Overview

This textbook provides an overview of the main strands, perspectives and debates in current thinking and practice in the area of employee involvement and participation. It adopts a comparative international approach, addressing developments in the UK and mainland Europe, the USA and elsewhere. The authors identify two main strands of evolution: one driven by managerial interests in enhancing and controlling employee commitment and performance; the other deriving from employees' attempts to influence high-level organizational decision-making. In particular, this study examines and analyzes: the background of key concepts, issues and philosophies underpinning these different strands; the range of current employee involvement methods, from the individualistic and management-led to more regulated collective approaches; and the rationales and responses of employees, unions and employers to the various initiatives.

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9780803987272

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Reviews

`The current developments following the European Works Councils Directive has ensured that the debate on employee involvement is still at the core of labour relations. It is thus timely that a new text has arrived to extend the debate into new areas of employment practice' - Employment Bulletin & Industrial Relations Digest `A thought-provoking... text from Jeff Hyman and Bob Mason.... They quote an impressive array of research on employee involvement and employee participation in identifying trends, pressures and influences in the public and private sectors of the UK, the rest of Europe, the US and Japan.... the content is both objective and helpful.... what impresses is the scrupulous care that the authors have taken in reporting survey results. They are also sound on listing the weaknesses of many UK involvement schemes which fell short of their original intentions, showing that the ad hoc nature of their preparation and introduction caused a number of failures' - People Management `The book is well organised.... This is a well written and well argued book that lives up to the publisher's claim that it `ideally meets the needs of students in industrial relations, personnel and human resource management, and management studies generally, for a thorough and accessible introduction to this central but complex topic' - Quality of Working Life - News and Abstracts `The authors make a comprehensive survey of international experience of employee involvement and employee participation, which should be very useful to all those interested in this area. It covers the effect of changing industrial structures and work organization, human resource management (hard and soft versions), share ownership schemes and works councils' - Labour Research `It is this political and intellectual sensitivity which makes the book an intriguing text that should prove useful for teaching purposes although, as with many others in the field of human resources management, it appears to be ultimately premised on the assumption that trade union decline and crisis will be ongoing.... catalogue[s] the way in which employee involvement and participation are increasingly becoming a site of struggle between distinct interests at work in a thorough and well-documented manner' - Industrial Relations Journal `The book manages to cover a vast range of material and disciplines in under 200 pages and still achieves a successful amalgamation of the fields of industrial relations, management, HRM and employee participation within its clear, concise and accessible EI-EP framework. Furthermore, the comparative approach of the book reminds us that the UK experience cannot be seen in isolation from European and global issues.... In summary, the early chapters provide an excellent introduction to the employee involvement and participation question which, by virtue of the clear and approachable conceptual framework, allows the reader to identify topics of interest. Each chapter is capable of standing alone as a stimulating and informative piece. However the book is not merely a sum of its parts, but a synthesis of the main perspectives and debates within a tight EI-EP framework which ties the pieces together to form an excellent and informative work' - Work, Employment and Society `Given that many observers view employee involvement and participation as central to human resource management, both in theory and in practice, this book appears at a very appropriate time. Not only does it review much of the literature and research evidence that is available in the area,it also offers a useful reminder that there are significant differences between the character of involvement and of participation.... The book provides a comprehensive overview of the subject, drawing upon British survey material and case study evidence and, on occasion, data from North America, mainland Europe and South East Asia' - British Journal of Industrial Relations

