PERCEPTION SURVEY OF EMPLOYEES PARTICIPATION IN DECISION MAKING ANDGANIZATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY IN JULIUS BERGER NIGERIA PLC BONNY ISLAND

The paper is a perception survey of employees’ participation in decision making and organizational productivity in Julius Berger Nigeria Plc Bonny Island. It defines employees’ participation in decision making as a process of sharing influence in decision making among individuals who are otherwise hierarchically unequal. It assumes that involvement of employees in decision making increases their commitment and organizational productivity. The research question addressed the extent of the relationship between employees’ participation in decision making and increased employees commitment and organizational productivity in Julius Berger Nigeria Plc Bonny Island. The place of study is Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. Bonny Island while the duration of study is between May 2012 and June 2013. A descriptive research design was used in executing the study using 200 randomly selected respondents from a population of 2000 employees for questionnaire administration. The sample size of 200 was judgmentally determined from 10% of the population size. The core aspect of the study is the use of cross sectional survey research design in generating the required primary data. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results from the data analysis indicated that significant relationship exists between employees’ participation in decision making and increased employees commitment and organizational productivity. The research therefore concludes that significant relationship exists between employees’ participation in decision making and organizational productivity in Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. Bonny Island and recommends among others: encouragement of work teams, training and re-training of employees, improvement of reward system and improvement of internal communication channels.


INTRODUCTION
Julius Berger Nigeria Plc is a German-based multiservice civil construction company which started its operations in Nigeria with the construction of the Lagos Eko Bridge in 1965. The company is jointly owned by Bilfinger Berger of Germany (49%) and two Nigerian state governments (51%). As the largest building, construction and civil engineering contractor in Nigeria, it focuses on winning privately financed concession projects and providing integrated solutions for construction challenges. Its business is built on the strategy of having vertically integrated operations, which improves efficiency and timeliness of project execution. Its head office is located in Abuja, with additional permanent locations in Lagos and Uyo. It is currently gaining most of UNDER PEER REVIEW UNDER PEER REVIEW its contracts in the oil and gas industry and from public-sector clients. With employees from close to 40 nations and clients from both Nigeria and the global oil and gas industry, it has become Nigeria's leading construction company and largest private employer with total staff strength of 18,000 employees [1]. As a pivotal partner in the building of the country's fledgling industrial and civil infrastructure, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc is a key collaborator in the development of Nigeria's new capital, Abuja, in addition to the construction of key roads, railways, ports and dams.
The award of the civil aspect of the Bonny NLNG construction project in 1996 to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc necessitated the extension of the company's activities to Bonny Island. Since the Bonny NLNG construction project is a high-risk, complex and interconnected set of activities, it became increasingly difficult for one person or even one department to reach a decision without consulting others who have relevant information or may be affected by the outcome of such decisions, hence the company's management adopted 'employees' participation in decision making' as a personnel management approach in achieving its project objectives. The idea of employees' participation in decision making dates back to the 19 th century industrial revolution when it was realized that machines cannot replace human effort, since human beings have capabilities, abilities and skills that drive organizational performance along with other resources such as money, materials and information [2].
Employees can affect organizational productivity positively when they are willing and committed to organizational goals. Willingness and commitment can be exhibited by employees towards their job if they are involved in decision making and participate in the affairs of the organization. Thus, for management to win the commitment of employees to get their job done properly, individual employees should not be treated in isolation, but must be involved in matters concerning them and the organization. When employees are involved in decision making, staff absenteeism is reduced, there's greater organizational commitment, improved performance, reduced turnover and greater job satisfaction [3,4]. It is for this reason that the management of Julius Berger Bonny Island allowed employee involvement in decision making on matters that affect them to elicit their commitment to organizational goals.
Employees' participation in decision making has been widely recommended as a means of improving the quality of work life. However, when considering employees participation in decision making in the work place, one must differentiate between two levels. The first is horizontal participation-involves interaction between teams, coworkers, or peers. The second is vertical participation (direct and indirect) -involves interaction with one's superiors. Both types of participation are important components of the quality of work life. An organization which encourages both types will allow decision making at the lowest feasible hierarchical level. The implied goal is to provide an environment where an individual will have the freedom and autonomy to make choices which are related to his work environment and to improve the fit between his personality and the job demands as well as between his work and non-work domains. Participation in decision making strengthens the relationship between performance and the expectation of a satisfactory outcome through a better understanding of what the desired outcomes are and how they can be achieved as well as directs the energies of employees/work group towards UNDER PEER REVIEW UNDER PEER REVIEW the goals and objectives of the organization. Commitment to organizational goals may result from the sense of ownership or proprietary rights achieved through the participation process.
In granting employees opportunity to participate in decision making in its project execution, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, improves the quality of work life by altering the work environment to accommodate employees' desires, as well as allowing them exercise greater control/autonomy over their work situation, thus creating opportunity for employees' self-esteem/actualization. It is against this background that it becomes pertinent to carry out employees' perception survey on the participation of employees in decision making and organizational productivity in Julius Berger Nigeria Plc Bonny Island.

