Participation in management: A comparative perspective

Abstract

After establishing the concepts of direct and indirect participation, the Author examines how they occur in the three types of basic enterprise decisions: decisions on integration, on distribution and on adaptation.

When examining the four kinds of indirect participation - enterprise or establishment committees; collective bargaining; co-management and self-management - the Author reaches the conclusion that comparative analysis discloses as the principal characteristic of the four mentioned forms the high degree of diversity expressed by the socio-economic development stage of the country, by political conditions and by the rights of workers, established by social and labor legislation, as much as by the history and by the juridical structure of workers' organizations and their degree of autonomy, their dependence of and relationship with other political institutions.

The comparative analysis comprehends Germany, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, United States of America, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Netherlands, United Kingdom and Sweden.

The experience of the considered examples shows that, as concerns the distribution of work results - primary function of indirect participation - the most effective measures are collective bargaining and self-management.