Meaning & use
participative management
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Meanings
noununcountablebusiness
A style of managing in which employees at all levels help make decisions that affect their work.
Grammar: Used as a general concept, so it takes no article and no plural: participative management is effective.
Patterns
- participative management of something
- a form of participative management
The factory introduced participative management so that workers could influence how shifts were organized.
Under participative management, the team votes on which projects to prioritize.
Her book argues that participative management raises both morale and productivity.
noununcountablebusiness
The practice of a particular company or organization involving staff in decision-making.
Grammar: Often used with a possessive or with 'their/its' to refer to one organization's approach.
Patterns
- their participative management
- adopt participative management
Their participative management is unusual in an industry known for strict top-down control.
The consultant recommended adopting participative management before the restructuring.
Common combinations
- a participative management style
- Managers with a participative management style ask for input before deciding.
- introduce participative management
- The new director introduced participative management in all departments.
- participative management practices
- Participative management practices vary widely from company to company.
- a shift toward participative management
- There has been a shift toward participative management in many tech firms.
Synonyms and how they differ
- employee involvement
- A broader everyday term for letting staff take part; it does not necessarily mean they share formal decision-making power.
- democratic management
- Similar in meaning but stronger, suggesting decisions are made by voting rather than by consulting staff.
- consultative management
- Close, but here managers ask for opinions and then decide alone, whereas participative management gives staff a real share in the decision.
Opposites
Word family
- participate verb
- To take part in an activity or event.
- participation noun
- The act of taking part in something.
- participant noun
- A person who takes part in something.
- participatory adjective
- Involving people in making decisions; very close in meaning to participative.
Commonly confused: participative management or participatory?
participative management vs participatory
Both adjectives exist, but 'participatory' is far more common in general English (a participatory democracy), while 'participative' is mostly used in business writing about management.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'participative management' most naturally?
Choose one answer.
'Participative management' is an uncountable noun for a management style, so it fits after 'its' in sentence C. A uses it as a verb, B uses a plural verb with an uncountable noun, and D treats it as a job title, which it is not.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “participative management”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.