# I. Introduction he retention of quality labour has become a central point of interest for organizations. Research suggests that employees with higher levels of job Author: Department of Administration and Quality Assurance Hollywood Cooperation Nigeria. e-mail: hollynshollywood@yahoo.com satisfaction are less likely to quit and that organizations can reap significant benefits from more satisfied employees. These two important considerations have made employee job satisfaction policies essential for effective management strategy. Although such research and strategy are of undoubted value, the effects of external phenomena, such as globalization on job satisfaction have been overlooked. An important component of globalization is the international movement of labour and many countries are facing a labour force with diverse cultural identities. A better understanding of how differences in cultural values can affect the behaviour of employees has become an important concern for organizations. In order to facilitate the understanding of how employees respond to certain organizational changes, several theoretical models of job satisfaction have been developed. Arguably, the most comprehensive model of job satisfaction was developed by Locke (1969), where the concept of job values was used as a foundation in predicting employees' job satisfaction. With job satisfaction being such a subjective concept, empirical researchers have worked towards identifying the determinants of job satisfaction and the evidence suggests that contributory factors include sociodemographic (e.g., gender, age, marital status, education), disposition (e.g., personality traits) (Judge and Bono, 2001) and work situation influences (e.g., job challenge, acknowledgment, job security). Such research provides insights from which organizations can develop strategic programmes to foster greater levels of employee job satisfaction. One such organizational programme entails providing employees with the freedom to participate in decision making (PDM). Theoretical literature has argued that allowing for PDM can satisfy employees' higher-order needs (Maslow, 1943) such as self-expression (Miller and Monge, 1986) and independence (French et al., 1960), which ultimately promotes job satisfaction (Vroom, 1964). In fact, decision-making is one of the most important duties of the school administrator because there are elements of decision-making in every Year ( ) A administrative act, whether it concerns students, programmes, staff, services or resources. It is therefore seen as the heart of school administrative process and a deliberate act that generates commitment on the part of the decision maker towards an envisaged course of action of some specification, since it involves an individual action or group action. Peretomode {1995} observed that decision-making is a key responsibility of all school administrators. While some single handedly take decision, some others involve subordinates and they both take decisions collectively. This later phenomenon has been aptly described as participative or collective decision-making. The benefits of participative decision-making for example, include the accumulation of a wider variety of facts and knowledge than individual decision-making. Individuals working together as a team tend to supplement and compliment each other's knowledge as they consider issues. Group interaction tends to result in the consideration of a greater number of alternatives before they make decision. Individuals who participate in-group decisionmaking are likely to accept a decision and feel more responsibility towards a successful implementation. People support what they help create. If group members report group decision favorably to others, the non participants tend to adopt favourable attitude towards the decision. In participating decision-making, participants in group interactions develop rapport towards each other and they reveal goals, ambitions and interest. (D'Souza, 2005). In the school system, advocates (Nnabuo, Okorie, Agabi and Igwe (2004) and Okorie (2009) of participating decision-making argue that if decisions are to be implemented by subordinates, they will be highly motivated and satisfied with the job if they have a voice in making the decision and their enthusiasm for the organization. Teachers prefer principals who involve them in decision-making and participation increases teacher's satisfaction with teaching as a profession. It has also been pointed out that too much involvement can be detrimental as too little (Bridges 1976). From the forgoing analysis, it could be inferred that participative decision-making has positive relations with teacher's effectiveness and productivity. The absence of teachers' participation in education decision-making process has been observed in Nigeria (Ogundele, 1995). The desire for teacher's involvement in our contemporary educational practices has been clearly demonstrated by an increase in the number of teacher's complaints about their job. Ogundele commented that many teachers feel that they have been limited or in many instances passed in the decision-making process in their schools. Teachers are assumed to be held accountable for inefficiencies in school. Therefore the teacher should be involved in decision-making process. Egbule (2004) and Obanikoro (2008) warned that if somebody sits in either the house or office and come up with any policy without taking into consideration the inputs of the people then the policy implementation will start on a shaky ground and the policy is likely to fail. Ideally, actors are encouraged to have a say in decision that directly affects them. The study considers three decisional states of deprivation, equilibrium and saturation (Belasco and Alutto, 1975). These states or levels are employed by school principals and or school administrators, which range from involvement of teachers in fewer decisions (deprivation) through involvement of subordinate in as many decisions (equilibrium) to involvement of teachers in almost decisions in the school (saturation). These variables (levels of participation in decision) may either make teachers to be satisfied or dissatisfied with the teaching profession and make their morale to be high or low. For teachers to be satisfied and have high morale, they should be involved in as many decisions as they desired. This is because one of the major concern of educational administrators has been, how to motivate, ensure feeling of job satisfaction and engender high morale in teachers and other subordinates (Peretomode, 1995). Halliday (1993) observed that raising staff morale and