Workers Experience of Participation: The Case of British Rail

Abstract

The paper reports the results of secondary analysis of data from a random sample survey of the attitudes of British Rail employees to worker participation in management decision-making. The aim of the secondary analysis was to determine empirically which elements of the concept of participation formed a coherent interconnected set. The analysis shows that the job experience and the opportunity to be involved in various kinds of decision making affect attitudes to participation. These environmental prerequisites are matched by person-centered characteristics such as the internalization of the concept of responsibility and a positive orientation toward the task of processing information. Paradoxically, it is established that management's critics come mostly from those who are positively disposed to participation and already have a limited experience of it. It is argued that job design and organizational structure have educational potential with respect to increased worker participation.