In the last two decades, much has been said and written about giving greater participation to the organization's human resources, but in reality there are very few companies that really give their people the opportunity to participate in the company.
“I think I was fired for making poor quality cars. But in 16 years, I was never asked for an opinion on how I would do my job better. Not even once"
This phrase corresponds to a General Motors worker fired after 16 years in the company manufacturing vehicles of the Pontiac line and is quoted in "In Search of Excellence", a book by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman published in 1982
If an investigation were undertaken to gather the opinion of the people, about the way in which they carry out their work in the majority of companies in the world, phrases like this and characters like the one in the phrase could be found in large quantities, and that has already Almost twenty years have passed since the first edition of Peters & Waterman's work and that this book has sold more than six million copies around the world.
Taking into account the millions of copies sold, the time that has passed and that even today cases like that of the General Motors employee continue to be presented too frequently, one conclusion can be reached or rather two: First, that the managers of all the world does buy business literature consistently and second, that they do not read what they buy or worse, that the books they buy and read are useless to them.
What happens to young managers when their mothers tell them: is that things enter you through one ear and leave you through the other, or as it happens to many religious since ancient times, they preach but do not apply.
The vast majority of companies are proud and promulgate that their most valuable asset is their people, but what really happens to people, what happens to people like the one in the phrase? Are they being treated as What is said as the most valuable asset? In the light of reality, no, they are still being treated, with few exceptions, as the "human fill" necessary to transform resources.
Managers still have precepts that are difficult to exterminate from their minds, they still view the people below them in the corporate hierarchy as inferior individuals who only serve to execute orders and who are born to eternal submission. It sounds harsh but it is true and although there really are individuals who by nature simply do what they are told to do, the vast majority have expectations for growth that rarely do business control and order functions allow to flourish.
It must be recognized that great efforts have been made within companies to open spaces for staff participation, strategies such as quality circles or self-directed groups have been designed that have been successful in many cases and that have allowed not only to increase Organizational productivity and performance, but have given people the opportunity to grow internally and feel a real part of the development of companies. But, it must also be recognized that on the other side there are firms that are still committed to keeping their staff as far from the operation of the company as possible because they see in it a threat to the stability of the company.
Participation, true participation, extends to all levels of the company, goes through feedback, walks between quality circles and self-directed groups hand in hand with team learning and the shared vision to reach, at the end of the day, to the improvement of individual capacities and collective competences, thus achieving the achievements of trust and commitment.
Yes, to reach trust and commitment, two stations that are very rarely visited because what managers understand by commitment, employees understand as submission and because what managers consider trust means conformity for employees.
Unfortunately, the employee is seldom asked how he thinks he could do his job better? Or what aspects of your division's work could be improved and how would you improve it? It is also a shame that in cases where these questions are asked in different studies done by the human resources department, the answers remain on shelves for years and years without being taken into account because managers think they have all the answers. and that what they do and command to do is correct at all times and under all circumstances.
It would be good for managers to thoroughly assess whether they really involve employees, if they really care what they think, if they have really taken into account the suggestions made by them and if they really are certain of their commitment to the company. Maybe I am wrong, I would like it to be so, but I think that in most cases what the worker thinks is never taken into account.