motivation of teachers in most sub-Saharan African countries is a major challenge because many teachers lack self esteem and to their commitment to their profession. He attributed this lack of self-esteem and commitment to inadequate participatory management style, in most African countries. Nigerian teachers are no exception to this situation. They seem to be mostly recipients of decisions and instructions from national or state level governments. At the school level, the head teacher is placed in a position of responsibility and authority where all major decisions, curriculum and instructions, management of student discipline, school organization and staff personnel matters, financial matters, school and community relations among others are centered on his/her office. This makes him/her wield a lot of power in line with the view that their responsibilities have the power. This kind of structure leaves out the inputs of most of the implementers of school policies on the teachers, in decision-making. # II. # Statement of the Problem The success or failure of an organization such as the school lies considerably on effective decisionmaking. It is assumed that participative decision-making stands as the best way to achieve effectiveness and compliance in school administration (Nwachuku, 2004). Thus, application of participative decision-making is necessary in school administration. An organization is not better than the people that make it up. Efficient and effective utilization of the staff and their intellectual abilities is a sine qua non in the achievements of school goals. Secondary education remains an important stage in the educational process. The success or failure of any meaningful higher education is dependent on the products of secondary education. Therefore, the general public is concerned about the deplorable quality of the products of our secondary education as exemplified by massive failure recorded in December 2009 West African School Certificate and National Examination Council (NECO) examinations. In some schools, there is lack of co-operation between principals and teachers, among teachers, between teachers and students (Taagbara, 2003) and this has often been attributed to the non-involvement of teachers in decision-making process in schools. Participative decision-making process provides for the involvement of everybody in the day-to-day administration of the school and it makes it easy for staff to be satisfied with their job and increases their morale. And there is a general belief that if teachers are satisfied with their jobs and have high morale, it is an indication that teachers are happy about their work and are more likely to put in their best, be more productive and efficient. But when there is no job satisfaction and morale is low, both the quality and quantity of production suffer accordingly. To this end, job satisfaction and morale are determinants of effectiveness because no school, no matter the resources available to them, can attain high academic excellence if teachers in that school lack job satisfaction, discipline, loyalty, commitment and dedication to duty. In the school setting, some school principals allow their teachers to participate in few decisions than they preferred which is referred to as deprivation level of participation in decision-making. Even when the principal allows them to give suggestions, he will end up not using them because he feels to know them all. Teachers are suppressed and there is little co-operation between principal and teachers in the school. Some principals encourage their subordinates to collectively make decisions as they wanted to participate in the school (which is equilibrium level of participation in decision-making). Here everybody worked willingly and contribute to the affairs of the school. Still, there are some principals who allow their teachers to participate in whatever decision taken in the school whether they like to participate or not {saturation level of participation in decision-making}.The school is run by consensus. Everybody is made to understand that he or she is a part of the leadership. In the light of the above, one may ask, how are these various levels of participation in decision-making relate to teachers' job satisfaction and morale in senior secondary schools in Bayelsa and Delta States of Nigeria. # Research Questions The following questions were raised in the study. # b) Review This study is based on the Likert model of management effectiveness which deals with basic categories of task orientation and employee orientation. From a human resource perspective, the primary motivation for implementing PDM programmes is the potential for job enrichment. Some theorists (Likert, 1967;McGregor, 1960) suggest that this is achieved by the effects resulting from the link between PDM, job satisfaction and employees morale. Under affective models of participation in decision making, the primary role of the organisation is to provide a working environment within which employees have PDM responsibilities. Such responsibility is said to be conducive to the healthy development of employees as it leads to the attainment of higher-order needs (Maslow, 1943), such as self-expression (Miller and Monge, 1986) and independence (French et al., 1960), which ultimately promotes their job satisfaction (Vroom, 1964). The affective models of participation have come under great scrutiny from those supporting the cognitive effects of participation. Typically they state that managers simply believe in "involvement for the sake of involvement, arguing that as long as subordinates feel they are participating and are being consulted, their ego needs will be satisfied" (Ritchie and Miles, 1970). Nonetheless, affective models of participation have found empirical support. For instance, by assuming that PDM is positively related with job satisfaction, Alutto and Acito (1974) found that employees who were classified as being in decisional equilibrium (i.e., participating in as many decisions as desired) generally displayed higher levels of job satisfaction than those classified as decisionally deprived (i.e., making fewer decisions than desired). According to Nnabuo, Okorie, Agabi and Igwe (2005) Likert identified four leadership styles called four systems. System 1 leadership style is referred to as exploitative-a situation where the leader takes decision alone without involving the subordinates. He sets rigid rules and method of performance and orders subordinates to implement them. The subordinates feel alienated hence productivity will be low. System 2 leadership style is called "benevolent authoritative" here