This title was first published in 2001. Management of the employment relationship changed markedly in the last two decades of the 21st century, and a major part of this has been the extension of employee involvement and participation in the workplace. Modern management theorists and researchers have commonly emphasized the importance of two-way communication and co-operation between management and labour in determining the success of human resource management (HRM) strategy and in maximizing workplace efficiency. Some researchers argue employee participation and empowerment are progressive management practices which have universal benefits to performance enhancement, as opposed to most other HRM practices whose success is contingent upon the organizational context. This title explores these themes through an international collection of case studies, which are the outcome of a comparative project of the Workers' Participation Study Group of the International Industrial Relations Association (IIRA).

I: Perspectives and Theory; 1: Introduction: Global Patterns of Participation; 2: Participation and Industrial Democracy Revisited: A Theoretical Perspective; II: Direct Participation; 3: Why Implement Group Work? Observations and Speculations after a European Survey; 4: Employee Involvement and Organisational Change: The Diffusion of High Involvement Management in Australian Workplaces; 5: New Ways of Working for Women: The Gender Dimensions of Direct Participation; III: Trade Unions; 6: American Experience with Union-Nominated Boards of Directors; 7: National Strategies and Local Diversities: Adding Value through Broad Participation - Experiences from the Norwegian Enterprise Development 2000 Program; 8: Employee Participation and Bipartite and Tripartite Cooperation in Greece: Problems and Prospects; 9: How Managers Perceive Cooperation and Codetermination with Unions: Some Australian and US Comparisons; 10: Efficiency vs Democracy in the Workplace? A Postscript on Self Management at Malta Drydocks; IV: Works Councils and Consultative Committees; 11: Corporate Governance and Workers' Participation in the Netherlands; 12: Is There a Future for Employee Representation? Understanding the Effects of Changes in Organisation and Work on Works Councils; 13: Between European and National Institutions: European Works Councils in Dutch-owned MNCs as a New Form of Workers' Representation; 14: Workers' Participation in Ghana: A Case Study of a State-owned Enterprise in Transition to Privatisation; V: Interaction between Different Forms of Participation; 15: Employee Involvement and Participation in the Organisational Change Decision: Illawarra and Australian Patterns; 16: Works Councils and HRM in Germany: Analytical Arguments and Empirical Evidence; 17: Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Employee Participation and Trade Union Action; 18: Top Executives' Attitude and Preferences Toward Employee Voice and Participation in Singapore; 19: Conclusions: Models of Diversity and Interaction