Participative Management: Myth and Reality

As reported in Jenkins David , Blue and White Collar Democracy (Baltimore, Maryland: Penguin Books, 1974), p. 311.

This distinction is well-made by Miles Raymond E. , “Human Relations or Human Resources?” Harvard Business Review, Vol. 43, No. 4 (July-August 1965).

Bell Daniel , The Coming of Post-Industrial Society (New York: Basic Books, 1973).

For example, see Halal William E. , “The Post-Industrial Organization,” in Golembiewski Robert (ed.), Managerial Behavior and Organization Demands (Itasca, Illinois: Peacock, 1978).

Drucker Peter , The Age of Discontinuity (New York: Harper and Row, 1968).

For instance, see Yankelovich Daniel , The New Morality: A Profile of American Youth in the '70s (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974); Fritz Sara , “New Breed of Workers,” U.S. News and World Report (3 September 1979); and Kerr Clark Rosow Jerome M. , Work in America: The Decade Ahead (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1979).

Typical information is contained in Quinn Robert P. Staines Graham L. , Quality of Employment Survey (Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan, 1978); Kerr Rosow , op. cit.; and “Hot UAW Issue: Quality of Work Life,” Business Week (17 September 1979).

Kutscher Ronald E. , “The Productivity Slowdown and the Outlook to 1985,” Monthly Labor Review, Vol. 100 (May 1977); also Kerr Rosow , op. cit.; and “The Reindustrialization of America,” a special issue of Business Week (30 June 1980).

Jenkins , op. cit.

A good summary of the American experience is contained in Mills Ted , “Europe's Industrial Democracy: An American Response,” Harvard Business Review, Vol. 56, No. 6 (November-December 1978). There also appears to be some interest in establishing legal sanctions for employee rights and due process; see Ewing David W. , Freedom Inside the Organization (New York: Dutton, 1977).

Berkley George E. , The Administrative Revolution (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1971).

These include the NTL Institute in Bethel, Maine; The New School for Democratic Management in San Francisco; the Work in America Institute in Scarsdale, New York; the Federation for Economic Democracy, the National Council for Alternative Work Patterns, and the Association for Self-Management—all located in Washington, D.C.; The Human Economy Center in Amherst, Maine; and various quality of work life centers throughout the nation.

The research evidence is summarized in Paul Blumberg, Industrial Democracy: The Sociology of Participation (London: Constable, 1968); and O'Toole James , Work in America (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1973).

“Stonewalling Plant Democracy,” Business Week, Vol. 24 (28 March 1977), p. 78.

See McMurry Robert N. , “The Case for Benevolent Autocracy,” Harvard Business Review, Vol. 36, No. 1 (January-February 1958); Krishnan Rama , “Democratic Participation in Decision Making by Employees in American Corporations,” Academy of Management Journal. Vol. 17, No. 2 (June 1974).

Winpisinger William , “Job Enrichment: A Union View,” Monthly Labor Review, Vol. 96 (April 1973), p. 56.

Ways Max , “The American Kind of Worker Participation,” Fortune, Vol. 75 (October 1976).

Allutto Joseph Acito Franklin , “Decisional Participation and Sources of Job Satisfaction: A Study of Manufacturing Personnel,” Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 17 (March 1974); also see Allutto Joseph Belasco James A. , “Typology for Participation in Organizational Decision-Making,” Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 17, No. 1 (March 1972).

Newstrom John W. , A Contingency Approach to Management (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975); also see Halal William E. , “Toward a General Theory of Leadership,” Human Relations, Vol. 27, No. 4 (April 1974).

For instance, see “Secretaries Revolt,” Wall Street Journal (24 February 1978); for an example of the European “revolts” which have taken place, see Carnoy Martin , “A Tale of Two Sit-ins,” Working Papers (March-April 1979).

Bennis Warren , Beyond Bureaucracy (New York, McGraw-Hill, 1966).

For a good argument on this point, see O'Toole James , “200 Million Job Choices,” The Washington Post (4 July 1976).

Tannenbaum Arnold S. , Control in Organizations (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968).

As reported by Ford Robert , “Job Enrichment Lessons from AT&T,” Harvard Business Review, Vol. 51, No. I (January-February 1973).

Attitudes and practices toward participative management seem to be changing rapidly of late For instance, see Harman Sidney , “A Peace Plan for Workers and Bosses,” The Washington Post (15 April 1979); Fraser Douglas , “Labor's Voice on the Board,” Newsweek (26 May 1980); “Steel Seeks Higher Output Via Workplace Reform,” Business Week (18 August 1980): And “The Tough New Faces on Company Boards,” U.S. News and World Report (6 October 1980).

For some examples of this point of view, see Stone Christopher D. , Where the Law Ends (New York: Harper and Row, 1975); Ackoff Russell L. , Redesigning the Future (New York: Wiley, 1974); and Halal William E. , “Beyond the Profit Motive,” Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Vol. 12, No. 1 (June 1978).