the leader issues orders but the subordinates are made to feel that their inputs are being sought before decisions are taken in matters concerning the organization where they work. The subordinates are conscious when dealing with the leader. Style 3 leadership style is known as consultative. Here the leader sets the goals and issues orders after consulting with subordinates. Subordinates freely discuss matters with the leader. Subordinates are happy that they are being consulted in decision-making. System 4 leadership style is called participative. Here the leaders set the goal while allowing the subordinates make decisions on work-related matters. Reward and personal growth are used to motivate subordinates. According to Peretomode (2001) participative decision-making use (a) the principle of supportive relationships, (b) group methods for decision-making and supervision and (c) have high performance goals. It is equally referred to as democratic style. The leader is more effective in achieving organizational goals when he adopts system 4 leadership style. Thus leadership effectiveness is largely contingent on the extent the leader involves the subordinates in decision making, not only on his personality traits. Because he involves the subordinates they feel completely free to discuss things about the job even without their superior and they feel satisfied that they did. Peretomode (2001) summarizes in greater detail the Likert's four systems leadership styles. # c) Relevance of Likerts' Model of Management Effectiveness to Participation in Decision-Making Similarly, the relevance of the model was further highlighted by that the findings of the Likert studies at the University of Michigan revealed that organizational departments with low productivity tended to have leaders who used system 1 and 2 styles. On the other hand, high producing departments in the organization tended to be managed in consultative or participative leadership style. He therefore concluded that system 4 is the most desirable and effective in a wide variety of work situations. From the foregoing, the researcher is interested in the system 4 and wishes to adopt Likert's model of leadership styles as the theoretical framework for this study. The word, decision, is derived from the Latin word "decision" which means cutting away or a cutting off or to come to conclusion . Authors in different perspective have variously defined decision-making. Peretomode (2001) sees it as the process of choosing among alternative ways of achieving objectives or providing a solution to problem. Decision is a course of action consciously chosen from among available alternatives for achieving a desirable result (Igwe 2000). The underlying factor of decision-making is that it is a process of choosing from among alternatives. It's closely related to all the management functions (Chike-Okoli, 2004). For example, a manager plans, organizes and controls. In schools, whatever the head of the institution does is through decision-making. Similarly Nakpodia (2006) asserted that an understanding of the decision making process is a sine qua non-for all school administrators because the school like all formal organization is basically a decision-making structure. Infact, decision-making is a key to planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, controlling, staffing, reporting and budgeting in an organization, and makes the organization what it is. # d) Participative Decision Making and Job Satisfaction Participative decision making (PDM) is most effective where a large number of stakeholders are involved and all from different walks of life, coming together to making a decision which benefits everyone. Some such examples are as in the school system, decision for execution of new projects, expansion of school compound, health programme and organization of annual sports meet. In this case, everyone can be involved from experts, NGOs, Government agencies, to volunteers and members of public. Organizations also benefit from participative decision-making when all stakeholders are involved. When employees participate in the decision making process, they improve Igwe (2000) sees system 4 (participative) as a system that goals are set and work related decisions are made by the group members. If managers formally reach a decision do so after incorporating the suggestions and opinions of other group members. Likert developed the model of management effectiveness otherwise known as four systems of leadership styles. The four systems, Exploitative authoritative, Benevolent-authoritative, consultation and participation are akin to the three decision states of decision-making (deprivation, saturation and equilibrium) identified by Belasco and Alluto (1975). understanding and perceptions among colleagues and superiors, and enhance personnel value in the organization (Probst, 2005). Participative decisionmaking by the Top management Team (TMT)" ensure the completeness of decision making and increases team members' commitment to final decision (Carmelli, Sheaffer, & Halevi, 2009:). In a participative decision making process, each team members has an opportunity to share their perspectives, voice their ideas and tap their skills to improve team decision, and there is a better chance of their achieving the results. As each member can relate to the team decision, there is a positive relationship between decision effectiveness and organizational performance. The better the effectiveness, the better the performance. (Brenda, 2001) On the other hand, disadvantages of participative decision-making process have been identified by several writers such as Amstein (1969), Debrium (2007) and Helm (2007). One of the primary risks in any participative decision-making or power sharing process is that the desire on the part of the management for more inclusive participations may not be genuine. When participative decision-making takes place in a team setting, it can cause many disadvantages. These can be anything from social pressures to conform to group domination, where one person takes control of the group and urges everyone to follow his standpoints. With ideas coming from many people, time can be an issue. The meeting might end and good ideas go unheard. Possible negative outcomes of participative decision-making are high costs, inefficiency, indecisiveness and incompetence (Debrium, 2007), having discussed the advantages and disadvantages of participative decision -making (PDM), one can conclude that it still stands as the best style of leadership or decision-making process in any organization such as in schools Peretomode (2012) also