Participating as participation: A network approach

Abstract

This paper adopts a network approach to the study of worker participation in an attempt to capture the inherent communicative nature of participating within an organization. Although complex, dynamic, interactive processes are the very essence of participation, it has most often been conceptualized as a unidimensional, static variable, typically assessed at the individual level. The network study focuses attention upon the communicative activities and patterns that emerge as 148 line workers participate within a large sociotechnical system. The data indicate that the degree to which workers become involved and empowered in the communication system are differentially related to levels of workers’ satisfaction and managerial assessments of worker performance.