Advances in the economic analysis of participatory and labor-managed firms. Volume 11

This volume includes theoretical and empirical research into changing institutions and employee participation. Topics covered in this title include: the experience with employee ownership in relation to the fast change of institutions in transitional countries including those in Eastern Europe, the Former Soviet Union, and China; the influence of the specific institutional setting on development; e.g. for the Mondragon Group of coops or the Italian Cooperative Associations, development as affected both by the institutional structure within the group and the surrounding institutions; and, the influence of legislation in different countries of conditions for the development of different types of employee participation. It includes: the re-shaping of the role of the employees as company stakeholders and the impact of these changes on employee motivation, effort and productivity; the impact of new employee incentive schemes, reward structures or other incentive mechanisms (if any) on firm productivity and financial performance; evidence of the implementation and effects of the 'employee share-ownership education'; and, the impact of different informal institutions (culture) on the development and performance of different forms of employee participation. Annotation. The eleventh volume of Advances in the Economic Analysis of Participatory and Labor-Managed Firms comprises nine original research chapters on a broad range of topics within the area of participatory organizations. The first chapter uses a novel data set from a large multinational firm to look at an important, yet not well understood question: what determines employees' decisions to join employee share ownership plans? Three contributions deal with the adoption and contributions deal with the adoption and consequences of new work organizations with a higher degree of involvement and decision-making authority of the employees. Another set of three chapters is concerned with the performance impact of stock-based compensation schemes and the impact of Japan's "lost decade" on union wage permia. Two chapters report research on recent challenges facing two specific participatory organizations: the worker-owned cooperative and kibbutz. Book jacket