noted that although there are a number of advantages of participation decision making, there are also some disadvantages. These include group-think, risky shift and escalation of commitment. # e) Levels of Participation in Decision Making There are three decisional states identified by Belasco and Alutto (1975) namely deprivation, equilibrium and saturation. Decisional deprivation refers to participation in few decisions than preferred on the part of staff. Decisional equilibrium refers to participation in as many decisions as are desired, while decisional saturation refers to participation in more decisions than desired. Igwe (2000) in discussing students and staff participation in decision-making mentioned the three decisional states discussed above and suggested that institutions of education should involve teachers in many decisions as are desired more than the other two, which is, deprivation and saturation. In the light of the above, if equilibrium decisional state is applied in the school staff will have feeling of satisfaction which here refers to their willingness to remain in the institution despite the inducements to leave. To achieve this goal, educational administrators must concern themselves with involving teachers in as many decisions as they are willing and have the expertise to participate meaningfully in. In the same vein, Peretomode (2006) in his study on Decisional deprivation, Equilibrium and Saturation as Variables in Teacher Motivation, Job Satisfaction and Morale in Nigeria, revealed that most secondary schools in Warri Metropolis do not involve their teachers in decision-making as the teachers have desired. In others, the principals appear to adopt an autocratic approach to decision-making. The findings also showed that teachers who participated in many decision-making processes, as they desired felt more motivated, satisfied, and have a high morale while those who are decisionally deprived felt least motivated; least satisfied and have low morale in the work place. In a related study on the level of teacher's participation in Decision-making process at a higher Education Institution: A case of Adama University-Ethiopia, by Abahumna (2010), it was observed from the finding of the study that teachers favour greater participation in decision making though they are not observed participating at large. In the field of education, without teachers involving in decision-making, institution may lead into directions which do not benefit both teachers and the institution. Secondly, if teachers are not involved in matters concerning the affairs of the university, it may result to a number of problems. That is, it may reduce the readiness to do what is, required to assist the university to achieve its goals, affect sense of identification and affect morale and professional commitment,. It may also impede the implementation of the decisions made by the university, disassociate the teachers from the university, discourage creativity and increase dissatisfaction within the university. What is more important however is that teachers should as much as possible be involved in decision-making in schools in all the areas within their sphere of professional competence and for maximum productivity and efficiency, within the level of decisional equilibrium. # f) Teacher Job-Satisfaction in Participation in Decision- Making A glance at the above definitions suggests that job satisfaction may be defined as the extent to which a worker's need expectation is met, and therefore happy with the job. A person with high level of job satisfaction holds positive feelings about the job. When people speak of employee positive attitudes, more often than not, they mean job satisfaction. Teacher job satisfaction therefore is defined by Suryanarayana (2010) as the favourableness or unfavourableness with which employees (teachers) view their work. It signifies the # Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XVII Issue I Version I Year ( ) A amount of agreement between one's expectation of the job and the rewards the job provides. Job satisfaction is concerned with a person or a group in the organization. Satisfaction when applied to work context of teaching seems to refer to the extent to which a teacher can meet individual, personal and professional needs as employees (Suryanarayana (2010). Teacher satisfaction is also defined as willingness to remain with the current school organization despite inducements to leave (Belasco and Alluto, 1975). Teacher satisfaction is seen as important to teacher performance and commitment as the educational organization relied on "a willingness on the part of organizational members to both dependably prosecute their current assignment and adopt to changing future conditions''. The perspective of looking at or thinking about teacher job satisfaction has been considered in four ways. Such dimensions are professional, teaching-learning, innovation and interpersonal relations. Suryanarayana (2010) briefly explained dimensions for measuring teacher job satisfactions as: professional relates to job security and social prestige, molding the young minds, getting appreciation from others and reaching problems of the students. Teacher -leaning refers to problems of the leaders, new situations, successfully managing the classes, students' active participation in the classes, innovative technique in teaching and systematic plan of the work. Innovation relates to creativity, innovative technique intending to participate in cultural activities, co-curricular and social welfare activities. Finally interpersonal relations refer to relations with colleague, parents, students, higher authorities or any personnel confined to school. # g) Teacher Morale in Participation in Decision-Making A decline over the past years in the morale of teachers is identified within the literature, along with recognition of teaching having become an increasingly more demanding profession. The drop in morale has been accompanied by a shift in public attitude towards education. The assumption that education is not fulfilling its potential has led to a focus on 'acceptable end products', state-wide testing and performance appraisal techniques aimed at 'value for money. Infact, teaching is a socially responsible occupation which is highly accountable and bureaucratic, demanding intellectually, emotionally and physically, (Sachs 2003), and intensive and unrelenting. Although employed to teach, teachers are engaged in a wide variety of tasks which are additional to face-to-face teaching. Systems appear to be demanding more and more of teachers. These extra duties include: curriculum