The Dynamics of Workers’ Participation and Decision Making in Tanzania: Lessons from Public and Private Enterprises

With the introduction of Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs, the prospects of workers participation and their decision-making in African countries particularly in Tanzania were jeopardized. For almost over two decades, the tendency has been to privatize the national parastatals without discrimination.   The result has been maximization of income and profit generation and minimization of workers’ participation and their decision-making. This is well demonstrated by the information obtained from a sample of 100 respondents from ten trade unions that were purposively selected  as a case study.  The study was conducted in four municipals that were Musoma, Ilemela, Temeke and Kinondoni. Data were collected using both qualitative and quantitative methods Data were collected from the field in two phases. In the first phase, qualitative data based on workers’ participation in Tanzania during and after the introduction of structural adjustment programs in Tanzania were collected. The second phase of data collection focused on quantifying some variables on pertinent issues discussed during the in-depth interview and focus group discussions. The study concluded that the success of workers’ participation and their decision-making in any organization is possible through establishment of workers’ councils, but this will be possible if a new political culture in which the top management or employers and government will see to it that all workers’ participation and their decision-making as a cornerstone for enhancing industrial productivity. Key words : Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs), Public and Private Enterprises, Workers’ Participation, Workers’ Councils, Trade unions. DOI: 10.7176/DCS/10-3-11 Publication date: March 31 st 2020

Public enterprises created by the state always do not essentially seek to achieve profits in comparison to private enterprises that seek profit (Clark et al,.1972) . In general, the main idea that underlies the creation of public enterprises is linked more to the notion of the general public interest. Bendix (1989) argues that public firms receive specific mandates in compatible with economic rationality which is at the very basis of their creation. Further, he specifies that such mandates are also presented in the literature as "non commercial objectives". For example, certain services provided by public enterprises can be priced at near cost, and such services may also be priced equally over a large territory. Therefore, such mandates do not contribute to maximize profits. The nature and function of public companies are based on social issues; their activities are always directed towards the citizens as beneficiaries, and society as a whole is considered as the ultimate recipient. The objectives imposed on the public enterprises have particular characteristics. To better understand them the reasons for the creation of a public enterprise need to be considered.
According to Clark et al, (1972), there are three distinguishing characteristics of a public enterprise. These are, government ownership, production of goods and services that ultimately are underlying costs and ??. It is further noted that public enterprises have two defining characteristics: that they are government owned and controlled; and they are engaged in business activities (Ibid). Through these definitions we may deduce certain traits that characterize public enterprises and these are: • They are public services created by the State power • They are autonomous legal entities with the ability to manage itself and its finances • Created to produce goods and services • Government owned and controlled • They are engaged in business activities.

