The Growth of Employee Involvement in Australia

Abstract

In recent years, a number of case studies have reported a growth in the extent of direct employee involvement in specific workplaces in Australia. On the basis of secondary analysis of the Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey data, the author demonstrates that this is in fact a more general phenomenon, even at workplaces where unions have traditionally been well organized. At the same time, the overall pattern of growth has been tempered by a smaller but not insignificant number of deaths as schemes have been discontinued. Suggestion schemes and quality circles have been the techniques most likely to show a high rate of attrition as well as growth, thus demonstrating a high degree of instability. It is suggested that the changing nature of employee involvement, as well as its fluidity, has potential implications for managements and trade unions.