ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the manner in which management, as the proactive party in the employment relationship, determines strategies of participation, noting the extent to which managers in smaller firms make use of participation strategies and, therefore, the changes likely to be implemented following the enactment of the Information and Consultation Regulations. It uses case study examples to highlight the mixed messages emanating from current practice within the small firm sector. The chapter then examines recent proposals to tackle the effects of the influence gap in terms of legislation designed to control indirectly the practices, policies and outcomes of employment relationship. In smaller firms, owner-managers claim they are entitled to determine the culture or norms, which are operationalised within their organisation, for them voice as a medium to provide a protected means for employees to express collective interests which are contrary to, or in opposition with, managerial decisions is an illegitimate intrusion.
