantly it is about accountability. On the other hand
Johnson and Thurston
(1997), adopted a thematic definition after their study of
Multicorp, and decided to
define empowerment in the context of authority, control and
trust.
Taking a holistic approach to defining employee involvement,
Kinlaw (1996) points
out that it is the process of achieving continuous improvement
in an organizations
performance by developing and extending the competent influence
of individuals and teams
over the areas and functions that affect their performance and
that of the total organization.
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He adds that empowerment also requires structural and systematic
changes in the
organization, like shortening the lines of communication and
modifying reward systems.
As can be derived from the above definitions, empowerment has
been glorified as a
splendid (Olshfski and Cunningham, 1998). The linking thread in
the employee involvement
concept is the encouragement of employees including management
to utilize their skills and
experience by giving them power to use more judgment and
discretion in their work. Simply
put it is the involvement of employees in decision- making,
information sharing and power
sharing.
Decision Making
Making decisions closer to the point at which they are actually
carried out has
advantages and provide economic motivations (Malone, 1997). At
the same time people are
more energetic and creative if they have autonomy in both how
they work and what they do
(ibid). In the empowerment models they advanced, Nykodym et al.,
(1994) and Cotton,
(1988), emphasized decision-making as a major determinant of
participation. Dainty et al.,
(2002); Ford and Fottler (1997), posit that genuine empowerment
is likely to include
decision-making authority over not just job content, but job
context as well.
Information sharing
Marketers define information sharing as internal marketing or
two- way
communication (Davis 2001). Under such conditions, employees are
listened to and
encouraged to provide their input and ideas. Ideally, much more
information should
be shared with employees. The intent is to find out what
employees think and want, so
programs can be adapted based on the employees input (ibid).
Information is at the very core of what makes a group of people
an
organization (Lawler 111, 1991). Apparently, information has
been identified as a
source of power and effectiveness in organizational
co-ordination and cooperation;
and without it, employee participation and involvement become
impractical and
dangerous (ibid). Moreover, decision-makers frequently have
access to information
that helps them make good decisions (Malone, 1997).
The empowerment process necessitates the sharing of information
and
knowledge to enable employees to contribute to organizational
performance (Ford and
Fottler, 1995). In support of Ford and Fottler, Hammuda and
Dulaimi (1997) argue
that part of the empowerment program is to provide the necessary
information for
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employees to enable them to perform their jobs autonomously and
effectively.
Consequently, sharing of information is important as it enables
individuals to make
informed decisions. British Gas implemented an employee
suggestion program which
resulted in the company realizing positive results (Estad,
1997).
Power Sharing
In this study power sharing is the same as authority. According
to Websters College
dictionary authority is the power to settle issues. The workers
in the Zimbabwe firms are
empowered by having a say in the running of the organization
through the workers
committees, works council, employee ownership and profit sharing
schemes. Paul, Niehoff
and Tromley, (2000), point out that suggestion systems, gain
sharing plans and quality circles
are part of parallel suggestion involvement. The schemes are
also in tandem with Conger and
Kanungos (1988) assertion that the empowerment process enhances
feelings of self-efficacy
among organizational members through the identification of
conditions that foster
powerlessness and through their removal by both formal
organizational practices and informal
techniques of providing efficacy information.
Pun, Chin and Gill (2001) argue that true involvement draws
people on the
hierarchy up to the level above them and then share the power
that is available.
Olshfski and Cunningham, (1998) also point out that empowerment
involves the
sharing of power, authority or responsibility by those in the
organizational structure to
those lower levels of the organization. Changes in ownership,
such as employee stock
ownership plans, and changes in reward systems, such as profit
sharing and gain
sharing are attempts to involve employees in organizational
decision-making (Paul et
al., 2000). Employee ownership tends to increase workers desire
for control and the
ownership rights may include the rights to information,
decision-making and in
general, increased participation (Bartkus, 1997)
Outcome of Employee Empowerment
According to the research question the outcome of employee
involvement is job
satisfaction. Employee empowerment has been contextualized to
include decision-
making, information sharing and power sharing.