Statement of the Problem
Since 1996, when Julius Berger Nigeria Plc commenced the execution of the Bonny NLNG construction project, it has recorded an average of 1 total workers strike,2 partial workers strike, 3 near-strike cases and 5 minor workers disagreements per annum which is quite infinitesimal considering the magnitude of the workforce and the global construction industry labour disagreements statistics [5]. The occurrence of labour disagreements in construction sites usually leads to site closure for the purposes of settlement, loss of man/machine hours, loss of output, high labour turnover due to search for better conditions of work and loss of corporate reputation.
Economic development activities are usually hampered in a country with high rate of labour disagreements; since productivity/national output will be low, inflation and rate of unemployment will be high while there will be an increase in social vices. Since labour disagreements originate from the exclusion of employees in decision making in matters that affect them, such disagreements, can be prevented through the adoption of a personnel management approach(whether direct or indirect) that guarantees employees participation in decision making in matters that affect them.

Research Objectives
The objectives of the research are as follows: 1. To determine the extent of the relationship between employees' participation in decision making and increased employees' commitment in Julius Berger Nigeria Plc Bonny Island.

2.
To determine the extent of the relationship between employees' participation in decision making and increased organizational productivity in Julius Berger Nigeria Plc Bonny Island.

Research Questions
The identified gap of ineffectiveness in previous decision making approaches which were mostly management driven, propelled the adoption of employees' participation in decision making in Julius Berger Nigeria Plc Bonny 2. Does any significant relationship exist between employees' participation in decision making and increased organizational productivity in Julius Berger Nigeria Plc Bonny Island?

Research Hypotheses
In view of the above research questions, the following null hypotheses were formulated: 1H O : There is no significant relationship between employees' participation in decision making and increased employees' commitment in Julius Berger Nigeria Plc Bonny Island.
2H O : There is no significant relationship between employees' participation in decision making and increased organizational productivity in Julius Berger Nigeria Plc Bonny Island.

Literature Review
The concept of employees' participation in decision making has been a focus of research and practice for many years. It has taken many different forms, evolving through employee involvement and participation in decision making to the contemporary empowerment perspective. The notion of empowerment involves the workforce being provided with a greater degree of flexibility and more freedom in decision making in relation to their work.
This contrasts markedly with traditional management techniques that have emphasized control, hierarchy and rigidity. Knoop [6] defines participation in decision making as sharing decision making with others to achieve organizational objectives.
Numerous organizations began espousing the benefit of employees' participation in decision making in the 1980s. However, the effect of participation on performance has become increasingly disputed in recent years.
Wagner [7] argued that many participation studies have demonstrated a consistent, albeit small impact on performance. However, researchers have not established a universal positive correlation between participation and productivity [8]. The form of participation and the context in which participative techniques are employed determine the extent of any positive effect on performance [9].
Many researchers have taken a more holistic approach to studying employees' participation in decision making, arguing that participative decision making requires a certain context over and beyond a set of programs or techniques. For example, Hecksher's [10] interviews of more than 250 managers in 14 large organizations suggested that participation has accomplished little and rarely breaks down the walls of bureaucracy. He argued that, without the redesign of work, employee involvement efforts can even have a negative effect.
Participative approach such as delegation gave mixed results, especially in public organizations [11]. In contrast, participative decision making that gives employees the opportunity to make substantive changes in their work is a tool for large-scale organizational change [12].

