Food-Service-Manual-for-Health-Care-Institutions

who have seen programs, processes, and managers come and go may feel that this is just
another empty effort. For employees who view the manager as being lazy or abdicating responsibilities,
this may be the thought at first glance, but a manager who continues to encourage
and support them eventually wins their allegiance.
A third obstacle to participative management may be the employees’ level of development.
Without adequate training and information, employees are incapable of providing input.
Managers must be responsible for employee education so as to ensure success while providing
constant feedback and praise. Again, not all employees desire autonomy on the job or opportunity
for input.
If cultural differences provide a stumbling block to empowerment, managers must recognize
this opportunity and find a way to use the differences. Chapter 8 further discusses the issue
of cultural differences.
Fear of failure or job insecurity can hamper employee involvement. Fear that the manager
is “setting me up to fail so I can be fired” may be unfounded, but it is up to the manager to
reassure employees. This can be done by starting at the basic level and allowing the employees
to offer suggestions but taking the ultimate responsibility for the decision until employees are
trusting enough to move beyond this level.
Managers themselves can be obstacles to a participative work environment. Those who “grew
up” (that is, developed their management styles) in non-participative environments may face some
of the same fears their employees do in trying to change to participatory management. They may
not be willing to give up the power and authority that come with their position, feeling that they
worked hard for it and that by sharing it, they somehow admit their inadequacy. It may also appear
to some managers that by sharing their power and authority, they—and therefore their jobs—
become devalued. It may be difficult for some managers to give up responsibility and authority
because they need to be in control and to know what is going on. Being responsible and knowledgeable
is possible in a participative environment if the manager is a member of the overall team.
Managers who simply may not have the skills and information necessary to be participative leaders
will have to defer to the organization’s responsibility for making this knowledge available.
Summary
An emphasis on customer satisfaction, continuous quality improvement, and increased demands
from employees for participation places more demand on managers to become effective leaders.
A practical approach to leadership can be established using the styles identified by Kenneth
Blanchard and colleagues—directing, coaching, supporting, and delegating. Each style requires
leaders to be flexible in the application of their style based on employees’ developmental level
and the task’s complexity.
An effective leader is flexible and possesses both technical expertise and interpersonal
skills. The application of these skills is important to accomplishing the management functions
of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Interpersonal skills are extremely important
to creating and nurturing a participative work environment that enables employees and allows
them to be active in decision making. Managers who advocate a participative setting possess
skills for communicating effectively, training, coaching, sharing decision making, team building,
providing rewards and recognition, delegating work, removing obstacles, and bridging
gaps with other departments.
Providing a collaborative environment for employees stimulates their feelings of self-worth
and inspires a commitment to the organization. Empowerment can be simplistic and allow only
suggestion involvement or be more complex and allow for involvement with job design and
completion and decision making. Creating a participative work environment takes time and
requires change on the part of managers and employees. It is an evolutionary process that can
suffer setbacks due to obstacles. These roadblocks can be overcome with understanding and
persistence on the part of employees and managers.
Leadership: Managing for Change
47