Job Satisfaction
Job satisfaction is an area that has been well researched in the
industrial and
organizational psychology literature. However, it is a concept
that is still surrounded
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by controversy because much of the literature is inconclusive in
nature Morgan et.
al,(1995). Defining job satisfaction is problematic since it has
been considered in a variety of
ways, and defined differently in various studies (Lam, Zhang and
Baum, 2000). They further
argue that if there is consensus about job satisfaction, it is
the verbal expression of an
incumbents evaluation of his/her job. The popular definition
that has been made reference to
in the literature is that advanced by Locke, (1976). He defined
the concept of job satisfaction
as a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the
appraisal of ones job or job
experiences. Locke further argues that the satisfaction is
achieved when one realizes ones
important job values provided these are congruent with or help
to fulfill ones basic needs.
The values or conditions conducive to job satisfaction are:
Mentally challenging work which the individual can cope
successfully Personal interest in the work itself Work that is not
too physically tiring Rewards for performance that are just,
informative and in line with the
individuals personal aspirations
Working conditions that are compatible with the individuals
physical needs and that facilitate the accomplishment of his
work
High self esteem on the part of the employee Agents in the work
place who help the employee to attain job values such
as interesting work, pay and promotions, whose basic values are
similar to
his own, and who minimize role conflict and ambiguity.
Lockes definition in this case incorporates both Maslows (1954)
hierarchy of
human needs and Hertzbergs (1960, 1976) two- factor theory.
However the list of
values reads more like a long shopping list that is also
cosmetic in nature because at the
end of it all it is rather difficult to understand what job
satisfaction really means.
However, the majority of researchers have defined job
satisfaction based on Lockes
(1976) definition. For example (Lam, Baum and Pine, 2001;
Schwepker Jr. (2001);
Lam, Zhang and Baum (2000); Testa, (1999); and Weiss, (1976);
Kalleberg, 1977;
Locke, 1976; Smith, Kendall and Hulin, (1969) and Currivan,
(1999), defined job
satisfaction as the degree of positive emotions an employee has
toward a work role.
Robbins and Coulter (1996); Currivan, (1999) highlighting the
attitudinal nature of the
construct stated that job satisfaction is an employees general
attitude towards his or her
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job. Spector (1997 simply defined job satisfaction as the
feeling people have about their
jobs and different aspects of their jobs. He concludes by saying
that it is an attitudinal
variable.
A few studies on job satisfaction have tried to define it
slightly differently. For
example (Currivan, 1999) defined job satisfaction just as an
employee attitude or
orientation; and Spector (1997) posits that the attitudinal
perspective has become the
predominant one in the study of job satisfaction. Ivancevich, et
al., (1997), also defined
job satisfaction as an attitude that individuals have about
their jobs; which results from
their perception of their jobs and the degree to which there is
a good fit between the
individual and the organization.
Schwepker, (2001), argued that job satisfaction may be both
intrinsic
and extrinsic. Internally, satisfaction is derived from mediated
rewards such as the job
itself and opportunities for personal growth and accomplishment.
Externally,
satisfaction is derived from mediated rewards such as
satisfaction with pay, company
policies and support, supervision, fellow workers, chances for
promotion and
customers. On the other hand McGue and Gianakis (1997), define
job satisfaction by
conceptualizing it. They highlight the elements of job
satisfaction that include the actual
work and its outcomes, or intrinsic job satisfaction pay,
benefits and other rewards
directly associated with doing the work, or extrinsic job
satisfaction. Included also is the
environment in which the work is done, including relations with
coworkers,
organizational culture, the organizations policies and
procedures, participation in
decision making, involvement with the organization, and job
status. That definition
encompasses almost every theme that describes employees
attitudes.
The thread that runs through the different authors definitions
is that of
attitudes, orientation and the fact that job satisfaction may be
intrinsic and extrinsic.
Based on the definitions, it appears that the employee
involvement program in this
study has both intrinsic and extrinsic attributes. The
decision-making and information
sharing through the workers committees, team briefing system are
intrinsic while profit-
sharing; and employee shares are extrinsic.
Employee involvement and Job Satisfaction
As it turns out, the assessment of employee attitudes such as
job satisfaction has
become a common activity in organizations in which management is
concerned with the
physical and psychological wellbeing of people (Spector, 1997).
Rosenberg (2009) also
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amplifies the importance of employee involvement when she cited
resource-transformation as
the movement of information rather than materials within an
organization. Akbar, Yousaf,
Haq and Hunjira(2011) in their empirical research assessing the
impact of employee
empowerment and job satisfaction found a positive relationship
between the two.