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Participation can offer employees various levels of influence in the decision making process, ranging from formally established consultative committees to the development of good relations with managers or supervisors at an informal level [13]. In fact, the variation in the interpretation and implementation of employees' participation in decision making has likely contributed to different approaches to evaluating it; with subsequent mixed findings. There are many different approaches to evaluating and implementing employees' participation in decision making. Dachler and Wilpert [14] identified three dimensions: the influence of formality versus informality, directness versus indirectness and the degree of access or influence.
Locke and Schweiger [15] evaluated employees' participation in decision making in terms of level, considering either more or less participation, whereas Tjosvold [16] considered supervisory use of co-operative problem solving and integrated decision making. More recently, Black and Gregersen [17] synthesized a multidimensional model of employees' participation in decision making from previous research, finding support for six dimensions that include; the rationale, form, structure, decision issues, and the level and range of participation in the processes. While they called for further multi-dimensional studies to understand the role of employees' participation in decision making, the reality is that the context largely shapes the level and range of employees' participation and this varies markedly across organizations.
Nonetheless, despite the differences, there are some common traits and theoretical concepts that are useful for analyzing participative decision making strategies and outcomes. One outcome clearly emerging from the literature is that employee satisfaction and motivation does increase with employees' participation in decision making. For example, when considering cognitive and motivational effects, Latham et al. [18] found that participation in formulating task strategies significantly affected performance effectiveness. Yammarino and Naughton [19] observed that group level participation in decision making created shared perceptions that positively influenced job satisfaction outcomes. Similarly, Pearson [20] reported that feedback as part of participatory decision making process improved productivity as well as job satisfaction.
Employee participation provides workers or their representatives with the opportunity to take part in and influence decisions that affect their working lives. It involves workers exerting a countervailing and upward pressure on management control. Butler and Glover [21] described employee participation as more fundamentally power oriented which is typically about joint decision making or co-determination. Direct The major obstacle to employees' participation in decision making is resistance to change by management [23].
Many managers tend to resist employees participation in decision making because it is contrary to their habitformed ways of thinking and behaving. In addition, failure to respond to employee recommendations is an example that reduces employees' involvement in decision making. If management does not acknowledge employees recommendations, employees rapidly conclude that management has no interest in their ideas. Fear is another obstacle to employees' involvement in decision making. At times, employees fear that they might lose their jobs if they voice out their views.

Conceptual Framework
Employees' participation in decision making when discussed as a means of improving organizational performance and individual workplace conditions, assumes the individual worker's direct participation in some form of decision-making within the company [24]. According to Fernie and Metcalf [25], some common assumptions associated with organizational performance and direct participation includes: • Employees generally have more knowledge and information about their work processes than their mangers do and are better placed to achieve improved performance. • Employees involvement provides them with greater intrinsic rewards from work than do traditional forms of governance. These rewards will increase job satisfaction and motivate them to achieve new goals. •By giving workers greater access to management information, mutual trust and commitment will be increased.
Some of the major forms of direct and indirect employees' participation in decision making include: teamwork, financial participation, Quality Circles (QCs) and Joint Consultative Committees (JCCs).
•Teamwork: Team-building is essential in a modern society with its competitive environment that favours higher quality, innovativeness, rapid response to market shifts and intelligent production. Mathews [26] sees teamwork as the 'heart' of the new workplace culture and fundamentally involves a process of 're-engineering' work flows, so that groups of operators can take control of a series of tasks that produce a defined product or service.
There are many theories on what constitutes effective team-building, but the general notion is that if it is done correctly, it will be highly beneficial to organizational performance and productivity.
•Financial participation: Employees financial participation is seen as a means of promoting employee loyalty and commitment to the organization. As with teambuilding, employee financial participation can take many UNDER PEER REVIEW UNDER PEER REVIEW forms, and its success depends upon how well it is integrated and carried out. One way of employee financial participation is to offer employees' shares as part of or bonuses on their salaries -referred to as 'employee ownership'. For employee ownership to have any impact on productivity and performance, it has to be combined with other human resource policies such as improved communication, consultation and security [27].
•Quality Circles (QCs): Forming Quality Circles (QCs) is part of a Total Quality Control (TQC) technique to ensure that the organization meets the increasing demand in modern societies for high-quality products.
Responsibility for quality control is given to shop floor employees and QCs include groups of workers that meet in regular forums to analyze and suggest improvements to their work process [28]. However, the cost of implementing QCs programs, the formality of the procedure and the slowness in developing and implementing quality improvement suggestions may be a reason for waning employers interest in QCs.
•Joint Consultative Committees (JCCs): This is an indirect form of participation that is used as a mechanism for collective representation of employees in the workplace. The consultation process implied by the existence of JCCs makes it easier to change working practices or introducing new technology leading to faster productivity growth. The increase in the stock of ideas available to decision-makers under JCCs may increase efficiency, productivity and quality [29].
Apart from being aware of the different forms of employees' participation in decision making, it is also necessary to look at the different levels/degree of employees' participation. Teicher [30], in his model shown in figure 1 demonstrates the complexity of employees' participation in the workplace. where employees demand more and more autonomy in decision-making processes that they threaten the role of middle managers [31]. In contrast, Harley [32] believes that empowerment in modern organizations is a 'pervasive myth', and that employees really have not gained much control in decision-making processes.

