PARTICIPATIVE MANAGEMENT PRODUCE SATISFIED EMPLOYEES ? EVIDENCE FROM THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY

The effect of participative management on job satisfaction was examined in an automotive sales company in Macedonia. The information was collected from 150 employees. Three components of participatory management was analyzed in the research (1) participatory management style (2) participatory strategic planning process and (3) effective supervisory communication. Results showed that there was a positive relationship between all three components of participatory management and job satisfaction. The relationship between participatory management and job satisfaction was analyzed using statistical methods to determine the correlations and OLS regression model. The study highlights methodological developments in determining the effect of participatory management on job satisfaction in the automotive sales industry. The findings suggest that there is a positive relationship between both and it is therefore important to sustain these factors in order to maintain employees’ motivation.


INTRODUCTION
Over the last two decades the academic literature has become richer in research studies that have examined the effects of workplace innovations on firm performance (Berg, 1999;Huselid, 1995).Employee empowerment has grabbed the attention of not just the academic but of the business community as well, since it was believed that sharing the power of decision making with employee can result in their increased performance and job satisfaction.This idea of employee empowerment has originated from the early theories of participative management and employee involvement in the organizational strategic planning.The research in employee involvement in organizational decision making started in 1949 with Coch and French who suggested that there is a direct link between the employee participation in the workplace and the levels of job satisfaction and productivity.Later research suggested that it is a very complex process as different patterns of strategic decision making may appear in different organizations or within the same organization.Strategic planning is the deliberate, disciplined approach to producing fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, what it does and why (Bryson, 2011).It is referred to as "the way of knowing" that helps managers and leader address major issues and challenges that their organization is confronting (Bryson, 2011).Evidence from the academic community suggests that workplace practices that have focused on job satisfaction have resulted in lower reported levels of absenteeism and turnover, low employee morale and job grievances, lower reported levels of job dissatisfaction, higher commitment and productivity (Iaffaldano& Muchinsky, 1985).In addition research findings suggest that employee involvement in strategic decision making can also have a positive influence on the workers well-being and mental health, intrinsic motivation and self-confidence (Spreitzer et al., 1997;Miller & Monge, 1986).This is because employees' perception of their organization affects their perception of the organizational climate, which in return impacts the way relate to their job and see their future in the organization, work adjustment, health and well-being (Wilson et al., 2004;Macky & Boxall, 2008).Thus by increasing the job satisfaction of their employees, companies can create a comparative advantage for themselves.In line with this recent research has indicated that employee involvement in strategic planning is one of the most widely used strategies for advancing motivation (Kim, 2002;Bryson, 2005;Brewer & Selden, 2000;Grawitch et al., 2006;Macky et al., 2008;Gordon, 2013).However, a small group of researchers argue that "the power" of participatory strategic planning should not be taken for granted, since data suggests that it may depend on individual, environmental and situational variables (Daniels & Guppy, 1994).Furthermore, Kim (2002) notes that there is limited scientific evidence on the relationship between employees' perception on the level of their involvement in strategic planning processes and their job satisfaction.Based on all of the above, this study sets the following hypothesis: H1: Employees who perceive that they is participatory strategic planning in their companies are more likely to report higher levels of job satisfaction.
