Direct participation and the quality of work

Abstract

The article compares the importance for the quality of work of three forms of direct participation – individual task discretion, semi-autonomous teamwork and consultative participation – drawing on a representative national survey of British employees. It assesses their implications for employee welfare, specifically their subjective importance, their implications for learning new skills and their effects on psychological well-being. It finds that individual task discretion is the most effective form of direct participation, followed by consultative participation. Although there are also positive effects of semi-autonomous teamwork, these are weaker and less consistently significant. The article finds that the strength of the implications of direct participation vary between employees, particularly by occupational class and the importance employees attach to the use of initiative at work. However, with the exception of those with weak initiative orientation, its effects are generally positive across different categories of employee.