The article analyses the leadership of managers of educational institutions in developing participatory decision-making in organisational
management. The aim of the study is to empirically reveal how leaders lead in constructing and implementing participatory
decisions, and what significance they acquire in management practice. The study is based on a phenomenological approach, applying
a qualitative research strategy and semi-structured interviews with six managers of educational institutions. The results reveal that
participatory decisions function as process-based management tools that strengthens the organisational culture, trust and employee
engagement, contributing to the effectiveness of management. However, their development is constrained by structural factors in
the educational system, time limitations, and internal cultural restraints, such as employee passivity. It was found that the leader’s
leadership is an essential factor determining the success of participatory management in the face of structural contextual and internalorganisational PDM risks.
Journal:Tiltai
Volume 96, Issue 1 (2026), pp. 28–40
Abstract
The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) in contemporary management is transforming production processes, decision-making, and the symbolic frameworks through which managers interpret organisational reality. In Venezuela, this transformation is particularly complex, due to economic crises, institutional fragility, environmental volatility, and the need for rapid managerial decisions amid uncertainty. This article analyses the impact of AI from a postmodernist perspective, based on a survey of Venezuelan managers (N=150) from the industrial, commercial and service sectors, selected through convenience sampling due to infrastructural constraints. The findings show primarily the instrumental adoption of AI, oriented towards decision support and operational optimisation, but they also reveal persistent tensions between human intuition and algorithmic recommendation. Ambivalent perceptions regarding dashboards, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and AI’s capacity to faithfully represent organisational reality are identified. From a postmodernist perspective, these results suggest that AI not only automates tasks but also reconfigures the legitimacy of knowledge, managerial subjectivity and power relations within the organisation. The study concludes that the use of AI in Venezuelan management expresses a transition towards hybrid forms of decision-making, where human rationality, algorithmic calculation and adaptation to crisis conditions coexist.