Participate or else!: The effect of participation in decision-making in meetings on employee engagement.

Abstract

In the scope of organizational life, few events are as universal or as influential as workplace meetings. In this study, we focused our attention on better understanding the relationship between meetings processes and post-meeting outcomes. More specifically, we investigated the relationship between participation in decision-making in meetings (PDM) and employee engagement, after controlling for the impact of meeting size and other demographic variables.We examined this from a theoretical perspective, providing particular consideration to the underlying basis of social exchange theory and norms of reciprocity at work in this relationship.Using a sample of working adults in the United States who were employees of organizations and attend meetings regularly, we found that PDM in meetings is related to employee engagement, even after controlling for job level, meeting size, tenure, and age. Additionally, perceived supervisor support moderates the relationship between PDM in meetings and employee engagement, such that the positive relationship is stronger when perceived supervisor support is high. Furthermore, meeting load also moderates the relationship between PDM in meetings and employee engagement, such that the positive relationship is stronger when meeting load is high.This study is unique in its examination of how characteristics of the meeting setting may influence post-meeting outcomes such as employee engagement. Taken together, the findings suggest that PDM is associated with employee engagement, under certain conditions that are discussed.

The Influence of Participative Leadership on Agricultural Extension Officers’ Engagement

“…Some of the positive workplace behaviors are that participative leadership increases employees' participation and development (Sarti, 2014), and employees' voices are recognized as they are consulted before decisions are made related to their work (Madsen, 2018). As such, employees develop a feeling of being heard and valued for their contributions by their supervisors and managers in the organization (Yoerger et al, 2015). Agricultural extension officers' work activities in the field involve meeting farmers from different backgrounds, and this requires that they understand what the nature of their work involves.…”

In the trenches: Making your work meetings a success

“…Another limitation of our research is that we could not capture how meeting load--or the number of meetings a participant attends--might affect their recollection of meeting experiences. We know from previous research that the number of meetings an individual attends influences their perceptions of meetings (Yoerger, Crowe, & Allen, 2015). It may be that respondents from our sample were influenced in their evaluations by their individual meeting load.…”

Would you please stop that!?

“…The moderation effects suggest that those with fewer meetings appear to be more impacted by the CMBs in terms of both their attitudes/behaviors associated with coworker trust and employee voice. One possible explanation for this finding is the salience of the fewer meetings that do occur (Yoerger, Crowe, & Allen, 2015). Specifically, when an individual has fewer meetings, those meetings take on more meaning and the interactions in them are more salient, perhaps due to a lack of continuous interaction with those in the meeting.…”