Workers Participation in Decision Making and Job Satisfaction in Organizations:A Case Study of Bayelsa State Universal Basic Education Board

Scientific Study from the year 2010 in the subject Leadership and Human Resources - Miscellaneous, language: English, abstract: This study aimed at evaluating the impact of workers participation in the decision-making process on job satisfaction, industrial harmony, and productivity in organizations, with particular reference to the Universal Basic Education Board in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Built around the survey design, two hundred and eighty-four (284) respondents were reached through a multi-stage sampling method and questionnaire was used as the instrument for collecting primary data, while relying on the library for secondary data. Data from the field was subjected to description by simple percentages, but drawing of inference was done through the use of the chi-square statistical test. Pivoted by the Achievement-Power-Affiliation motivation theory of David Mcclelland, the study acknowledges the difficulty in measuring productivity in this context. Data that emerge reveal that there is a direct relationship between the degree of workers participation in the various organizational decision making processes and job satisfaction, industrial harmony, and productivity. The study, thus, concludes that if workers actively participate in the decision making processes of organization, certainly job satisfaction would breed industrial harmony, which ultimately would ensure higher productivity. To this end, the study recommends, among others, that industrial unions in organizations be strengthened by managements, and workers should be enlightened on their right to seize opportunity of involvement in decision making and trained in the art of constructive participation in the various processes in organizations.