design and development; school planning; marketing (mostly private school teachers); community relations; information technology; workplace health and safety; resource management; student welfare; along with playground and sports supervision. While the demands upon teachers have increased, there has been little change in patterns of employment, compensation and career advancement of teachers. Intensification of the teaching role and deterioration of working conditions are recognised in the literature. However, while it is suggested by some that workload is a major contributor to stress and low morale others disagree, claiming that teachers are able to handle the extra pressures and increased workload. Teachers are generally able to maintain a focus 'upon the best interests of their students, even if the system appears to let them down'. Perhaps this is the reason why systems do not see a need to address the crisis in teacher morale. Morale is a group phenomenon consisting of pattern of attitude of the members of the group. Morale can also be defined as a composite of feelings, attitude and sentiments that contribute to general feelings of satisfaction. In this connection, morale is understood as ones attitude towards accomplishing his work rather than emotions he displays and individual objectives, . According to Johnsuad (1996) morale is an attitude of the mind and an emotional force which affects discipline, co-operation, quality, output, enthusiasm, co-operation and interaction between employees and executives for the best interest of the enterprise and ultimately the individuals themselves. Morale is equally important to education and a key to a good school system. Morale makes the difference between viewing teaching as a "job" and viewing it as a "profession" (Kelchear 2004). Kelchear identified two educational implications of teacher morale as, improved school service and public respect and teachers' enthusiasm to communicate their satisfaction and approval not only to pupils, but also to parents and the public. Good teachers are valuable asset to any school system. Poor teachers are a deterrent. The latter are expensive in that they require excessive amounts of frequent supervision, and the work of good teachers, are difficult to eliminate, and often, disrupt the equilibrium and morale of the whole teaching corps. The efficiency of an educational system depends largely on the efficiency of its teachers. The quality of education imparted to children depends to a large extent on the quality of teachers in the schools and colleges. Buildings, equipment, curricula, books and teaching methods are no doubt important. But no other aspect of education is so vital and significant as the men and women who actually teach in the educational institutions. It is they who can make proper use of the buildings and equipment, who can give life and meaning to the curriculum, who can make the books interesting or dull, who can make teaching methods inspiring. Hence boosting their morale is significant. Hoy and Miskel (2008) noted that teacher morale can have a positive effect on pupil attitude and learning. Raising teacher level of morale is not only making teaching more pleasant for teachers, but also learning more pleasant for the students. It creates an environment conducive for learning." When a healthy school environment exists and teacher morale is high, teachers feel good about each other and at the same time, feel a sense of accomplishment from their job (Hoy and Miskel 2008). The reverse will be the case when school environment is unhealthy and morale will be low and stress sets in. Kelehear (2004) states that "when stress occurs among all groups in a school community, morale, performance, and leadership ability can be negatively affected. When school function under high levels of stress, especially unmanaged stress, the school atmosphere becomes unhealthy and dysfunctional. If the stress levels of the leader in a school change, then the school culture and people are more open to criticism. # h) Ways of Boosting Teachers' Morale in Participation in Decision-Making Probst (2005) recommends that administrators should redouble their efforts in the following areas to enhance the morale of teachers: 1. Open the lines of communication 2. Stay visible 3. Develop and clearly define a sound faculty reward system. 4. Thank everyone for every thing 5. Treat fairly new faculty members, and 6. Develop consistent procedures Nakpodia (2011) gave an explanation of these areas in the following way: Opening the lines of Communication: Each administrator needs to let the rank and file faculty members to know the issues facing the campus. It will be surprising that faculties often have a reasonable solution to many of the problems facing a campus if they are just given the opportunity to comment. Try soliciting inputs or feedbacks to your suggestions from the faculty. Stay Visible: Look for opportunities to be seen on your campus as much as possible. This can enhance morale; especially if you cheerfully greet those faculty members you encounter and pause to chat with them as one human being to another. # Develop and Cleary define a Sound Faculty Reward System: Look for ways to develop a sound faculty pay schedule that is not overly influenced by market conditions at the expense of equality. Also look for nontraditional faculty rewards such as providing extra clerical support, grating travel or faculty development allowance. Thank Everyone for Every good Work: Let your faculty members and others within the college know you appreciate the work the faculty is doing. Send personal thank you notes. Finally, during times of financial difficulty let the faculty know that you think they are productive and thank them for helping you identify ways to address budget concerns. Treatment of New Faculty Members: Whenever you hire a new faculty member, always remember to pay as much attention to the new faculty members' colleagues as you do to the new faculty members. Development Consistent Producers: Whenever you have a major budget or curriculum decision to be made sure to seek faculty input. Nothing will affect morale more than if the faculty hears that you are considering a change in evaluation processes, reducing faculty heath care benefits, or increasing the teaching load without consulting with them. While most faculty dread serving on committees, most want to provide accurate feedback when the issues hit close to home. In the same vein, there are some other techniques used by organization such as the school to build morale. The following are some techniques suggested by Lawal ( 2011 Educational