INTRODUCTION

The project is based on the study of organizational democracy and employee

outcomes among top three retail companies in India. By this study wecan able to
understand whether practicing organizational democracy has a greater impact on
employee’s performance. Giving empowerment and rights for communication to
the employees drives their self awareness and necessaryfreedom which is needed
to perform their work place task with full efficiency. Organization democracy can
be explained as the responsibility towards thegoverned ones.
The retail companies taken for the study are Aditya Birla Fashion And Retail
Limited, Avenue Supermarts Limited, Shoppers Stop Limited.
Numerous studies have been undertaken to evaluate and determine the most
effective and appropriate management model for organizations. However, the
numerous studies have found different management structures to be suitable for
different firms with some results contradicting other studies. Nonetheless, there is
a consensus amongst academicians that the issue of management structure is still
an important area of research as this structure ultimately affects the performance
and sustainability of the firm. In the 20th century, most corporate managers and
academics maintained that bureaucratic structures were the mechanism to
attaining high productivity and the most suitable approach for management firms.
However, various academics maintained that the bureaucratic model has
negative effects on the organization. These included tensions between
management and employees, illegal strikes, and violent clashes. They belayed the
need to change the management philosophy and culture of the firm.Senge (2006)
came up with the concept of the learning organisation which presented an
alternative way of looking at the organisation.
 In the framework, Senge (2006) identified management based on personal
mastery, mental models, shared visions, team learning, and system thinking.
Laloux (2014) indicated that the values, operations, and structures of the
organisation need to be reviewed in the teal concept. Robertson (2015) developed
a circular organization where the hierarchy tree is done away with. According to
Vopalecký and Durda (2017), these are all forms of firm democracy. The aim of
this study is to analyze the application of the management principles of firm
democracy and the effect on the performance of the firm being studied. There is
literature on firm democracy; however, most of the studies give a description of
the implementation (Fenton, 2006; Proenca, 2010; Verdorfer & Weber, 2016;
Vopalecký & Durda, 2017). The contribution of democratic management on
performance has been explored in Greece and the United States. In the Czech
Republic, most of the studies have focused on freedom at the workplace and
freedom-based companies (Carney & Getz, 2013).
The first part of this study presents the theoretical background. The main
definition of firm democracy and characteristics are given; theory of firm
democracy is examined; models of firm democracy including sociocracy, workers
cooperatives, and holacratic management are examined; challenges of firm
democracy are explained; company performance is analyzed, and empirical
literature is undert.aken.
The second part of the thesis provides the research methodology. Theresearch
design, target population, conceptual framework, and research questions are
developed. An operational definition of terms used in the study is given. The
procedure for data collection and analysis are described. The third part of the
thesis presents the study findings and discussion of the findings. The aim of the
project was to determine the relationship between firm democracy and firm
performance.
The study found that the firm applied some of the principles of firm
democracy while others were not fully implemented. The study also
established that the model of firm democracy has a positive effect on firm
performance. The fourth part of the thesis provides the conclusion and
limitations of the study and provides recommendations for future studies.