Employee Involvement in Decision-Making: A Case at One Univesity of Technology in South Africa

Abstract

The higher education landscape in South Africa is dynamic and one of the most rapidly changing environments, which is undergoing fundamental metamorphosis. The higher education institutions (HEIs) are facing, among other challenges, the alterations in government funding and globalisation of higher education which bring with them new competitors. It is in this sense that this study focuses on the involvement of operational employees in decision-making processes. This study sets out to explore the employee perceptions of them being involved in decision-making with an emphasis on the cascading of responsibility and accountability for power, information, knowledge and rewards to lower levels within their institution. A quantitative study was conducted with 410 randomly selected employees within one University of Technology in South Africa. The overall perception of employees with regard to their involvement in decision making indicated that there is a lack of them being involved in decision making processes.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n27p423