Participation and Productivity: An Empirical Study

This paper appraises the effects on productivity of a worker participation plan in a unionized foundry. The authors analyzed detailed records of 262 meetings of workers, supervisors, and managers that were held from 1969 to 1975 to discuss means of increasing productivity. An index of participative activity, measuring factors such as the frequency of meetings, the relevance of the subjects discussed, and the number of interchanges in a meeting, was compared with an index of productivity through step-wise multiple regression and other techniques. The authors conclude that an increase in the level of participative activity was associated with an increase in productivity and was more important in this respect than a group bonus plan tied to productivity.