IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/coecpo/v12y1994i4p57-66.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Employee Participation: An Evaluation Of Labor Policy Alternatives

Author

Listed:
  • CHERYL L. MARANTO

Abstract

This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on employee participation (EP) and the legal status of EP programs. The effect of EP on firm performance theoretically is indeterminate. However, properly implemented, EP can increase productivity and advance employee interests. Read literally, the National Labor Relations Act's (NLRA) prohibition of company‐dominated unions prohibits EP in nonunion workplaces. This paper critiques four proposals to amend the NLRA based on the EP literature. EP is most likely to increase productivity if employees receive decision‐making power. Two policies would accomplish this: (i) government mandated employee participation committees or (ii) increased legal protection of unions. The latter policy promotes power‐sharing in a voluntary system. A third approach, abolishing the prohibition of company‐dominated unions without otherwise changing labor laws, would encourage all forms of EP and union decline.

Suggested Citation

  • Cheryl L. Maranto, 1994. "Employee Participation: An Evaluation Of Labor Policy Alternatives," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 12(4), pages 57-66, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:coecpo:v:12:y:1994:i:4:p:57-66
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1465-7287.1994.tb00445.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-7287.1994.tb00445.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1465-7287.1994.tb00445.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jensen, Michael C & Meckling, William H, 1979. "Rights and Production Functions: An Application to Labor-managed Firms and Codetermination," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 52(4), pages 469-506, October.
    2. Smith, Stephen C., 1991. "On the economic rationale for codetermination law," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 261-281, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Uwe JIRJAHN & Stephen C. SMITH, 2018. "Nonunion Employee Representation: Theory And The German Experience With Mandated Works Councils," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 89(1), pages 201-233, March.
    2. Thierry Poulain-Rehm & Xavier Lepers, 2012. "Does Employee Ownership Benefit Value Creation? The Case of France (2001–2005)," Post-Print hal-01382074, HAL.
    3. Kliewe, Martina, 2007. "Die Entwicklung der Corporate Finance Strukturen deutscher Unternehmen und deren Auswirkungen auf die Arbeitsbeziehungen," Working Papers on Economic Governance 26, University of Hamburg, Department of Socioeconomics.
    4. Aleksandra Gregorič & Thomas Poulsen, 2020. "When Do Employees Choose to Be Represented on the Board of Directors? Empirical Analysis of Board‐Level Employee Representation in Denmark," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 58(2), pages 241-272, June.
    5. Dyballa, Katharina & Kraft, Kornelius, 2015. "Does codetermination affect the composition of variable versus fixed parts of executive compensation?," ZEW Discussion Papers 15-053, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    6. Felix FitzRoy & Kornelius Kraft, 2005. "Co‐determination, Efficiency and Productivity," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 43(2), pages 233-247, June.
    7. Thierry Poulain-Rehm & Xavier Lepers, 2013. "Does Employee Ownership Benefit Value Creation? The Case of France (2001–2005)," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 112(2), pages 325-340, January.
    8. Simon Jäger & Shakked Noy & Benjamin Schoefer, 2022. "What Does Codetermination Do?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 75(4), pages 857-890, August.
    9. Grund, Christian & Sliwka, Dirk & Titz, Krystina, 2023. "Works Councils as Gatekeepers: Codetermination, Monitoring Practices, and Job Satisfaction," IZA Discussion Papers 15956, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Dilger, Alexander & Frick, Bernd & Speckbacher, Gerhard, 1999. "Mitbestimmung als zentrale Frage der Corporate Governance," Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Diskussionspapiere 02/1999, University of Greifswald, Faculty of Law and Economics.
    11. Breuer, Matthias & Cai, Wei & Le, Anthony & Vetter, Felix, 2024. "Minority representation at work," Working Papers 343, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.
    12. Dyballa, Katharina & Kraft, Kornelius, 2016. "How Do Labor Representatives Affect Incentive Orientation of Executive Compensation?," IZA Discussion Papers 10153, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. repec:bla:annpce:v:89:y:2018:i:1:p:201-233 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Gregorič, Aleksandra, 2022. "Board-level worker representation," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1136, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    15. Deininger, Klaus, 1995. "Collective agricultural production: A solution for transition economies?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 23(8), pages 1317-1334, August.
    16. Donald A R George & Eddi Fontanari & Ermanno Celeste Tortia, 2019. "Finance, property rights and productivity in Italian cooperatives," Edinburgh School of Economics Discussion Paper Series 293, Edinburgh School of Economics, University of Edinburgh.
    17. Gu, Qiankun & Kong, Dongmin & Si, Fangbo & Xiong, Xi & Yu, Xiaoxu, 2024. "Credit default swaps and shareholder monitoring," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    18. Derek Jones & Panu Kalmi & Niels Mygind, 2005. "Choice of Ownership Structure and Firm Performance: Evidence from Estonia," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 83-107.
    19. Derek C. Jones & Takao Kato, 1993. "Employee Stock Ownership Plans and Productivity in Japanese Manufacturing Firms," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 31(3), pages 331-346, September.
    20. Uwe Jirjahn & Jens Mohrenweiser & Stephen C Smith, 2022. "Works councils and workplace health promotion in Germany," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(3), pages 1059-1094, August.
    21. Ansgar Richter & Susanne Schrader, 2017. "Levels of Employee Share Ownership and the Performance of Listed Companies in Europe," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 55(2), pages 396-420, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:coecpo:v:12:y:1994:i:4:p:57-66. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/weaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.