This paper seeks to elucidate the phenomenon of employee direct participation (EDP) in contemporary Britain and Australia. EDP encompasses a range of practices, which involve some degree of communication and consultation between management and employees or delegation of responsibility for tasks. We utilize workplace and employee data from the 1995 Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey (AWIRS95) and the 1998 (British) Workplace Employee Relations Survey (WERS98) to assess the extent of usage of various forms of EDP in Britain and Australia. In addition, we assess the extent to which such practices are associated with enhanced employee discretion at work. The results indicate that EDP is widespread in both Britain and Australia, but that it is not associated with enhanced employee discretion.
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