administrators have, of late, been asked to change the way they operate. Noting the lack of follow through that frequently results from state mandates, policy makers have taken a different track. Like managers in the corporate world, educators are now being asked to flatten organizational structures, reduce central office directives and permit employees the opportunity to take ownership for institutional decision-making (Jones 2004).This initiatives, it has been argued, will tap the expertise of those employees most closely associated with the instructional process while making schools more responsive to institutional stockholders. Although intuitively appealing, the effort has thus far had mixed results. Reasons for this situation are as numerous as the number of different decisionmaking models now being used across the country. Organizational theorists such, as Agyris, MCGregory, Herzberg, Likert and Ouchie have all suggested that participatory decision-making (PDM) would lead to more effective organizations and higher staff morale. The Human Relations School of Management of the 1930s -40s promulgated the notion that institutions might be more successful if managers would begin to consider the employee's individual and social needs. Abraham Maslows theory of motivation pointed to the human need for self-actualization. Allowing employees a voice in decision-making is perhaps the most logical method for allowing this to occur. In a similar vein, Chris Argyris saw bureaucracies as imposing restraints on individuals by refusing to treat them as mature actors capable of self-direction. Douglas Mc Gregory's Theory X and Theory Y focused on management's assumptions about employees. Managers who view subordinates as willing cooperative and responsible (Theory Y) treat them differently from managers who take the opposite view point (Theory X). Since Theory Y managers have different expectations, they structure the work environment to provide employees opportunities to take on more responsibilities. Participative decision-making would certainly allow this to happen. Fredrick Hertzberg's motivation-hygiene theory went even further, positing that workers were not motivated by extrinsic factors such as salary, working conditions, and job security but by intrinsic factors such as achievement, recognition, and responsibility. Participative decision-making would contribute to any or all three of these (Hoy and Miskel 2008). According to the theory, gratification of hygiene leads only to minimal job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is more likely to come from autonomy, responsility, and the challenge of the job itself. In brief, motivators tend to provide job satisfaction. Miner (2004) observed that the factors of motivation are both conceptually and empirically related. When these elements are present in work, the individual's basic needs of personal growth and selfactualization will also result. The hygiene factors, when provided appropriately, can serve to remove dissatisfaction and improve performance up to a point. Still not all theories agree. Decision-making models by Victor Vroom (1973) and Tannnenbaum and Schmidt (1957), Hersey and Blanchard (1972), and Fiedler (1967) all imply a contingent style of management such that some situations call for subordinate participation while some do not. According to these models, managers should consider such factors as employee maturity, skill level, willingness to be involved, leader personality and the type of problem when using participative decisionmaking technique. Since participative decision-making may not be appropriate in all situations, there need to apply contingency approach to participation in decisionmaking process (Okorie 2001). It was said that teachers neither expect nor want to be involved in every decision. Infact, too much involvement can be detrimental as too little (Hoy and Miskel, 2008). On the bases of the above, Bridges concept of "Zone of acceptance" is to be considered which means the extent to which subordinates are willing to comply with and implement directives, the range of actions at request of the leader. In order to determine these issues, Bridges provided two rules of the Thumb (test of relevance and test of expertise) and Owens (1981) suggested a third, test of Jurisdiction (Okorie, 2001). # i) Teachers Morale and Job Performance Most successful organization values the input and involvement of their employees in decision making process because the very people who will be responsible for implementation of these decisions seem not only reasonable but also responsible as participation of this way that can produce positive results. Morale is an attitude of satisfaction, with a desire to continue in, and willingness to strive for the goals of a particular group and organization. As the definition of morale suggest, staff morale is a condition of a group will clear and fixed group goals which are considered to be important and integrated to the individual goal. In an organization like secondary schools which needs high teachers' morale, the group actions are integrated and co-operative (Ifeanyi, 2010) Efforts are directed towards a common purpose rather than what an individual desire. It is a feeling of belongingness to the system and identification with group goals. Therefore, morale is the spirit and attitude of employees towards their work and as such it can be low or high. High morale in teachers exists when teachers have favourable attitude towards teaching and their peer group. Low morale also exist when teachers attitude are anti-pathetic to teaching (Osaigbovo, 2004). Employee engagement and performance has been as critical to the overall health and success of an organization as they are in current health. As companies struggle in a slow economy, the hard work and dedication of employees can make the difference. One of the greatest challenges business and education leaders face today is to maintain a workplace culture where employees are motivated, engaged and performed to their fullest potentials (Bardach, 2010). Employees not only want good pay and benefits, they also want to be valued and appreciate for their work, treated fairly, assigned roles and tasks that are important, have advancement opportunities and opportunities to be involved in decisions. Employee recognition may prove to contribute to high morale in work environment and this may in turn lubricate the wheel of productivity/performance. Research carried out by Weaklien and Frenkel (2010) considers relationship between morale and workplace productivity in Australian workplace. It focuses on their questions; the shape of