Workers' Participation as a Means of Increasing Efficiency in Public and Private Enterprises
Workers' participation is broadly taken to cover all terms of association of workers and their representatives in the decision-making process, ranging from exchange of information, consultations, decisions and negotiations to more institutionalized forms such as the presence of workers' members on management or supervisory boards or even management by workers themselves. Mizrahi (2002) points out that workers' participation is referred to as any process in the company/organization that allows workers' to exert influence over their work or their working condition. Generally, workers participation is a process through which stakeholders influence and share control over priority setting policy making, resources allocation and access to public goods and services. By its very nature, workers' participation increases transparency of decision making, and this in turn improves accountability to the people and increases overall governance and efficiency in socio-economic and political development. Workers 'participation in decisions is also associated with higher efficiency.
The involvement of employees, it is argued, taps their very considerable knowledge about their work and their often under-used abilities. The more they are informed and involved, the more ready they will be to accept technological change, even unpalatable change. By helping management to be better informed of workers' views, participation improves the quality of the decisions made. The involvement of workers spurs managers on to greater efficiency, and the satisfaction of workers' needs and moral rights makes for a contented and efficiency by its contribution to industrial peace. International Labor Organization (1981) has indicated that employee participation in decision-making in a democratic atmosphere created by "permissive" leadership facilitates the development of "internal" motivation and serves to raise the levels of employee production and morale. ILO (1981) pointed out that there are various objectives claimed for more pronounced participation of employees in decisions within undertakings. Among them, three main groups may be mentioned: ethnical or moral, socio-political and economic objectives. But, here only two objectives will be discussed. Because the third objective (socio-political) shares the same meaning and comments with the arguments about being an extension of democracy, supporting a greater participation as suggested by Clark et al.,(1972). Allen, cited in Clark et al. (1972) argue that there is evidence to suggest that the more an employee is enabled to exercise control over his task, and to relate his efforts to those of his fellows, the more likely he is to adopt a cooperative attitude and positive commitment to achieving the goals of the enterprise without conflict and the breakdown of the normative pattern of relations between management and employees. Bendix (1989:122), in describing the reasons for supporting participative process, notes that employers, in general, see participation as a means of overcoming basic employer/employee conflict and as a step towards co-operation and coalition between managers and employees. Furthermore, there is a perceived economic advantage, in that co-operation is seen as bringing about greater commitment and involvement on the part of employees and thereby, greater motivation and higher productivity.
Developing Country Studies www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-607X (Paper) ISSN 2225-0565 (Online) Vol.10, No.3, 2020 It is the right of workers to know the profit and losses of their enterprises, and the use of capital generated in an environment with democratic workers' participation. Workers' participation creates a sense of the workers' rights and duties, and hence greater sense of responsibility, accountability and morale on the part of workers. This in turn increases efficiency, innovation, quality of production; facilitates conflict resolution, reduces bureaucracy, and increases workers' control and involvement in management. Clark et al., (1972) puts more forward by stressing that involving workers in decision-making in working place not only promotes democracy and human dignity, but also increases workers' commitment and harmonious labor relations, and reduces industrial conflicts at large.

Workers' Decision-making in Public and Private Enterprises
Decision-making is an integral part of the management of any kind of organization, and is the most significant activity engaged in by managers in all types of organizations and at any level. In discussing decision-making as an important area in the enterprise, the focus will be on certain key aspects such as: its definition, the decisionmaking process and types of decision. For a decision is defined as a moment in an ongoing process of evaluating alternatives for meeting an objective, at which expectations about a particular course of action most impel the decision maker to select that course of action most likely to result in attaining the objective. Ofstand cited by Bendix (1989) has described that perhaps the most common use of the term is this: "to make a decision means to make a judgment regarding what one ought to do in a certain situation after having deliberated on some alternative courses of action". Decision-making can be defined as the process of selecting an alternative course that will solve a problem (Delbridge and Whitefield, 2001).
Bass cited by Mizrahi (2002) indicates that workers' decision-making is an orderly process beginning with the discovery by the decision maker of a discrepancy between the perceived state of affairs and the desired state. This desired state usually lies somewhere between an idea and a realistically attainable state. Alternative actions are selected or invented. One of these alternatives emerges as the action of choice followed by justification. The process cycle is completed with feedback about whether the action resulted in movement toward the desired state of affairs. If the perceived and the desired state of affairs have not been attained, a new cycle is likely to commence. An effective implementation of the decision adopted depends on many factors, among them, the commitment of employees. In this regard, Drucker (2001:359) states that it requires that any decision become "our decision" for the people who have to convert it into action. This in turn means that they have to participate responsibly in making it. The people who have to carry out the decision should always participate in the work of developing alternatives. Incidentally, this is also likely to improve the quality of the final decision, by revealing points that the manager may have missed, spotting hidden difficulties and uncovering available but unused resources. Precisely because the decision affects the work of other people, it must help these people achieve their objectives, assists them in their work, contribute to their performing better, more effectively and with a greater sense of achievement. Drucker's view was supported by Bendix (1989) who in his analysis introduced a group decision-making notion. According to him, groups offer an excellent vehicle for performing many of the steps in the decision-making process. They are a source of both breadth and depth of input for information gathering. If the group is composed of individuals with diverse backgrounds, the alternatives generated should be more extensive and the analysis more critical. When the final solution is agreed upon, there is more people in-group decision to support and implement it. These pluses, however, can be more than offset by the time consumed by group decisions, the internal conflicts they create, and the pressures they generate toward conformity.