Nykodym, Simonetti, Nielsen and Welling (1994) assert that even
the earliest
research findings suggested that great potential existed for
improving job satisfaction
and performance through the use of worker participation as could
be seen through
Japans quality circles. Results from some studies showed a
positive correlation
between job satisfaction and consultative participation (ibid).
Some researchers also
found a positive relationship between empowerment and job
satisfaction. For example
Rinehart and Short (1994) found a strong and positive
relationship between
empowerment and job satisfaction. Dennis (1999) also found a
strong relationship
between the variables of employee involvement and job
satisfaction in his search for
factors influencing job satisfaction in the prison
environment.
Some interesting positive links between employee involvement and
job
satisfaction have been found in the nursing field. For example,
Kanter (1993) in her
studies argued that in nursing, empowerment has been shown to
predict important
organizational outcomes, such as trust in management, perceived
control over
nursing, organizational commitment and job satisfaction.
Nykodym, et al.1994) assert that participation causes greater
job satisfaction
because the employee feels more valued and trusted by management
and because the
worker gains a better understanding of management difficulties
by dealing with some
of the same problems. A positive correlation between job
satisfaction and consultative
participation was demonstrated in six different areas:
participation in work decision,
consultative participation, short-term participation, informal
participation, employee
ownership, and representative participation.
At the same time a positive relation was also found between
informal
participation and job satisfaction and employee ownership and
participation. The
relation between representative participation and job
satisfaction was found to be
positive for at least the representatives. However the relation
between work decisions
and job satisfaction was found to be positive among supervisors
and management.
That type of an analogy is in line with the Zimbabwean
empowerment model that has
all the types of participation as outlined by Nykodym at al.,
1994). Finn, (2001) also
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highlighted the link between autonomy and job satisfaction
established during a
physicians strike in Israel. Nurses were forced into a full
autonomous practice to
provide primary care and 31 percent of the nurses reported a
significant increase in
job satisfaction due to the increased autonomy.
Equating an Employee to a Customer
Borrowing literature from the marketing discipline, an employee
can be
equated to a customer to show the importance of job
satisfaction. Rust, Stewart,
Miller and Pielack (1996) equate an employee to a customer since
both have needs
and wants that have to be satisfied. Customer needs and wants
are satisfied when they
perceive goods and services to have value that meet or exceed
their expectations
(ibid). By the same token, employee needs and wants are
satisfied when they perceive
that they are empowered by the organization in the form of
information sharing,
decision-making and power sharing.
Davis (2001), pointing at the link between information and job
satisfaction,
highlights the example of Sears Roebuck that is investing in
rewarding managers who
improve employee satisfaction levels by consulting the
employees. Again the
examples that come out of the literature are from western
countries only and nothing
from the third world let alone Zimbabwe. In this study job
satisfaction is
conceptualized as the degree of positive emotions an employee
has toward a work
role (Kalleberg, 1977; Locke, 1976; Smith, Kendall, and Hulin,
1969; Currivan,
2000). Put simply, it is the degree to which people like their
jobs (Spector, 1997).
Conclusion on Literature Review
What comes out of the literature reviewed is that empowerment is
about
participative decision-making or autonomy. Participative
decision-making is a
situation in which decisions pertaining to activities are
arrived at, by the very persons
who are to execute those decisions (Hammuda and Dulaimi, (1997).
At the same time
there is the notion of information sharing. Part of the
empowerment program is to
provide the necessary information for employees to enable them
to perform their jobs
autonomously and effectively (ibid). There is also the sharing
of power, authority or
responsibility in this whole empowerment exercise. Ford and
Fottler (1997), and
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Dainty et al., (2002), posit that genuine empowerment is likely
to include decision-
making authority over not just job content but job context as
well.
Forrester (2000) argues that to understand empowerment
requires
understanding what power is. Power as defined by Luke (1974) in
Forrester (2000) is
the capacity to obtain the results one wants. Power is further
defined by (Pfeiffer,
1981; Kotter, 1976; McClelland and Burnham, 1976), as the
ability of those who
possess power to bring about the outcomes they desire or ability
to get ones way. In
organizational change it is necessary that the employees possess
power to bring about
the outcomes they desire. That empowerment is achieved through
employees
participation in decision-making, information sharing and power
sharing. Arthur
(1994) also argues that, although there is growing evidence that
managers
involvement in lower echelon employees is necessary in todays
business
environment, many managers are hesitant to involve lower echelon
employees
because of the fear of losing control (ibid). That then calls
for an element of trust on
the part of management. From the literature it has been
established that empowerment
is linked to job satisfaction.