According to Locke (1976) job satisfaction can be defined as a positive or pleasing emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job of job experience.For the purpose of this paper job satisfaction is defined as ''the extent to which employees like their jobs'' (Stamps, 1997).Theintangible relationship between job satisfaction and productivity of employees has intrigued organizational researchers for more than five decades.This has resulted in a series of studies that have examined the role and importance of participatory management on employee productivity and satisfaction (Cotton et al., 1988;Macy et al., 1989;Fisher, 1989;Daniels & Bailey, 1999).According to Wagner (1994) participation can be defined as the process in which the influence is shared among individuals who do not hold the same hierarchical position.Hence, participatory management aims to balance the involvement of managers and their employees in processes such as informing, decision making and problem solving.Spreitzer et al. (1997) argue that the anticipated outcome of practicing participatory management in companies is increased job satisfaction of employees.The positive impact of participatory management on job satisfaction isconfirmed by other authors (Rooney, 1988;Hoerr, 1989;Bernstein, 1993;Daniels & Bailey, 1999;Kim, 2002), however others have found that it also has positive influence on productivity (Levitan & Werneke, 1984;Verma 1995), absenteeism (Eaton & Voos, 1989) and effective supervisor communication (Cooke, 1990).Therefore the goal of this study is to analyze the relationship between participatory management in the organization and employees job satisfaction: H2: Employees who perceive that there is participatory management in their workplace are more likely to express higher levels of job satisfaction.
Another line of research was not interested only in the influence of participatory management on employees, but on what are the traits that characterize participatory managers.It is interesting to note that from the identified thirty nine characteristics of managers, the ability to communicate effectively with subordinates was in the top ten most important managerial traits (Hackman & Oldham, 1976;Emmert & Taher, 1992;Voon et al., 2011;Mokoena, 2012).
By being able to communicate effectively with their supervisor, employees are given the opportunity to articulate individual dissatisfaction, act as anidea source for the management and achieve long term feasibility for the organization as a whole (Marchington et al., 2005).On individual level employees have higher levels of job satisfaction, motivation and professional self confidence (Hargreaves & Hopkins, 1991;Laschinger et al., 2004;Spreitzer et al., 1999;Johlke & Duhan, 2000).
H3: Employees who perceive that they have an effective communication with their supervisor are more likely to express higher levels of job satisfaction.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
For the purpose of this research, a questionnaire was constructed based on previous relevant research done by Kim (2002).Some of the original questions were modified in accordance to the local culture.All questions were organized in five main sections.The first section collected information on the personal (age, ethnicity, education level and age) and job characteristics (tenure in the company, experience in teamwork at current job positionand supervisory position) of the respondents.Experience in teamwork was measured by asking participants to indicate the number of times that they have participated in team activities in the past year.The possible six responses ranged from none to more than four times.The second part of the questionnaire contained four questions that whether the manager used participative management style.The third section contained four questions that analyzed whether there was a participatory strategic planning process in the organizations, and the final part of the questionnaire contained three items that examined whether there was an effective communication between the employee and the manager.The dependent variable in the research is job satisfaction.In the questionnaire it was measure trough three questions (1) My current job provides me with better career opportunities compared to other places I could work; (2) Overall satisfaction with current job and (3) My current job provides me with a sense of accomplishment and (4) I receive appropriate recognition for the work I do.
To test the research hypotheses several variables were constructed for the purpose of the study: PMS -consisted of three items that measured the participatory management style of the manager; SP -consisted of four items that assessed the strategic planning process in the organization; EC -consisted of three items that assessed the effectiveness of the communication between the manager and employee; JS -consisted of three items that measured employee job satisfaction.
The responses to each of the questions were measured on the five-point Likert-type (11 were measure on scale ranging from 1strongly agree to 5-strongly disagree, while 3 on a scale ranging from 1-excellent to 5poor).The performed factor analyses indicated that the items intended to measure the three independent variables and the dependent variable clearly loaded in three separate factors.

