Participative Management and Job Satisfaction: Lessons for Management Leadership

Researchers and practitioners in both the public and private sectors agree that participative management improves employees' job satisfaction. Public agencies have also turned to strategic planning to enhance government performance and accountability. This study explores the relationship between participative management in the context of the strategic planning and job satisfaction in local government agencies. The results of multiple regression analysis show that managers' use of a participative management style and employees' perceptions of participative strategic planning processes are positively associated with high levels of job satisfaction. The study also finds that effective supervisory communications in the context of the strategic planning process are positively associated with high levels of job satisfaction. The study suggests that participative management that incorporates effective supervisory communications can enhance employees' job satisfaction. In this regard, organizational leaders in the public sector should emphasize changing organizational culture from the traditional pattern of hierarchical structure to participative management and empowerment.1