Employee Participation in the company: contrasts between the Japanese model and the self-management proposals

Abstract

This article is the result of a research on the employees' participation in the company. It contrasts the proposals of participation suggested by the Japanese model with those of self-management. The literature review presented here covers a spectrum ranging from managerial strategies used to co-opt the labor force up to the defense of a society governed by the associated producers. The conclusion is that the managerial strategies - the Japanese model - attack the symptoms (and not the causes) of the alienation. It proposes the employees' participation on everything, except that which is essential. The self-management proposals, on the other hand, suggest the participation of the employee in the management of the key problems of the company, in the establishment of a new type of work process as well as the creation of a society that produces use values, according to the historical possibilities. There are differences between them that are not restricted to the degree of participation, but also to the nature of that participation.