POPULATION AND SAMPLE
The survey was administered among 149 employees.All respondents were working in Porsche Makedonija, the official importer of Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Skoda and Porsche.Total of 149 questionnaires were returned completed to the researchers, resulting in an overall response rate of 100%.The survey was distributed in person among the employees.The survey was anonymous and no marks were printed on the questionnaires that could identify the respondent.
The company that was chosen for the survey it has received best employer awards and strives to employ HR practices for the purpose of employee development and empowerment.

RESEARCH RESULTS
The majority of the surveyed population 87.2% (N=130) was male.87.2% (N=130) were of Macedonian ethnicity, followed by 5.4% (N=8) Albanians.The majority of employees (55%, N=82) had high school education, followed by 41.6% (N=61) who had completed university studies.53% (N=79) were aged between 31 and 40 years of age, followed by 32.2% (N=48) who belonged in the age group 20-30 years.43% (N=64) worked in the company between 4-7 years, followed by 32.2% (N=48) who have been in the company less than three years.Regarding the managerial position, 88.6% (N=132) of the employees participating in the survey were on non-managerial position.
The descriptive analyses of participative The performed correlation analysis showed that the manager's use of participatory management style is positively correlated with job satisfaction (r=0.671,p=0.000), and the existence of a strategic participatory planning process (r=0.778,p=0.000).In addition, the effective communication with the supervisor is positively correlated with the employees' job satisfaction (r=0.709,p=0.000) and strategic participatory planning process (r=0.786,p=0.000) (Table 4).There were no statistically significant differences between group means of job satisfaction and employees' age as determined by one-way ANOVA (F=0.747;p=0.525).No statistically significant differences were found between group means of job satisfaction and employees' tenure in the company (F=0.901;p=0.442).
The results of the independent sample ttest analysis revealed that there is no statistically significant difference of employee gender and job satisfaction (t=1.718;p=0.088).This is line with findings from other research done in Macedonia (Tomoska-Misoska et al., 2014), although it differes from research done in other parts of the worlds where significant differences in levels of job satisfaction experienced by men and women was found (Ghazzawi, 2010).The results of the OLS multiple regression analysis showed that 62% of the variance in the dependent variable job satisfaction was explained by the independent variables, thus the model provides a statistically significant prediction of the outcome variable (F =112.54;p<0.01).The results presented in Table 7, indicate that the use of participative management style by the manager is significantly associated with job satisfaction of employees (β=0.077,p<0.01).Other researchers have also found that positive relationship between participatory management in an organization and the levels of job satisfaction of its employees (Kim, 2002;Wright & Kim, 2004;Bhatti & Qureshi, 2007;Bright, 2008).Therefore these results provide support to the already existing academic research and of hypothesis 1 of this research.
The results from the regression analysis also suggest that employees who perceive  that higher levels of job satisfaction is reported by employees who perceive that they are part of the strategic planning process in the company (β=0.064,p<0.01).These findings are in line with studies done in the field (Blackburn & Rosen, 1993;Oswald, 1997;Ugboro & Obeng, 2000;Judge et al., 2001;Hechanova et al., 2006).This provides support for hypothesis 2 of this research.
Finally employees who perceived that they have an effective communication with their supervisor, report higher levels of job satisfaction (β=0.023,p<0.01).Other research findings have also supported this result (Oldham & Cummings, 1996;Kim, 2002;Johlke et al., 2002).This provides support for hypothesis 3 of this research.In addition age of the respondents (β=0.001,p<0.01), their managerial position (β=0.003,p<0.01) and their tenure in the department (β=0.007,p<0.01) showed significant relationship with job satisfaction.This means that employees who have longer tenure in the department are more satisfied compared to younger employees with shorter department tenure.Also the level of job satisfaction in the company tends to increase with the age of the employees.Finally, employees who attain a managerial position within the company have higher levels of job satisfaction compared to those with nonmanagerial position.

DISCUSSION OF RESEARCH FINDINGS
The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between participative management and job satisfaction among employees in the automotive industry in Macedonia.Participative management was analyzed trough the existence of participatory strategic planning, effective supervisory communication and the use of participatory management style by the management, while accounting for their influence on employees' job satisfaction.The research results suggested that the use of participative management style, effective communication with supervisor and the existence of a participatory strategic planning process significantly predict job satisfaction of employees in the automotive industry in Macedonia.In other words, companies which have incorporated the philosophy of participative management and employee empowerment into their daily 83 Employees who perceive that they have an effective communication with their management are more likely to report higher levels of job satisfaction.This findings are in line with other relevant research done in the field (Oldham & Cummings, 1996;Kim, 2002;Johlke et al., 2002;Laschinger et al., 2013).Interestingly the results of the study indicated that age of the respondents, their managerial position and their tenure in the department were significant predictors of job satisfaction.The relationship between age and job satisfaction was subject of interest to other research as well.One found that there was a U-shaped relationship between age and job satisfaction (Clark et al., 1996).
The lowest levels of job satisfaction in an individual's life were at age 31, afterwards increasing until the age of 60 years.Possible explanations for this relationship was that as the worker ages, he/she has less job alternatives compared to younger workers and is less interested in changing jobs.In addition the expectations of as the worker ages decline thus making him/her more likely to report higher levels of job satisfaction (Kacmar & Ferris, 1989;Clark et al.,1996).
The limitation of this study should be discussed.The first limitation is the risk of social desirability bias.Although the research implemented instruments that were previously validated among the same target group, there is till a risk that respondents may not have been completely honest and provided an honest answer.The second risk is the self-selection bias, since it is not known whether the respondents in the survey are representative of the total population of public administration employees.The third limitation is the demographic structure of the respondents.This research only investigated the role of age, gender, education and ethnicity.Further studies should provide a more comprehensible analysis of such variables.

CONCLUSION
The research findings suggest that participatory management, supervisory communication and participative strategic planning may increase job satisfaction among automotive industry employees.The importance of employee empowerment remains undisputed -higher job satisfaction of employees' leads to less absenteeism and increasing motivation, productivity and selfesteem.The findings of this study have confirmed that companies should recognize the benefits from participative management in the workplace and use them as a toll for producing a more happy and productive workforce.Clark, A., Oswald, A., & Warr, P. (1996)

Table 1 .
Table 1 below presents the reliability results for each of the extracted factors.Principal Component Analysis with Varimax rotation

Table 2 .
Demographic profile of participants

Table 3 .
Descriptive analyses of participative management data

Table 4 .
Results of two-tailed Pearson correlation

Table 5 .
Results of One way ANOVA

Table 6 .
Results from the T-test analysis of JS and gender

Table 7 .
Results of OLS regression analysispractice were more likely to have satisfied and productive employees.The findings indicated that the communication between the manager and the employee plays a significant role in fostering job satisfaction.