ABSTRACT
The distribution of power in industry and society underlies effective participation, insofar as managerial roles are concerned, a series of wider constraints on action, as well as distinctive ideologies, must be outlined prior to a more detailed appraisal of managerial practices themselves. Moreover, the role of the state is particularly critical in understanding managerial initiatives in furthering employee participation. This is because extensive governmental controls over the economy and industry circumscribe managerial autonomy at local levels and restrict the possibilities of developing participatory schemes other than those anchored in the legislature. The emergence of distinctive managerial ideologies was also related to a progressive differentiation of organizational functions associated with the separation of control from ownership at the top of the larger-scale corporation. Ever since the Hawthorne experiments began to have an impact on managerial and academic thinking during the 1930s, it has been understood that workgroups can have a particularly important influence on industrial efficiency.