General Overview of Workers' Participation and Decision-making in Tanzania
Most of African countries workers' participation and their decision-making are introduced by presidential decrees, and in most cases it was not legalized except in a few cases (Delbridge and Whitefield, 2001). However, its legal powers were not strong enough to counter the company/ organization laws which were inherited from the colonial times (Mizrahi, 2002). Due to this kind of status and position, participation became highly vulnerable; it became easy for the state, employers and management in public enterprises to bind it.
In Tanzania, for instance, workers' participation was introduced by the Presidential Circular No 1 in 1970, and this involved only the public sector which today has substantially shrunk in size. As the public sector is declining the private and informal sectors are assuming prominence. This is taking place within the context of globalization and economic, social and political changes taking place. It is, therefore, increasingly becoming evident that as we traverse the 21 st century, and consequently a new millennium, Africa is forced to reinvigorate, revitalize and even reassess its commitment to participation, democracy and development. We are now witnessing in Tanzania a process of multiparty politics and democratization, elements which did not characterize in the year of 1960s and 1970s in which one political party, or non-party or military regimes of government reigned in Africa at large (URT, 1998). Kester (1996) points out that one of the reason for the rising of globalization among the African states was the failure of the African states to cope with the economic development taking place both globally and nationally, Developing Country Studies www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-607X (Paper) ISSN 2225-0565 (Online) Vol.10, No.3, 2020 132 and this provoked the infamous SAPs and the cold war was also ending and the socialist system in the Eastern bloc had been dismantled, hence giving additional impetus to neo-liberalism and privatization (Kester, 1997). With these all changes, the role of trade unions, workers' participation and their decision making, the whole process of labor relations as well as labor market has assumed to be new dimension (Shao and Naiman, 1996).
Under the liberalization and democratization, trade unions would have been stronger and to have more ability and bigger latitude and leverage to organize much more freely and independence (Shao and Naiman, 1996). Individually this has not been the case because there are many limitations that stand in the way. These limitations include lack of finance, physical infrastructure, skills, and shrinking of the number of membership because of retrenchment. This signals serious danger in workers' participation and labor relations at work places and beyond because employers tend to have upper hand decision in the industrial relations. Regarding to the spirit of privatization, economic reforms and trade liberalization, both private and public enterprises emphasize on enhancing efficiency and improving productivity at the expense of harnessing good employer-workers relations and democratic participation. The management of both private and the public enterprises is not interested well in workers' participation rather than making workers to produce more profit maximization for the betterment of the management.
Furthermore, Marley and Monat (1997) put more forward that during the time of liberalization and privatization, it is the time where the governments have turned their backs on participation and are, instead, promoting more liberalism. The repercussion of this is that workers have no more protection against oppressive employers. Kester (1996) argues that in some African countries, Ghana in particular, the new management in some enterprises tried to extent to abolish the trade unions. He (ibid) adds more that workers' participation had no legal facilitation, it might even be more difficult now to have it unless vigorous struggle is put up to push it through. It is evident that since 1980s to date SAPs have been putting a lot of pressure on the Trade Unions (TUs), workers' participation and the whole process of labor relations Trade Unions(TUs), workers' participation and the whole process of labor relations. Trade Unions were not autonomous in the year of 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s due to the fact that workers' participation was not democratic in the true sense of the world. It was more or less participation that was guided by the so called responsible participation.
With the economic, political and social changes that continue to take place in Tanzania, we now see more autonomy of trade unions, but at the same time there is an undermining and erosion of trade unions rights, workers' participation and the whole process of labor relations because of the fast growing nature of the private sector, the dwindling of the public sector, and ascending of dictatorial and oppressive management. The result of this foregoing is that when the market is liberalized and the public sector is privatized, the existing nature of participation gets eroded Kester (1997). So, the challenge of African Trade Unions in this particular is how to ensure that participatory democracy in decision-making and appropriate labor relations are put in place and sustained within this kind of liberalized and privatization environment.

