Employee Participation and Empowerment Programs

Abstract

Describes how employee participation and empowerment programs (EPEPs) – the involvement of workers and groups in the decision‐making process and the empowerment of employees and groups in a flat organizational structure – are necessary for organizational effectiveness. Argues, however, that they are difficult to implement and to maintain after they have been implemented because organizational culture is difficult to change. Poses many questions which need answers before such programs can be effectively implemented and maintained, suggesting that while we may know that such programs are imperative for organizational effectiveness, there is still much to be learned about what such programs really are and what their real purpose is.