ABSTRACT
In his 1998 pre-Budget report, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, made a clear if unsubstantiated statement on the factors that enhance employee commitment to their organisations:
Today, only a fraction of British employees and an even smaller minority of those outside senior management own shares in the companies that they work in and yet the evidence is that employee commitment is a vital strength for companies competing and succeeding in the global economy . . . and I want to remove, once and for all, the old 'them and us' culture in British industry. I want to encourage the new enterprise culture of team-work in which everyone contributes and everyone benefits from success. . . . We will make it easier for all employees . . . to become stakeholders in their company. I want to double the number of firms in which all employees have the opportunity to own shares.
