ABSTRACT
Financial participation is almost invariably a management initiative. Such initiatives are not necessarily prompted by conditions of management’s own choosing, of course, and at least some proportion of schemes will be reactions to circumstances beyond their control. Financial participation may even form part of an attempt to restore management’s grip in such circumstances. Just occasionally, there may be more direct pressure for the establishment of some form of profit-sharing or employee share ownership from employees or unions. All the evidence suggests that employee initiation is rare, however. Even where it does occur, management acts as the gatekeeper for the introduction of any scheme and thus exerts a determinant influence on its contours. For these reasons a careful examination of the intentions and reasoning behind management actions on the financial participation front is essential to any attempt to understand the dynamics and consequences of such schemes. In this chapter we draw on our survey and second-stage interviews with company representatives to map out the major features of management approaches and the contingencies which help to shape them.