METHODOLOGY This section of the study narrates the information
gathering process
undertaken in this study. The research question was is there a
link between employee
involvement and job satisfaction? The purpose of the inquiry was
exploratory and
was meant to find out what was happening in different companies
and to seek new
insights to the concept of employee involvement. Remenyi, et
al., (1998) observe that
there are at least three major philosophical questions that
should be addressed at the
outset of the research. The questions are: why research, what to
research and how to
research? In order to address the questions, propositions that
show the relationship
between employee involvement and the construct of job
satisfaction was formulated.
The proposition is that employee involvement/empowerment results
into job
satisfaction.
Research Methods
The qualitative research method employed was two-pronged. It
embraced the
case study and survey strategies. The combination of survey and
case studies (both
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institutional and individual) provides useful complementary
information giving
valuable insights into the issue (Robson, 2001).
Case Study Approach
The case study approach was used to identify the objects of
study in the
manufacturing industry. Although the case study approach should
not be equated to
qualitative study per se, the majority of case studies build on
qualitative data since
that makes it possible to examine complex and rich phenomena
(Huemer 1998). At
the same time the use of cases is advocated from a positivistic,
realist and naturalistic
point of view (Easton, 1995; Eisenhardt 1989, Lincoln and
Guba1985 cited by
Bryman, 1995). According to Yin (1994) case studies are the
preferred strategy when
how and why questions are being posed, when the investigator has
little control
over events, and when the focus is on a contemporary phenomenon
with some real-
life context. Stake (2000) emphasized the case study approach as
an early step in
theory building. When using that method, research is conducted
through an intense
and/or prolonged contact with a field or life situation
(Amaratunga et al., 2002).
The research problem that addresses the influence of employee
involvement on the
construct of job satisfaction is more of a social nature since
it encroaches on issues of
work life.
Survey Approach
The use of the survey method became imperative when access was
denied to
interviewing the lower level employees. At that stage a
questionnaire had to be
designed targeted at the other employees besides the key
informants.
Sampling
Mwanje and Gotu (2001) argue that sampling rather than
complete
enumeration becomes useful in terms of time, cost and available
resources and
practicability. The choice of the industry was influenced by the
size of the sector. The
manufacturing industry is the 3rd largest contributor to the
Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) after agriculture and the distribution, hotels and
restaurant industry (Central
Statistics Office, 2002). It also has the largest number of
blue- collar employees. At
the time of the research there were forty-eight (48) registered
companies which
employed about eighteen thousand (18 000) employees. The four
companies that
formed the sample employed a total of two thousand four hundred
and sixty-two (2
462) employees amongst themselves and that was about fifteen
percent (15%) of the
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work force in the entire industry. The companies have been
operating in the country
for at least 30 years. These companies understood the
political/economic situation
better especially after going through the era of the liberation
struggle, and the
Economic Structural Adjustment Program (ESAP) era.
Sampling Design
Stratified random sampling was used in all four organizations.
The employees
were stratified according to their hierarchical levels, which
are top, middle and low
level, but questionnaires were only given to low level
employees, since that was more
in line with the research question.
Sample Size of low level Participants CO.#1 CO # 2 CO # 3 CO # 4
Total 35 35 35 35 140
FINDINGS
The researcher used the information from the lower level
respondents since that
addressed the research question. The data was all lumped
together since the same
questionnaire was administered to all respondents in all four
companies.
Decision-Making and Job Satisfaction
The proposition being advanced in this section is that employee
involvement
through decision-making results into job satisfaction. The
descriptive data are given in
the form of tables and graphs and not put in the appendices as
recommended by
Saunders et al (1997). The attributes of decision- making
highlighted are depicted in
Table 1 below.
