PARTICIPATORY MANAGEMENT AND EFFICIENCY OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES IN EBONYI STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study, “Effect of Participatory Management on Efficiency of Public Enterprises” was designed to investigate the course of the inefficiency of public enterprises in providing quality services to the public. Broadly, the study examined the effect of participatory management on the efficiency of public enterprises using selected Ebonyi State-owned public enterprises. Specifically, the study investigated the impact of participatory planning on the productive efficiency of the selected public enterprises; analyzed the effect of participatory decision-making on the management efficiency of the selected public enterprises; and appraised the effect of employees’ consultation on the workforce efficiency of the selected public enterprises. The study reviewed extant and empirical literature related to the study and adopted Peter Drucker's Management by Objectives (MBO) theory as its theoretical framework. The study formulated three research questions and three testable hypotheses as a useful guide, and adopted a descriptive survey design to collect data primarily from a sample size of 261 respondents using a well-structured questionnaire. The collected data were presented and analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean), while the hypotheses were analysed using inferential statistics (simple regression analysis) at a 0.05 level of significance with the aid of the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). The findings were that, participatory planning has significant effect on the productive efficiency of the selected public enterprises; participatory decision-making has significant effect on the management efficiency of the selected public enterprises; and employees’ consultation has significant effect on workforce efficiency of the selected public enterprises.  Based on these findings, the study concludes that adoption of participatory management practices will enhance the efficiency of public enterprises in Ebonyi State, Nigeria, and therefore recommends, among other things, improve participation of all levels of workers in the organizational planning, decision-making and goal-setting.