Teachers' Participation in the Decision-Making Process at the Higher Education Level

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the practices of teachers' participation in the decision-making process and also to find out the factors that influence department members’ participation in decision- making. To conduct this study, a qualitative research design and the descriptive method were employed. A total of 7 participants (4 teachers, 1 Head of Department, and 2 subjects' heads of department) were included in the study. The teacher and subjects' head respondents were selected by a purposive sampling method. The data were gathered through in-depth interviews with my research participants. The study found that teachers' involvement in all areas of the department decisions, in general, was unsatisfactory, and they participated most in issues related to departmental appointment problems and least in academic collaborations. The practice of encouraging teachers’ participation in decision-making was found to be ineffective. Absence of effective leadership practices, lack of trust between teachers and the Head, lack of confidence of the Head, and most of the decisions were made without application of management decision-making techniques in this study.