Decision-making and Job Satisfaction Satisfied
(Percent) Not satisfied (Percent)
Number of respondents
Planning daily activities 75 25 98 Setting own targets 75 25 97
Setting procedures 66 34 98 Direct influence on work 71 29 98 Use
of personal judgment 71 29 100 Completion of work/ Multi skilling
62 38 98
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Conclusion on decision-making
Decision-making is an intrinsic motivator under Hertzbergs two
factor motivation
theory. The whole concept of decision-making and job
satisfaction can be equated to
the principle of job design, whose primary motive is to raise
morale of employees. Job
design entails job enrichment and job enlargement, which in this
case are realized in
different forms of decision- making as depicted in Table 1
above. Decision-making
enhances self- actualization, which is the highest need on
Maslows hierarchy of
needs theory. That feeling culminates in meaningfulness of the
job and brings about a
sense of responsibility on the part of the individual (Hackman
and Oldham 1975,
1980 in Burke 1987). The latitude given to employees to make
decisions is a positive
reinforce (Skinner 1953, 1971) as evidenced by the positive job
satisfaction.
Gould (1996) regards employee involvement to be a transformation
strategy
that delegates decision-making to the shop floor of the
organization and it engenders a
sense of process ownership among workers. Bowler and Lawler
(1992) argue that
employee involvement enables employees to make decisions with
the individuals
taking responsibility for their actions. In essence
Organizational Development focuses
on change that will more fully integrate individual needs with
organizational
effectiveness through better utilization of resources,
especially human resources, and
change that will provide more involvement of organization
members in the decisions
that directly affect them and their working conditions (Burke,
1987).
In this era of globalization and information technology it
becomes imperative
to involve employees in decision-making. Organizations with
highly involved
employees can certainly have a competitive advantage over those
with less involved
employees (Alkahtani, 2000). At the same time the empowered
manager is
distinguished from the competent traditional manager by breaking
the rules and by
asking for forgiveness rather than for permission (Quinn, et al
1996).
Information Sharing and job satisfaction
The proposition advanced in this section is that information
sharing through
team-work, availability of suggestion boxes and receiving
feedback on ones
performance results into job satisfaction.
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Information sharing and Job Satisfaction
Agree (Percent)
Disagree (Percent)
No of respondents
Teamwork 71 29 100 Use of suggestion boxes 35 65 100 Feedback
from management 71 29 100 Management consulting with subordinate 73
27 100
The results in Table 2 above show that most employees got job
satisfaction
from information sharing in their organizations. The Labor Act
that recommends
establishment of structures such as the workers committees,
representation through
the trade unions, Works Councils, collective bargaining and the
Tripartite Negotiating
Forum facilitated information sharing. Besides, the
organizations had other home-
grown programs that encouraged information sharing such as the
tombola game,
sunrise project and padare. In that respect the employees felt
committed to their
organizations due to information sharing as they worked in
teams. McClelland (1961
in Kreitner and Kinicki, (1998) equated teamwork to socialized
power (s Pwr).
In the same vein, information sharing is seen as empowering by
Hicky and
Casner-Lotto (1998) in their Participation, Achievement, and
Reward (PAR) Model
that encourages team based work and labour management
partnerships. Integration of
technology and people and communication and information sharing
in general are
also contributory to job satisfaction. Hammuda and Dulaimi
(1997) argue that
information for employees enables them to perform their jobs
autonomously and
effectively. On the other hand Laschinger and Wong, (1999) also
report that factors
such as access to information have a major influence on
employees ability to get
work done.
Information sharing should be taken seriously since it plays an
important role
in overcoming resistance to change. This is at the centre of the
whole exercise of
aligning organizations with the changing environment. Change is
associated with
uncertainties and by making information available, trust is
built. As observed by Kets
de Vries and Balazs (1999) leaders driving change effort need to
empower their
subordinates by sharing information fully, avoiding secrecy and
delegating
responsibility. That aspect of avoiding secrecy is addressed by
the legal structures
such as the Labour Act and its many provisions. According to
Lawler 111 (1991)
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information is at the very core of the development of an
organization and is
fundamental for its success.
Power Sharing and job satisfaction
The proposition advanced in this section is that power sharing
leads to job
satisfaction. Empowerment is realised through power sharing in
general, employee
ownership programmes, labour- management partnership and profit
sharing. In other
words power sharing can be tangible and intangible in
nature.
