What is Shared Governance? What You Need to Know

Shared governance is one of the ideal methods to create an inclusive culture in organizations and institutions. But how exactly does this model work? Read further to find out.

It is commonplace for the workforce in leadership-governed organizations to hear phrases like ‘You don’t have the authority for this’ or ‘We can’t share this information with you.’

These are examples of situations where leaders don’t include the workforce responsible for operational tasks in major organizational decisions.

However, several industries have realized that this isn’t the ideal model for successfully operating a system. Leadership-based governance usually leads to managerial malfunctions and issues that affect the overall output.

This led to the introduction of shared governance. Apart from introducing transparency and inclusiveness in several industrial sectors, this concept promotes workplace equality and value for individual opinions.

So, what is shared governance, and is it as beneficial as it sounds? Read through my detailed overview to find out.

What Is Shared Governance?

If you haven’t heard of shared governance, let’s get to the root of the concept with a clear shared governance definition before getting into further details.

Shared governance is a system that promotes inclusive and shared decision-making based on four principles: partnership, equity, accountability, and ownership of the service.

At its core, this management process empowers all workforce members and encourages them to voice their opinions.

Using the shared governance model, an organization can push its employees to go the extra mile for the company while contributing to their self-confidence and accountability.

In simpler words, if you work in an environment that operates using a shared governance model, you would feel like you have a say in the decision-making and policy-making activities.

This would eventually lead you to believe in a ‘personal stake’ within the organization promoting its growth.

Where Did the Shared Governance Model Originate?

Companies and organizations striving towards workplace equality and ESG compliance have emphasized shared governance during the past few years. However, the concept of shared governance and the basic shared governance model are not new.

Organizations from various sectors have benefitted from shared decision-making, including education, politics, business, and even religion. However, it was carried out in diverse and creative ways in different cultures and periods until it was strengthened as a specific school of thought in this era.

Nevertheless, we would have to go back to the late 18th century to trace the origins of essential business management concepts. In this period, shared governance was first mentioned as a favorable idea in business and management literature.

In this regard, the most popular literary works include O’May and Buchan’s Discourse, published in 1999, and Laschinger’s Initial Explanation, published in 1996. These initial discussions prompted organizations to consider developing productive relationships between employees and leadership.

This resulted in the entire workplace structure being involved in the significant decisions of business organizations, improving accountability and workplace satisfaction for workers like never before.

Besides that, a similar concept of hospital-shared governance emerged simultaneously, attributing to the works of McDonagh in 1989 and Cleland in 1978.

After this breakthrough, the nursing department embraced this solution globally, creating a paradigm shift in nursing.

Most importantly, introducing shared governance in nursing brought about rapid advancements in sectors like biotechnology, disease prevention, and patients’ roles during treatment.

Since then, the shared governance model has been continually refined and customized to fit the usage of various organizations. Some of the significant results include employee retention and self-satisfaction, among other organizational-scale benefits.

How Does Shared Governance Work?

So, how does shared governance work, and how do organizations implement its techniques in their policies? As I mentioned, the concept works using four basic principles.

Only if all four aspects are met would shared governance reach the optimal level for employee empowerment and workplace development in a company.

Partnership

First comes integrating the partnership factor between the employees, stakeholders, and organizational leaders. Under this process, a company should develop mechanisms to incorporate every staff member in the essential decisions.

Similarly, it should develop productive professional relationships between the leaders and employees to maximize their expertise and experiences. Eventually, this would result in each person’s contribution to fulfilling the organization’s final mission.

Equity

Secondly, the equity concept from the shared governance model maintains that no role in the company is more significant than the other.

Thus, although there might be differences in the pay scale and benefits range across the workplace hierarchy, it should not undermine an individual’s efforts for the company.

This does not mean that each organization member should be treated equally regardless of their knowledge and responsibility. Instead, each member should work together and play their respective roles to improve the overall outcome.

Accountability

Thirdly, accountability holds every individual in the organization responsible for the decisions and policies developed. This means the sole responsibility for the consequences does not lie entirely with the leadership.

Instead, every member involved in the decision-making process is accountable for the views they express. This helps enhance employees’ performance and willingness to contribute positively to the organization.

