Worker Participation and Plant‐wide Incentive Systems Available to Purchase

Worker participation in management remains a subject of much interest, particularly as legislation may well be expected in the near future. With most of the literature and the participative systems in operation, the understanding of the subject is severely limited by a concentration on providing opportunities for the individual to participate without considering how he may be rewarded for so doing. Since participation is expected to increase efficiency, the distribution of increased rewards is clearly very important to the individual. This paper considers one particular plant‐wide incentive system as a possible adjunct to worker participation. The system is described and then assessed. Despite several drawbacks, the final conclusion is that such schemes are worthy of reconsideration since they are more congruent with employee involvement than more traditional systems.