Different Side of the Fence? : A Study of Managerial and Shop Steward Perceptions of Employee Influence

In this paper, we shall be examining worker involvement in decision making, mostly at shop‐floor level, in a number of British business organisations. The study takes into account the perceptions of both managers' and shop stewards' influence respectively over decision making, and asks whether the level of direct influence of employees appears consistently lower than that of indirect participation via their representatives, either through informal (mainly shop steward) mechanisms or the official channels.