CHARACTERISTICS OF PARTICIPANTS IN AN EMPLOYEE SUGGESTION PLAN

Summary and Discussion Nonparticipants, unawarded suggesters and award recipients in a medium-sized insurance company that had recently installed an employee suggestion plan were compared as to personal characteristics, own attitudes, and attitudes of supervisors. Participants were found to be more concentrated in the age group 25–44, have greater labor force attachment and work experience, and place higher value on order and regularity than did the nonparticipants. No support was found for the common notions that suggesters are prone to gripe and to be hurt by rejection of suggestions or, by contrast, to be “company men.” Nervous, undogmatic, unauthoritarian and fairly well satisfied supervisors tended to have more suggesters among their subordinates than did other supervisors. This provides some support for the assertions of much management literature that the supervisors can greatly affect the success of a suggestion plan.