Power sharing and job satisfaction Satisfied
(Percent) Dissatisfied(Percent)
No of respondents
Power sharing in general 51 49 98 Employee Ownership Programmes
34 66 96 Labour Management Partnership 34 66 96 Profit Sharing 30
70 96
The results in Table 3 above show that most of the employees
were not
satisfied by the level of power sharing in their organizations.
This was despite the fact
that companies, as per the findings, had indicated that they had
expanded the
empowerment model from decision-making and information sharing
to include power
sharing. Power sharing in the form of share ownership has always
been a major
problem in organizations. Subsequently, Government came up with
a number of
policies to address the issue of power sharing. The policies
include Growth with
equity, indigenization, and employee share ownership plans.
McClelland (1961 in Kreiner and Kinicki 1998) argues that there
are basically
two types of power; the socialized power (s Pwr) and
personalized power (n Pwr) and
the two have some influence on power sharing. Naturally, the
owners of capital have a
high need for power which is characterized by the if I win you
lose. From the
results, the organizations seemed oblivious of the fact that
empowerment involves the
sharing of power, authority and responsibility by everyone in
the organizational
structure (Olshfski and Cunningham 1998).
However, it is also natural that many conventional managers
would see
employee involvement as giving away control to workers at lower
levels (Pun, Chin
and Gill 2001). Such managers find it difficult to share power
with subordinates
because of the desire to control. Besides, there is just too
much at stake such as the
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need for control, recognition needs and security, thus managers
hold on to power
(Forester, 2000).
CONCLUSION
The general conclusion in this research is that employee
involvement in
decision making and information sharing results in job
satisfaction. On the other hand
power sharing as part of employee involvement was found not to
be positively linked
to job satisfaction; the reason being that power sharing was
rarely practiced in the
organizations studied.
Decision-making
The study showed that participation in decision-making is
positively linked to
job satisfaction. Decision-making is a very important aspect of
empowerment. It
embraces a number of areas such as self-governance, freedom and
self-control. In this
study it embraced such attributes as individuals involvement in
setting own targets
and use of personal judgment among others. That aspect of
involvement enhances the
individual employees self- actualization. At the same time
decision-making as an
empowerment strategy engenders process ownership among workers
and that can
result in competitive advantage over other organizations that do
not involve
employees. Employee involvement brings about a sense of
belonging and that
psychological bond ties the employee to the organization.
Information sharing
The study showed a positive link between information sharing and
job
satisfaction. Information sharing facilitates the whole
empowerment exercise in a
number of ways. For example it is of paramount importance in
overcoming resistance
to change. In this study the Labor Act played a pivotal role in
the provision of
information and the establishment of workplace democracy.
Management taking
cognizance of the importance of information sharing promoted
teamwork in their
firms to the extent of coming up with new programs as the
Sunrise Project, Tombola
and Padare.
Information sharing is the epitome of teamwork and it
encompasses feedback.
The importance of feedback is to find out what employees think
and want so
programs can be adapted based on the employee input.
Information- sharing in a
changing business environment such as the one experienced in
Zimbabwe is of
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paramount importance. Organisations have to align themselves
with the changes by
keeping their fingers on the pulse of the changing environment.
Suggestion boxes as
information sharing tool may sound trivial, but to the workers
that was something
within their reach. However, management did not seem to take
that information
seriously and that obviously, had a negative impact on
employees.
Power -sharing
When asked about power sharing in general a positive
relationship between
power sharing and job satisfaction appeared, but by a very
narrow margin. When it
came to the specifics of power sharing, no association was
established between power
sharing and job satisfaction. That was attributed to the natural
mistrust between labor
and management and the fact that many conventional managers
would see employee
involvement as giving away control to workers at low levels. The
major bone of
contention was the ownership programs and the profit sharing
schemes. Organizations
seemed not to be aware of the strength of empowerment to those
at the lower levels of
the hierarch. Power sharing is supposed to empower workers and
enhance feelings of
self-efficacy. Identification and removal of conditions that
render organizational
members powerless is an essential part of the process and that
was found to be lacking
in this study.
Naturally, power is difficult to share with subordinates and it
becomes more
problematic when it involves the owners of capital and the
workers. The Zimbabwean
situation is worsened by the fact that the majority of the
business enterprises are
multinationals who symbolize classic capitalism, where workers
are separated from
ownership and control of the means of production. However,
separation of workers
and capital results in critical conflict of interests and that
must be addressed if the
firms are to remain dynamically competitive.
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