THE VALUE OF JOINT WORKING PARTIES

It is argued that policy makers, in government especially, use crude o utput measures such as the link with performance to argue the case for , or more often against, employee participation. The paper considers t he problems associated with the use of such crude output measures but argues that researchers cannot avoid the question of what impact parti cipation has on organisational effectiveness. Data from a universal su rvey of companies given in-depth assistance by ACAS are used to show t hat, according to managers directly involved, a particular form of par ticipation, the joint working party, has a strong positive benefit to the organisation. This was true of both union and non-union firms. Thi s has important policy implications.