The Nature and Type of Employer-workers Relationship in Tanzania
The nature and type of employer-workers relationship in Tanzania differ depending on the nature or type of enterprise itself. The first type is private enterprises which right from the beginning was not affected by the Presidential Circular No 1 of 1970. This still feels that failure in production was because of too much involvement of participation by workers in decision-making. Here there is no change of the management or employers attitude towards workers' participation and if anything they feel that the state has realized its mistake, and a result the employer/ management become even stricter than before. The second type comprises of public enterprises which have been wholly privatized. To a very large extent the management of these enterprises changed and became foreign ownership. Therefore, new workers-management or employer relationships changed drastically. In fact in some enterprises not only did management/ employers change, but also new workers were hired due to development of science and technology which made the application of machines to replace human hand work. The third type is that has joint ownership between government and private individuals, groups or companies. Here to a large extent the government tries to side with the management to weaken the workers' participation and their decision making.
A crucial and fundamental question which must put forward here when we want to see workers' participation and their decision-making within public and private enterprise is that: can management let go of its control of enterprises for the sake of workers' participation and their decision-making? The workers' participation and their decision-making is a frontier of control, and most studies that have been carried out have indicated that management is very reluctant to allow democratic workers' participation and their decision-making. In Tanzania For instance, a study carried out to determine the attitudes of employers or management of private enterprises Developing Country Studies www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-607X (Paper) ISSN 2225-0565 (Online) Vol.10, No.3, 2020 indicates that the majority favoured a kind of participation that had something to do with consultation, bargaining, human relations between employers and workers; but again indicated disfavour when it came to giving workers a fair and just wage, joint ownership of enterprises, profit sharing, and allowing workers democratic participation in technical and performance decision and management argued that if they acted differently in favouring the workers, it was privilege and not a right (Shao and Naiman, 1996).

Workers' participation through their Trade unions under Liberalization and Privatization policies
In the mid 1980s as it was indicated earlier, Tanzanian nation underwent a period of economic, political and social reforms which made the liberalization and privatization to be at high on the agenda. Workers' participation through their trade unions was supposed to change their social and economic status of their workers. The kind of trade union existed at that time was JUWATA (Jumuiya ya Wafanyakazi Tanzania). The dissolution of JUWATA was through an Act of Parliament that established the Tanzania Trade Unions (OTTU) in 1991. The new trade union movement was freed from direct political control. Despite this new establishment, the legacy of one-political party system and state control did not disappear; workers' participation and their decision-making continued be guided by the outdated presidential directive of 1970, which means until the end of 1990s the trade unions movement was still not really completely free from the clutches and legacy of the political systems, intimidation and oppression (Shao and Naiman, 1996). This means that those unions established under the 1991 OTTU Act were forced by the same act to be affiliates of OTTU, thus denying them freedom of association.
Furthermore, around 1998 the parliament enacted the new trade union Act No 10 to repeal the Trade Union Ordinance as well as the OTTU ACT. Unfortunately, this act did not establish any trade unions or a federation of trade unions; instead, it gave a provision freedom of association: both workers and employees were free to organize and establish trade unions of their own choice, draw their own constitutions and rules, and elect their leaders. The Act contained the provisions covering the establishment of the Registrar of Trade unions, including modalities for registration of trade unions, powers of registrar, procedures for registering trade unions, procedures by aggrieved parties, the formation of union federations and consultative bodies of trade unions, rights and liabilities, prohibition and cancellation of registration (URT, 1998).
Due to these development sequences, the newly established Trade Union Congress of Tanzania (TUCTA) was introduced and now days TUCTA is the collaboration of other small trade unions like: TUGHE, CHODAWU, TALGWU, TAMICO, TRSWU, TASU, TDAWU, CWT, TUICO, TUJ and RAAW.