the relationship, whether the effects of morale are contingent on other factors and the paths by which any effect takes place. The results show that morale influences productivity in an approximately linear fashion. The effect of morale and productivity appears to be larger when management regard product quality as important and attempts to develop co-operate ethnic and culture. Morale is associated with greater work effort, but the relationship between work effort and productivity becomes stronger at high level of morale. Thus, part of the influence of morale on productivity is a matter of increasing the effectiveness of worker's efforts. In a school where consensual culture is practiced, such characteristics as decentralization of power, differentiation of activities exist and has internal focus on system maintenance (Igwe, 2000), transaction here are based on decision, participation and consensus. There are teamwork, high morale, trust, intimacy and egalitarism. Therefore, in such and environment, morale of teachers may be high which may lead to productivity/ performance and may also raise students on teacher's morale and performance in the school. In a study on teacher's morale and performance in selected secondary schools, in Nigeria, embarked by Oyedeji (1995) revealed that the higher the morale of teachers the more they perform better on the job and the lesser their morale the less they perform on the job. Therefore, the author advocated that teacher's needs should be taken care of so that their morale could be high in order for them to perform well on the job. In effect, it was observed that in order to achieve higher productivity, employees (teachers) needs must be provided so as to boost their morale. In essence, high morale can be regarded as one of the factors required by an employee or teacher in order to put his or her maximum best to enhance productivity / performance. # j) Appraisal In comparison, the literature on the influence of teachers' participatory decision making on job satisfaction and their morale is relatively underdeveloped. Although much debate surrounds the meaning of PDM, one of its most comprehensive definitions was proposed by Heller et al. (1998), who suggests that it is: "the totality of forms, i.e. direct (personal) or indirect (through representatives or institutions) and of intensities, i.e. ranging from minimal to comprehensive, by which individuals, groups, collectives secure their interests or contribute to the choice process through self-determined choices among possible actions during the decision process". From an organisational perspective, the primary motivation for implementing PDM programmes is to promote gains in productivity and PDM should be centred on issues which employees are knowledgeable about in order to ensure and accrue organisational benefits. Cognitive models of participation suggest that greater employee engagement is a viable organizational strategy as it enhances the flow and use of information. Underlying such rationale is the observation that employees are closer to their own work than are top management, and hence employees could have a relatively greater understanding of work-related problems given their potentially greater or more up-todate source of information. Moreover, if teachers are involved in designing solutions to work-related problems then they may gain an understanding of the implementation of such solutions. Conversely, if schools discourage teachers from communicating their work-related issues and from suggesting potential solutions to such issues then they stand to lose out on innovative suggestions relating to work processes, programmes, and technologies that could enhance organisational efficiency and productivity. From the review of related literature, it was also revealed that participative decision-making means giving subordinates or teachers an opportunity to participate in various decisions which affect them directly or indirectly. It was based on this premise that several authors advanced it as the best because it boosts teacher's job satisfaction and morale. IV. # Method and Procedure a) Research Design The study employed correlational study to determine the relationship among levels of participation in decision-making, job satisfaction and morale of teachers in senior secondary school in Delta States of Nigeria. The study therefore, attempted to determine the influence of the independent variable (teachers' involvement in decision making process) on the dependent variables (job satisfaction and morale of teachers) in secondary schools in Delta States. # b) The Population The population comprised all teachers in the public senior secondary schools in Delta States. There are 362 senior secondary schools with 5,300 teaching staff in Bayelsa and Delta States respectively as at April, 2011. The distribution of the secondary schools and teaching staff Delta States. # c) Sample and Sampling Technique The study employed stratified random sampling technique to get the sample size. This involved subdivision or grouping of the entire population (the total number of public senior secondary schools in the state) into sub-sets. Thus, the researcher first categorized the secondary schools under each of the three senatorial districts (Delta North, Delta Central and Delta South) of Delta State. Secondly from each local government area within each senatorial district, simple random sampling technique was used to select 10% of the senior secondary schools. Finally, for each school selected, all teaching staff automatically became members of the sample for the study. # d) Research Instrument The study employed a questionnaire method of data collection. The instrument titled Questionnaire on Levels of Participation in Decision making for Teachers of Secondary Schools (QLPDMPTSS) was designed by the researcher to elicit data on teachers' involvement in decision-making as well as the influence of teachers' participation in decision-making on their job satisfaction and morale. The questionnaire was divided into two sections .For each item in section B, the respondent was required to tick (?) the appropriate column that corresponds to his or her actual perceived degree of participation in decision making process. # Section A This section contains the respondent's background information. It was designed to obtain biodata of the respondents. It was made up of items relating to sex, experience, marital status, location of school etc. # Section B To gather information on levels of participation of teachers in decision making, job satisfaction and morale, Section B contained 20 Likert type items and