The distribution of employee participation schemes at the workplace

Recent years have witnessed a burgeoning literature on the type of work organization which is most conducive to high performance. A common theme running through this literature is the need for firms to introduce schemes for enhanced employee participation. In this paper the distribution of such schemes is considered and the factors associated with their adoption examined. The willingness of establishments to embrace different forms of employee participation is found to be particularly strong in larger establishments that are part of big organizations. More recently established workplaces and those using advanced technology are also highly likely to have introduced a number of different employee participation schemes. The presence of unions at the establishment is not found to constrain their introduction. Employee participation is, however, a wideranging phenomenon and individual schemes differ markedly. It is therefore important to distinguish between unlike schemes. Their distribution is seen to conform...