Shared governance
Shared governance is a collaborative management approach that allows employees to actively participate in the decision-making processes of their organizations. This model aims to enhance employee engagement and accountability, fostering a sense of ownership that can lead to improved work performance and ethical standards within the organization. Commonly found in sectors like nursing, academia, and manufacturing, shared governance encourages teamwork and supports self-managing teams, in contrast to traditional hierarchical systems where decision-making is concentrated at the top.
In academic institutions, shared governance involves faculty in significant decisions regarding policies, hiring, and educational standards, although the extent of their influence can vary. In healthcare, nurses have utilized shared governance since the 1980s to boost accountability and improve patient outcomes, with models that adapt to the specific needs of the institution. Successful implementation of shared governance requires clear roles, expectations, and open communication, ensuring that employees feel empowered to contribute meaningfully. Modern technology has further facilitated shared governance by enabling better access to information and collaborative decision-making across diverse locations and schedules.
Shared governance
Shared governance is a way for employees to engage in the organization, management, and ownership of their places of employment. This structure of management is used to promote employee buy-in—meaning that if employees feel that they have a stake in the organization for which they work, they will be more likely to put a good deal of effort into their work. Similarly, if the organization is accountable to its employees, it is likely to maintain high ethical standards. Shared governance has become a common practice in employment sectors such as nursing, academia, and manufacturing.
Background
The goal of shared governance is twofold: employees work better, and the institution functions better. When shared governance is used successfully, employees feel empowered and are more likely to make decisions that benefit both the employees and the institution. Additionally, shared governance can lead to self-managing teams that are able to claim responsibility for their work goals and keep one another accountable. This is different from a hierarchical system of governance where a manager or director sets a goal and retains all decision-making power. To successfully work within a shared governance framework, managers and other leaders need to envision themselves as coaches, facilitators, or information resources to whom employees can look for guidance. This requires that upper-level managers trust their employees and colleagues to make intelligent decisions and that employees trust that managers will not undermine their decisions.
Shared governance models may try to create a democracy or may choose to use a representative model. For example, shared governance can take the form of councils, committees, teams, or task forces. The employees participating in these groups might be elected by their colleagues or appointed by their employer. While shared governance structures or groups have a say on some institutional decisions, they are rarely able to voice an opinion or vote on all decisions facing the institution. To ensure that employees feel that they are treated fairly in a shared governance system, it is important to have firm criteria for which topics should be put to a shared governance system and which should be determined by the institution’s upper-level management. Employees participating in shared governance must be able to consult informative materials relating to the decisions that they are asked to make, have time to consider their decisions, and feel that they can choose one option over another without losing their job or risking demotion.
Shared Governance Today
Modern academic institutions use shared governance with a division of labor to support and ensure that faculty members are able to participate in the development and implementation of university policies. This means that while the university hires administrators who then oversee the finances and student life on campus, faculty members maintain a level of involvement in hiring, tenure, and educational policies. The 1966 Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities outlined the ways that these practices would work in an ideal structure, though each college and university designs its own policies with different levels of shared governance.
While many institutions aim for shared governance structures, they sometimes face difficulties when employees feel that power is not fairly shared. In academic settings, the key decision-makers are often faculty members, board members, and administrators. One of the largest problems is the difference between shared governance and consultation. In a shared governance model, faculty members have the ability to vote on academic policies but might not have the ability to participate in or veto financial decisions. Sometimes, faculty members allege that they are only consulted about academic decisions that have already been made by administrators and board members. While this consultation includes a vote, faculty members claim that it is not truly shared governance if they are not able to participate in the drafting of new academic policies. Clarity in terms of expectations, procedures, roles, and accountability is required to establish and maintain working shared governance structures.
Shared governance is also commonly used in healthcare institutions. Nurses began to use shared governance models in the 1980s as a way to improve accountability. Three commonly used models emerged: councilor (decision by committee and subcommittee), congressional (direct democracy), and administrative (division of labor between medical and management decisions). By sharing in the decision-making process, nurses were able to express their opinions about how policies and procedures were implemented; make suggestions and institute changes that improved the safety culture and patient care; and, in some cases, exercise greater control over staffing, compensation, budgets, and resource management. Case studies on the use of shared governance among nurses have recorded positive outcomes such as fewer workplace conflicts, improved job satisfaction, and decreased employee turnover. Healthcare institutions have also reported saving large sums of money after implementing shared governance. These savings may come from not having to hire replacement or short-term nurses, lower turnover rates, fewer sick days, or higher productivity rates. However, it has been difficult to assess the actual outcomes systematically, as institutions implemented varying shared governance structures and researchers have chosen different variables, measured variables differently, or selected small samples over short periods.
Institutions are continuing to develop new ways to implement shared governance using technology. The Internet encourages interconnectivity and makes it possible for more employees to participate in decisions. Access to both internal and external computer networks and shared drives has meant faster transmission of information critical to decision-making. Such digital communication networks are making it easier to implement shared governance policies, even among employees who work at different sites or on different schedules.
Bibliography
Anthony, Mary K. "Shared Governance Models: The Theory, Practice, and Evidence." Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, vol. 9, no. 1, 2004, ojin.nursingworld.org/table-of-contents/volume-9-2004/number-1-january-2004/shared-governance-models. Accessed 25 Jan. 2025.
Bahls, Steven C. "How to Make Shared Governance Work: Some Best Practices." Trusteeship, vol. 22, no. 2, Mar./Apr. 2014.
Blase, Jo, and Joseph Blase. "Shared Governance Principals: The Inner Experience." NASSP Bulletin, vol. 83, no. 606, 1999, pp. 81-90.
Eckel, Peter D. "The Role of Shared Governance in Institutional Hard Decisions: Enabler or Antagonist?" Review of Higher Education, vol. 24, no. 1, 2000, pp. 15-39.
Hess, Robert G., Jr. "From Bedside to Boardroom—Nursing Shared Governance." Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, vol. 9, no. 1, 2004, ojin.nursingworld.org/table-of-contents/volume-9-2004/number-1-january-2004/from-bedside-to-boardroom. Accessed 25 Jan. 2025.
Mcknight, Heather, and Sheila M. Moore. “Nursing Shared Governance - StatPearls.” NCBI, 19 Sept. 2022, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK549862. Accessed 25 Jan. 2025.
Morgan, VeRita, et al. "Focus on Shared Governance: Evaluation of a Professional Practice Model." Nursing Management, vol. 46, no. 12, 2015, pp. 8-10.
Schick, Edgar B., et al. Shared Visions of Public Higher Education Governance: Structures and Leadership Styles That Work. American Association of State Colleges and Universities, 1992.
"Shared or Divided Governance?" Inside Higher Ed, 28 July 2014, www.insidehighered.com/views/2014/07/29/essay-new-approach-shared-governance-higher-education. Accessed 25 Jan. 2025.