Personnel Reforms and Formal Participation Structures: the Case of the Biloxi Merit Councils

Abstract

This article attempts to demonstrate that personnel reform can be implemented much more smoothly if formal employee participation groups are established to ease system development and acceptance. Based on the experience of Biloxi, Mississippi, in its implementation of a merit pay plan, the utilization of employee merit councils appears to have had a very positive effect on employee attitudes toward management and merit system acceptance. Employees who participated on the merit councils were much more likely to perceive the system as fair and as one which actually in creased individual and team productivity — when compared to those employees who did not engage in formal group participation. These results, while not unexpected, provide further evidence support ive of participative management strategies.