ABSTRACT
Employee representation in the form of works councils holds a rather strong position in the Netherlands, in quantitative (organisational coverage) as well as in qualitative (legal and actual influence) terms. This chapter starts with a brief overview of the works councils in the Netherlands. It gives an overview of the possible effects on the position of the works council. The chapter develops a model to understand the developments and changes with respect to worker participation and employee representation. The Dutch works councils are the considerable and growing influence in the decision making process within the organisation, especially on social and organisational matters. The Bolwijn and Kumpe model offers an explanation for the change in organisational characteristics and parallel development of different forms of employee participation. Within the three management functions in the flexible firm there are tendencies of both decentralisation and re-centralization.
