Small Enterprises and Participation in Management

Abstract

The essential characteristic of changes in the economic life of Poland, initiated in 1989, is a dynamic growth of the number of small private enterprises. Their share in the production of national income is on the increase, and they employ the ever increasing number of people. This new quality of socio-economic life in Poland implies a series of new issues crucial both for the newly formed group of private enterprises’ owners and for their employees. One of them is the extent to which the employees participate in management, to put it more precisely: whether the postulate of participation in management - as it is formulated not only by the social doctrine of the Church but also by the world of labour, being more and more aware of its own value - is to be put into practice in the small private enterprise? Having presented the essence of the postulate of participation and analyzed the specific character of small enterprise (firm) as well as the function played by the entrepreneur-owner, the author of the study is of the opinion that it would not be advisable to instal legal-institutional solutions within small enterprises, solutions which deal with the participation of employees in management and are modelled on those which are applied in big enterprises. This does not mean, however, that the employees of a small enterprise should entirely be deprived of any say in the decisions made by the owner, and reduced to the role of passive implementors of his decisions. A possibility of employees to take part in the decisions made by the entrepreneur-owner creates the close and everyday character of mutual conflicts. Within their framework, each employee may share with their boss their perceptions and remarks concerning the job they do and with the functioning of the whole firm. In order to put such participation in management into practice we need a proper attitude on the part of the entrepreneur and employees, that is an attitude of solidarity, mutual respect and kindness.