Workers' participation in management can take several forms ranging from information sharing and consultations to workers having representation on the board of directors or complete worker control. The key methods discussed in the document include participation through joint councils, quality circles, empowered teams, suggestion schemes, and profit sharing. While having benefits like increased motivation and productivity, workers' participation also faces challenges of implementation and limitations due to complex organizations and technology.

2. Personnel decisions – recruitment and selection, promotions, demotions, transfers, grievance settlement, work distribution.

4. A device for developing social education for promoting solidarity among workers and for tapping human talents.

5. A means for achieving industrial peace and harmony which leads to higher productivity and increased production.

6. A humanitarian act, elevating the status of a worker in the society.

10. Peace and harmony between workers and management.

11. Workers get to see how their actions would contribute to the overall growth of the company.

12. They tend to view the decisions as `their own’ and are more enthusiastic in their implementation.

15. Ownership participation

16. Complete control

17. Staff or work councils

18. Joint councils and committees

19. Collective Bargaining

20. Job enlargement and enrichment

21. Suggestion schemes

22. Quality circles

23. Empowered team

24. TQM

26. Communication and subsequently relations between the workers’ representative and the workers suffers after the former assumes directorship. He or she tends to become alienated from the workers.

27. As a result, he or she may be less effective with the other members of the Board in dealing with employee matters.

28. Because of the differences in the cultural and educational backgrounds, and differences in behaviour and manners, such an employees’ representative may feel inferior to the other members, and he or she may feel suffocated. Hence, his or her role as a director may not be satisfying for either the workers or the management.

30. Industrial disputes disappear when workers develop loyalty to the organization.

33. Examples of such committees are welfare committee, safety committee, etc.

36. Organization gets to enjoy higher savings-to-cost ratios.

38. Experienced mixed results:

39. M&M (jeep division) with 76 QCs has experienced favourable results. •Technical problems got solved.

40. • Workers got to get out of their daily routine and do something

41. challenging.

42. Trade unions look at it as:

43. • A way of overburdening workers

45. Plan, control and improve their work.

46. Often create their schedules and review their performance as a group.

47. May prepare their own budgets and co-ordinate their work with other departments.

48. Usually order materials, keep inventories and deal with suppliers.

49. Frequently responsible for acquiring any new training they might need.

51. Quality can be improved by inspection.

52. Defects cannot be completely eliminated.

54. Strive to do error-free work.

55. Manage by prevention, not correction.

57. Profit sharing and Employees’ Stock Option schemes.

59. Free flow of communication and information.

60. Participation of outside trade union leaders to be avoided.

61. Strong and effective trade unionism.

62. Workers’ education and training. Trade unions and government needs to work in this area.

63. Trust between both the parties.

64. Workers should be associated at all levels of decision-making.

66. This means employees will not be able to participate effectively in matters beyond their particular environment.

67. Everybody need not want participation.

68. The role of trade unions in promoting participative management has been far from satisfactory.

70. And then, on May 30, 1990; the government introduced the Participation of Workers in Management Bill in the Rajya Sabha. The bill requires every industrial enterprise to constitute one or more `Shop-Floor Councils’ at the shop floor level, and Establishment Council’ at the establishment level.

72. Managers and the managed are forced to forget their known stands, break barriers, and work in unison.

73. Managers and workers are partners in the progress of business.