Methodology
Primary data was collected using both qualitative and quantitative methods, where secondary data obtained from literature search and review of relevant official documents. The literature review further highlighted critical issues of workers' participation in public and private enterprises in Tanzania, workers' decision-making in Public and Private Enterprises, general overview of workers' participation and decision-making in Tanzania, nature and type of employer-workers relationship in Tanzania and workers' participation through their trade unions under liberalization and privatization policy. Two phases of data collection and analysis were conducted through ten trade unions from four municipals namely Musoma, Ilemela, Temeke and Kinondoni. The sample size of the study comprised of 100 respondents selected purposively from ten trade unions from the following categories; municipal chairpersons, region chairpersons, municipals' secretaries, regions' secretaries, municipals' treasurers, regions' treasures and normal members of trade unions. These respondents were selected based on their virtue and working experience on the assumption that they could give accuracy information about workers' participation in their trade unions. In the first phase, qualitative data based on the workers' participation and their decision-making through their trade unions. The second phase of data collection focused on quantifying some variables pertinent issues discussed during the in-depth interview, observation and focus group discussion. Table 1 shows the sample size of the population employed to the study.
Developing Country Studies www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-607X (Paper) ISSN 2225-0565 (Online) Vol.10, No.3, 2020 (2017) 6.0 Findings of the Study This paper presents and discusses the findings of the study in the following sub sections: the role of trade unions for protecting workers' welfare, presence of workers' council meetings and workers' participation and decisionmaking.

The Role of Trade Unions for Protecting Workers' Welfare
When the study wanted to establish the role of trade unions through their workers' representative organs in promoting workers' welfare, the findings revealed that for public enterprises, it was clear as to what workers' participation was, but in private enterprise the workers' participation through their trade unions (representative organs) was very limited as one of respondent from TAMICO noted: "In our trade union there is no any workers' participation. Neither worker's participation nor workers' representative organs exist, and when they exist, they exist only in name but in the real sense is nothing." It is apparent that workers' participation through their representative organs are not working effectively according to the objectives of the formation of trade unions.

Presence of Workers' Council Meetings
The classical thinkers of management theories like Fredrick Taylor  and Henry The findings from this study revealed workers' council meetings in the public sector existed and that they participated in the meetings in which management attended although their social and economic demands were not always honoured. On the other hand, in the private enterprises, it was found that such things never existed, although sometimes the management initiated some council meetings, but was for the sake of giving directives and not for discussion. One respondent from private enterprise noted that: " In our trade unions workers' council meetings are not given first priority because management fears the workers and when the workers' council existed they were chaired by the heads of the enterprises and the secretaries of the councils were by heads, although both positions were elective, manipulative engineering was used to make sure that all election positions would go according to management plans. " Furthermore the study revealed that the essence and applicability of trade unions in public enterprises is better than in private enterprises. In public enterprises there was higher freedom of speech and expression than in public enterprises. The respondents from National Bank of Commerce, National Microfinance Bank and Central Rural Development Bank (CRDB) went further to point out that: " the trade unions representatives are subordinated to the management, and workers' councils act as a rubber stamp which to a large extent, goes to justify the actions of management." The above testimony tells us that workers through their trade unions representatives indicated that introduction of liberalism policy in Tanzania, workers' participation and their decision-making were apt to reduced to a large Developing Country Studies www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-607X (Paper) ISSN 2225-0565 (Online) Vol.10, No.3, 2020 extent. Most of the respondents interviewed in this study were of the opinion that given the liberal environment now in place, the prospects of workers' participation depends on the type of the management of an enterprise. Where there is private capital and ownership the latitude and scope for participation in decision-making by the workers is very rare, if not completely absent. The system of governance, the nature of capital, and nature of ownership of enterprises have some determinant or influence on participation and decision-making. I was also indicated in this study that management or employers dislike free discussion with workers for fear that confidentiality will be at risk. This was obviously reported out by one respondent from TUICO that: " Some managers argue that there is nothing common between workers and management since as owners they would like to produce at very low cost, then discussions with employees would jeopardize this position and hence lower profits" The study revealed that while employers would normally like to keep their profit position confidential, employees would like some transparency in the area because lack of transparency and smooth efficient flow of information from management to workers renders the latter powerless.