Theoretical Framework
This research is based on Herzberg's Two Factor Theory of motivation [33] shown in figure 2 which states that the presence of intrinsic/motivation factors: recognition (employees' participation in decision making), responsibility, advancement, achievement and the nature of the work itself will lead to job satisfaction which in turn will increase employees commitment and organizational productivity because of employees innate need for growth and self-actualization. While the presence of extrinsic/hygiene factors: company policies, quality of supervision, relations with others, rate of pay, job security etc. will lead to less job dissatisfaction because of employees need to avoid unpleasantness. This theory suggests that to improve job attitudes and productivity, administrators must recognize and attend to both sets of factors and not assume that an increase in satisfaction leads to decrease in unpleasurable dissatisfaction. It assumes that employees' motivation is important to both the organization and individual employees because it affects productivity. By providing motivators and removing hygienes through employees' participation in decision making, management can facilitate the growth of employees and the organization. Growth makes the employee more valuable to the organization because of his/her ability to perform higher order duties. A desire to fulfill our potential drives us to seek growth and provides the incentive to achieve. According to Herzberg, the idea that the work one does is significant leads, ultimately, to satisfaction with the work itself. Employees will be motivated to do work that they perceive to be significant.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The

Question number 1
Does any significant relationship exist between employees' participation in decision making and increased employees' commitment in Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. Bonny Island?

Question number 2
Does any significant relationship exist between employees' participation in decision making and increased organizational productivity in Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. Bonny Island? Table 2 shows that questions: 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 with mean scores of 3.05, 2.90, 3.10, 2.95 and 2.98 were above the weighted average of 2.5. The grand mean of 3.00 shows that there is a strong evidence of a significant relationship between employees' participation in decision making and increased organizational productivity in Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. Bonny Island. This conclusion is buttressed by the study of Black and Lynch [35], which observed that establishment practices that encourage workers to think and interact in order to improve the production process are strongly associated with increased productivity. They also found that co-operative workplaces with a high level of union involvement were linked with higher productivity than non-union similar co-operative workplaces. These findings are similar to when self-management was introduced at Malta Drydocks, productivity increased by 2-3% per year. Cruz Azul in Mexico is another example of a successful enterprise with employee participation that has a higher labour productivity than the average industry in Mexico [36].

Calculation of total sum of square (SS T )
Total SS = X 2 -( X)

Test of the Second Hypothesis
H o: There is no significant relationship between employees' participation in decision making and increased organizational productivity in Julius Berger Nigeria plc. Bonny Island.
Bonny Island. This calculated F-Value is significant since it is greater than the critical F-Value of 5.29 given 3/16 degree of freedom at 0.01 level of significance. Hence, the null hypothesis is rejected while the alternative is accepted. This shows that there is a significant relationship between employees' participation in decision making and increased organizational productivity in Julius Berger Nigeria Plc.
Bonny Island. Source: Statistical Computation and Table 5 4

. CONCLUSION
The paper has discussed employees' participation in decision making and organizational productivity in Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. Bonny Island. It assumes that involvement of employees in decision making increases their commitment and organizational productivity. Employees expect to participate in decision making processes that affect their everyday work routines. The three major findings of the research are as follows:  Employees' participation in decision making in Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. Bonny Island provides them with greater intrinsic rewards than other traditional means of governance.
 There is a significant relationship between employees' participation in decision making and increased employees' commitment in Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. Bonny Island.
 There is a significant relationship between employees' participation in decision making and increased organizational productivity in Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. Bonny Island.
Arising from the findings of this paper, it is suggested that Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. Bonny Island should take the following measures to improve employees' participation in decision making: 1. Unionization of the workforce: Management should encourage the establishment of unions within the work environment as a mechanism for representativeness inclusion.

Establishment of open and broad-based decision making system: If not in all issues, management
should establish an open and broad-based decision making system that is more favourable to employee participation.

Establishment of work teams:
Management should reorganize the workforce into work teams to encourage participative decision making at lower hierarchical levels.

Training and re-training of employees:
Management should train and re-train employees to enable them acquire decision making skills that are relevant to their daily routines.

Redesigning of employees jobs:
Management should redesign and enrich employees' jobs to be more challenging and motivating by creating from for autonomy and flexibility in decision making.
6. Improvement of reward system: Management should improve the current reward system to include more intrinsic factors like gain sharing/profit-sharing to ensure a sense of ownership in employees decision making.

Improvement of internal communication channels:
Management should establish additional channels of internal communication to ensure the free flow of information especially those that lubricates participative decision making.