'The current developments following the European Works Councils Directive has ensured that the debate on employee involvement is still at the core of labour relations. It is thus timely that a new text has arrived to extend the debate into new areas of employment practice' - Employment Bulletin & Industrial Relations Digest 'A thought-provoking... text from Jeff Hyman and Bob Mason... They quote an impressive array of research on employee involvement and employee participation in identifying trends, pressures and influences in the public and private sectors of the UK, the rest of Europe, the US and Japan... the content is both objective and helpful... what impresses is the scrupulous care that the authors have taken in reporting survey results. They are also sound on listing the weaknesses of many UK involvement schemes which fell short of their original intentions, showing that the ad hoc nature of their preparation and introduction caused a number of failures' - People Management 'The book is well organised... This is a well written and well argued book that lives up to the publisher's claim that it 'ideally meets the needs of students in industrial relations, personnel and human resource management, and management studies generally, for a thorough and accessible introduction to this central but complex topic' - Quality of Working Life - News and Abstracts 'The authors make a comprehensive survey of international experience of employee involvement and employee participation, which should be very useful to all those interested in this area. It covers the effect of changing industrial structures and work organization, human resource management (hard and soft versions), share ownership schemes and works councils' - Labour Research 'It is this political and intellectual sensitivity which makes the book an intriguing text that should prove useful for teaching purposes although, as with many others in the field of human resources management, it appears to be ultimately premised on the assumption that trade union decline and crisis will be ongoing... catalogue[s] the way in which employee involvement and participation are increasingly becoming a site of struggle between distinct interests at work in a thorough and well-documented manner' - Industrial Relations Journal 'The book manages to cover a vast range of material and disciplines in under 200 pages and still achieves a successful amalgamation of the fields of industrial relations, management, HRM and employee participation within its clear, concise and accessible EI-EP framework. Furthermore, the comparative approach of the book reminds us that the UK experience cannot be seen in isolation from European and global issues... In summary, the early chapters provide an excellent introduction to the employee involvement and participation question which, by virtue of the clear and approachable conceptual framework, allows the reader to identify topics of interest. Each chapter is capable of standing alone as a stimulating and informative piece. However the book is not merely a sum of its parts, but a synthesis of the main perspectives and debates within a tight EI-EP framework which ties the pieces together to form an excellent and informative work' - Work, Employment and Society 'Given that many observers view employee involvement and participation as central to human resource management, both in theory and in practice, this book appears at a very appropriate time. Not only does it review much of the literature and research evidence that is available in the area,it also offers a useful reminder that there are significant differences between the character of involvement and of participation... The book provides a comprehensive overview of the subject, drawing upon British survey material and case study evidence and, on occasion, data from North America, mainland Europe and South East Asia' - British Journal of Industrial Relations

'The current developments following the European Works Councils Directive has ensured that the debate on employee involvement is still at the core of labour relations. It is thus timely that a new text has arrived to extend the debate into new areas of employment practice' - Employment Bulletin & Industrial Relations Digest 'A thought-provoking... text from Jeff Hyman and Bob Mason... They quote an impressive array of research on employee involvement and employee participation in identifying trends, pressures and influences in the public and private sectors of the UK, the rest of Europe, the US and Japan... the content is both objective and helpful... what impresses is the scrupulous care that the authors have taken in reporting survey results. They are also sound on listing the weaknesses of many UK involvement schemes which fell short of their original intentions, showing that the ad hoc nature of their preparation and introduction caused a number of failures' - People Management 'The book is well organised... This is a well written and well argued book that lives up to the publisher's claim that it 'ideally meets the needs of students in industrial relations, personnel and human resource management, and management studies generally, for a thorough and accessible introduction to this central but complex topic' - Quality of Working Life - News and Abstracts 'The authors make a comprehensive survey of international experience of employee involvement and employee participation, which should be very useful to all those interested in this area. It covers the effect of changing industrial structures and work organization, human resource management (hard and soft versions), share ownership schemes and works councils' - Labour Research 'It is this political and intellectual sensitivity which makes the book an intriguing text that should prove useful for teaching purposes although, as with many others in the field of human resources management, it appears to be ultimately premised on the assumption that trade union decline and crisis will be ongoing... catalogue[s] the way in which employee involvement and participation are increasingly becoming a site of struggle between distinct interests at work in a thorough and well-documented manner' - Industrial Relations Journal 'The book manages to cover a vast range of material and disciplines in under 200 pages and still achieves a successful amalgamation of the fields of industrial relations, management, HRM and employee participation within its clear, concise and accessible EI-EP framework. Furthermore, the comparative approach of the book reminds us that the UK experience cannot be seen in isolation from European and global issues... In summary, the early chapters provide an excellent introduction to the employee involvement and participation question which, by virtue of the clear and approachable conceptual framework, allows the reader to identify topics of interest. Each chapter is capable of standing alone as a stimulating and informative piece. However the book is not merely a sum of its parts, but a synthesis of the main perspectives and debates within a tight EI-EP framework which ties the pieces together to form an excellent and informative work' - Work, Employment and Society 'Given that many observers view employee involvement and participation as central to human resource management, both in theory and in practice, this book appears at a very appropriate time. Not only does it review much of the literature and research evidence that is available in the area,it also offers a useful reminder that there are significant differences between the character of involvement and of participation... The book provides a comprehensive overview of the subject, drawing upon British survey material and case study evidence and, on occasion, data from North America, mainland Europe and South East Asia' - British Journal of Industrial Relations

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