How participatory work practices affect front-line supervisors

Theories abound as to the fate of front-line supervisors when confronted with the introduction of participatory work practices. I seek to increase understanding of how supervisors are affected and track those effects using five consecutive years of survey data from a large U.S. federal agency. Supervisors, on average, resisted organizational change, and this resistance was fairly stable across time. Under a participatory work system, the role of the supervisor became increasingly more demanding even after controlling for changes in production and individual facility characteristics. They remain, however, rather optimistic regarding their career opportunities within the organization.