respondents were required to tick (?) where applicable from Strongly Agree -strongly Disagree(SD) under the following scoring scale: Strongly Agree (SA) = 4 points Agree (AG) = 3 points Strongly Disagree (SD) = 2 points Disagree (D) = 1 point # e) Validity of the Instrument The content validity of the instrument was determined by expert opinion. The instrument was given to the thesis supervisors and other experts in the department of educational administration and policy studies, Delta State University, Abraka for the scrutiny of the items and their suggestions were incorporated to make the final instrument. # f) Reliability of the Instrument To establish the reliability of the instrument, Cronbach Alpha reliability technique was used. It was employed to establish internal consistency of the test items. The instrument was administered on 30 teachers outside the study area. The computation yielded reliability coefficient of 0.87 which implied that 87% of the variance in the respondents' scores are caused by variation in the true scores while 13% of the variance was attributable to error scores. Therefore, the instrument was considered to have a high reliability coefficient for the study. # g) Administration of the Instrument The administration of the Instrument was done by the researcher with the assistance of trained research assistants in Delta State. The researcher and the assistants personally administered and collected the questionnaire from the sampled schools in the states. This was to ensure high return rate of the instrument administered on the respondents. # h) Method of Data Analysis Correlation analysis, frequencies and percentages were employed to answer the research questions while the null hypotheses of no significant relationship were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Coefficient (r) and Multiple Regression statistical techniques at 0.05 significance level on the various hypotheses formulated and tested to guide the study. V. # Results and Discussion # Hypothesis I There is no significant relationship between deprivation in decision-making and teacher's job satisfaction in senior secondary schools in Delta State. In table 1 the 'r' calculated value of 0.198 was greater than the critical value of 0.062. Hence, the null hypothesis was rejected. Since the computed correlation coefficient is greater than zero (r>0), it is an indication of positive linear relationship between decisional deprivation and teachers' job satisfaction and individuals' scores did not vary on both variables. This implies that there was a significant relationship between deprivation in decision-making and teacher's job satisfaction in senior secondary schools in Delta State. # Hypothesis 2 There is no significant relationship between deprivation in decision-making and teachers' morale in senior secondary schools in Delta State. 2 shows that the 'r'-calculated value of 0.204 was greater than the 'r'-critical value of 0.062. Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected. Since the computed correlation coefficient is greater than zero (r>0), it shows a positive linear relationship between the two variables and individuals' scores did not vary on both variables. This indicates that there was a significant relationship between the deprivation in decision-making and teacher's morale in secondary schools in Delta State. # Hypothesis 3 There is no significant relationship between equilibrium level of participation in decision-making and teacher's job satisfaction in Secondary Schools in Delta State. Table 3 shows that the 'r'-calculated value of 0.302 was greater than the 'r'-critical value of 0.062. Hence, the null hypothesis was rejected. Since the calculated correlation coefficient is greater than zero (r>0), it is an indication of positive linear relationship between decisional equilibrium and teachers' job satisfaction individuals did not vary in their scores on both variables. This shows that there was significant relationship equilibrium in decision-making and teachers' job satisfaction in senior secondary schools in Delta State. # VI. Conclusion and Recommendations The study investigated levels of participation in decision making as correlates of job satisfaction and morale of teachers in senior secondary schools in Bayelsa and Delta states of Nigeria. Three research questions were raised and three null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Research questions were answered using correlation analysis. The study was a correlational research that employed questionnaire in sampling the opinions of the respondents. Subsequently, a questionnaire titled "Questionnaire on levels of participation in Decision -making, Job satisfaction and morale of Teachers" (QLPDMJSMT) was constructed by the researcher. The self-made research instrument of modified Likert four scale type was administered on 976 respondents (teachers) and data collected from respondents (teachers) were analyzed and presented in chapter four. # a) Findings The following findings were made in the study: # b) Conclusion Based on the findings, the following conclusions were made. Deprivation in decision-making was significantly related to teachers' job satisfaction. Also deprivation in decision making was positively related to teachers' morale in senior secondary schools in Delta State. Equilibrium in decision -making positively affect teacher's job satisfaction in senior secondary schools in Delta State. # c) Recommendations The study was tailored towards understanding the relationship among the levels of participation in decision-making, teachers' job satisfaction and morale in senior secondary schools in Delta State. In consideration of the results from the study, the researcher has made the following recommendations in line with the conclusions of the study. That school principals should not apply autocratic style of leadership by involving teachers in fewer decisions than they preferred in their schools. However, principals should have the knowledge that an autocratic administrative decision is appropriate if the quality requirement for the decision is low and the matter is unimportant to subordinates. 1VariablesNXSDDFr-calr-critLevel of sign.DecisionDeprivation level of Participation97619.524.56SignificantTeacher's job satisfaction97615.293.239740.1980.0620.05(Rejected) 21NXSDDFr-calr-critLevel of sign.DecisionTable 3VariablesNXSDDFr-calr-critLevel of sign.DecisionDecisional Equilibrium97615.033.48SignificantTeacher's job satisfaction97615.293.239740.3020.0620.05(Rejected) © 2017 Global Journals Inc. (US) © 2017 Global Journals Inc. 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