Synergy between Direct and Representative Forms of Employee Voice: Evidence from the European Car Components Industry

This paper analyses the implications of combining direct and representative forms of workerparticipation for business performance. Direct participation refers to such things as quality controlcircles, continuous improvement teams and other problem-solving groups, while representatweparticipation refers to joint consultation committees,including those between works councils andmanagement. Using a 1994 survey of first-tier automotive parts plants in Europe, this paper findsevidence that better quality and information sharing result born having both forms of workerparticipation than having one or the other. The survey also shows that in the fist half of the 1990s,there has been a rapid diffusion of direct participation (together with a commitment to employmentsecurity) and a moderate diffusion of indirect participation mechanisms in the UK. While not ruling outlegislation, the paper concludes by drawing implications of this finding for a further discussion of thesepractices through voluntary means.