Workers' Participation and Decision Making
The findings revealed that workers saw participation as a major tool for empowering workers and a means of harmonizing and rationalizing the relationship between employers and employees and they argued that it was necessary to have it. They stated that it is the only means of motivating workers, and hence a manner by which efficiency, proficiency and effectiveness in production and productivity could be enhanced. Table 2 shows the areas of participation of workers and their decision-making.  Table 2 reveals that majority (70%) of the respondents were allowed by the management to participate and to provide their decision-making in minor issues like games, breakfast, ceremonial deaths and holidays allowance instead of participating in the major issues pertaining to their social welfare. All 60 normal members of trade unions interviewed reported that when it came to participation and decision-making, there are areas where they were not involved and even if they were involved then their participation and decision-making were negligence by the management because the management argued that they are not competent to do so. These were issues like: investment in capital production (2%), workers' retrenchment (2%), evaluation of the enterprises and their productivity (5%), councils' meetings (10%), issues of workers' welfare like increasing salaries, promotion, categorization and other fringe benefits (5%) and laws and contract of the enterprises (6%). It also became evident that the owners of private enterprises were after maximum profits, and that their priority concern was not to improve the welfare of workers rather than to exploit them effectively. Although this comment was confirmed to private enterprises, it also became relevant to enterprises that were owned in partnership with government and private.
In addition, even in those areas where workers' participation and decision-making in work place were, and still are, tolerated, the position of women was very fragile. It was observed in this study that women were very few who get workers representative or trade union leadership position and therefore they were more affected than men. One respondent from CHODAWU noted that: "When it came to the issue of retrenchment of workers under privatization, women were found to be the majority among those axed because of their low level of education and other aspects that cannot be tolerated by Developing Country Studies www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-607X (Paper) ISSN 2225-0565 (Online) Vol.10, No.3, 2020 the management such as absenteeism due to pregnancy and other household obligations."

Conclusions: The Future of Workers' Participation in Tanzania
The main conclusion that can be drawn is that the current liberalized and privatized economy under the rubric of structural adjustment programs, have affected the majority of workers in terms of unemployment, class and income differentiation, and untold sufferings on the part of low income earners, the poor, and the marginalized of women, children and disabled workers. At macro level, the statistics show that economic growing is on the increase, inflation has gone down and capacity utilization, efficiency and productivity in a number of enterprises have gone up. This positive picture is matched by growing authoritarianism and dictatorship in most private enterprises where workers are threatened with termination of their contracts. Workers' participation through their trade unions are relegated to their main objectives.
Furthermore, the success of workers' participation and their decision-making require a very strong trade union, and a new political culture that would allow the existence of workers' councils, dissenting their views, political toleration, and freedom of workers. This will requires workers who are committed enough and knowledgeable to demand their rights in a dialogue way. While the need for struggle by workers to attain t participation and their decision-making in the enterprises is a prerequisite, enlisting the political will of the management and the government to join together for solving industrial conflicts. Failure to make this joint venture effort, the prospects of workers participation and their decision-making in these enterprises is dauntingly bleak.

Recommendations
Based on the study findings and the ensuing conclusion, the following recommendations are made:  The government as the supervisor of private sector must make sure that all workers in the private enterprises are given employment contract to ensure the workers' welfare.
 Leaders elected in trade unions must be educated enough and well equipped skills to enable them to run collective bargain to the management. Failure for having professional leaders in trade unions will result to the failure of workers' welfare.
 Leaders of trade unions should be in gender wise, women should be given priority to the trade unions' leadership. This will help them to struggle their rights particularly during the time of workers' retrenchment.