Besides that, it also reduces the chances of negative upheavals and inter-organizational disputes, creating a balanced, growth-influenced environment.

Ownership

Lastly, each organization member’s ownership of their actions is essential within the shared governance framework. This aspect distributes every action’s responsibility among members and lets the leadership evaluate how well each person performs his particular role.

Consequently, individual ownership through shared governance ensures that every individual strives as hard as his co-workers for the holistic development of the company.

See Related: What is ESG Investing?

How Is Shared Governance Different from Participatory Management?

Shared governance is often confused with participatory management, a similar process. However, the shared services governance framework uses people’s decisions to operate the company at the core level.

It does not imply asking for suggestions and input while making a particular decision. Instead, it includes increasing each individual’s importance and authority. To highlight this difference, let’s use an example.

A group of staff members from a single organization is asked to try out a product and submit their feedback to the leadership. The administration reviews the feedback, adds their input, and decides whether to purchase the product.

Most people would consider this a perfect example of shared governance. But it portrays participatory management. Shared governance goes far beyond these clauses.

I’ll make it clear. Now, let’s say the same staff members are asked to try some products to decide which one to purchase. Again, in the effective implementation of shared governance, the leadership would first identify the products’ requirements to be eligible for the purchase.

On the other hand, the staff would provide feedback on the products based on the criteria defined earlier. Next, the team themselves would formulate a decision regarding which product to purchase.

Consequently, the leadership would oblige and order the products immediately while thanking the staff for their help. Points to note in this situation include the leadership’s provision of set criteria and the team’s formulation of a decision.

This is true shared governance. Everyone from the organization provided input and played an essential role in the decision. But, most importantly, one section did not dominate the other.

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What Are the Common Applications of This Structure?

Now that you have a clear idea about shared governance, you’re probably wondering where it is applied in today’s circumstances. Organizations from various sectors, including religious, government, and business organizations, use this model. However, the two examples below stand out.

Most commonly, shared governance is being adapted abundantly in nursing and educational sectors worldwide.

Shared Governance Nursing

Shared governance in the healthcare sector was first established around the 1980s. As a form of participative management, shared governance emerged to erase workplace dissatisfaction among nurses and other healthcare workers.

This method allows bedside nurses to provide opinions on critical matters such as patient health and equipment procurement.

Similarly, the improved relationships between bedside nurses and nursing leaders promote evidence-based research to raise treatment standards in the organization.

Most importantly, the engagement of every nursing personnel creates a positive workplace culture and job satisfaction, promoting positive patient outcomes.

Shared Governance In Higher Education

Furthermore, shared governance is commonly adopted by the educational sector to improve overall learning. Thus, universities are inclined to include students, alumni, faculty, and staff in policy and decision-making.

Similarly, the shared governance structure in educational institutions aims to tackle issues such as diverse values, finance management, and effective administration. This helps balance policy efficiency and fairness in every operation framework.

Besides that, the system also helps increase confidence and highlight the innate strengths present in members of the hierarchy in an educational institution. This enhances the aspect of accountability and responsibility, which promotes practical exposure and decision-making.

See Related: Corporate Governance: Reasons for Effective Management

What Are the Major Flaws and Benefits of Shared Governance?

Although it encourages an organization’s well-being and social relevance, shared governance has flaws. Introducing the concept and maintaining its four principles takes time and effort.

This might require extended hours and increased responsibility for the minimum-wage workers. That might not be seen as a welcome scenario initially. Organizations need thorough counseling and awareness before implementing the system to combat this inconvenience and ensure a smooth transition.

Moreover, a shared governance structure is only relevant if the leadership has complete trust in other sections of the organization. If not, the system might prove useless to the company.

However, shared governance has benefits, which are evident in companies that operate according to it. These benefits include increased professional responsibility, enhanced job satisfaction, and innovative workplace culture, among other positive outcomes.

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Is Shared Governance the Best Approach?

The shared governance model delivers positive implications for corporate governance or other institutionalized organizations. However, the said outcome is only possible if the model is utilized following a strict protocol through the proper channels.

Otherwise, shared governance can prove problematic in situations where multiple hierarchies collaborate to achieve a particular decision or outcome. In either case, thorough preparation and strict monitoring are required to ensure the positive outcome of shared governance.

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