This paper classifies and analyzes the major findings of the literature concerning employee ownership in the USA utilizing Bolman and Deal's four-frame classification of the literature on organization theory, management and behavior structural, human resource, political and symbolic. It is intended to serve as a basis on which to build a comprehensive theory of employee ownership and tentatively concludes that, although employee ownership is enhancing employee participation programs at a growing number of US firms, it is not likely to have any fundamental transformative impact on a significant number of US organizations unless the USA undergoes major cultural and political changes.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Argyris, C.
(1957) Personality and Organization. New York: Harper and Row.
2.
Baldridge, J. V.
(1971) Power and Conflict in the University. New York: Wiley.
3.
Bellas, C. J.
(1972) Industrial Democracy and the Worker Owned Firm: A Study of Twenty-one Plywood Companies in the Pacific Northwest. New York: Praeger.
4.
Berman, K. V.
(1967) Worker Owned Plywood Companies. Washington: Washington State University Press.
5.
Blasi, J. R.
(1988) Employee Ownership: Ripoff or Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger.
6.
Blau, P. M.
and W. R. Scott (1962) Formal Organizations: A Comparative Approach. San Francisco CA: Chandler.
7.
Bolman, L. G.
and Deal, T. F. (1987) Modern Approaches to Understanding and Managing Organizations. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
8.
Bradley, K.
and A. Gelb, (1983) Worker Capitalism The New Industrial Relations. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
9.
Business Week (1989) 'ESOPs: Are They Good For You?', May: 116-123.
10.
Cohen, M. D.
and J. G. March, Leadership and Ambiguity: The American College President. New York: McGraw-Hill.
11.
Conte, M., F. Leech, S. McCulloch and A. Tannenbaum, (1977) 'Employee Ownership', report to the Economic Development Administration, Appendix G, Section II. Washington, DC: United States Department of Commerce.
12.
Deal, T. E.
and A. Kennedy (1982) Corporate Cultures. Reading, MA: Addison- Wesley.
13.
Gamson, W. A.
(1968) Power and Discontent. Homewood, IL: Dorsey.
14.
Gamson, Z. F.
and H. M. Levin, (1984) 'Obstacles to the Survival of Democratic Workplaces'. in R. Jackall and H. M. Levin (eds), Worker Cooperatives in America, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
15.
Greenberg, E. S.
(1984) 'Producer Cooperatives and Democratic Theory: The Case of the Plywood Firms', in R. Jackall and H. M. Levin (eds), Worker Cooperatives in America. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
16.
Harrington, M.
(1989) Socialism: Past and Future. New York: Arcade Publishing/ Little, Brown.
17.
Hertzburg, F.
(1966) Work and the Nature of Man. Cleveland, OH: World.
18.
Ivancic, C.
and C. Rosen (1986) Voting and Participation in Employee Owned Firms. Oakland, CA: National Center for Employee Ownership.
19.
Jones, D. C.
(1984) 'American Producer Cooperatives and Employee Owned firms: A Historical Perspective', in R. Jackall and H. M. Levin (eds), Worker Cooperatives in America. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
20.
Lawrence, P.
and J. Lorsch (1967) Organization and Environment. Boston, MA: Division of Research, Harvard Business School.
21.
McGregor, D.
(1960) The Human Side of Enterprise. New York: McGraw-Hill.
22.
Maslow, A. H.
(1970) Motivation and Personality, 2nd edn.New York: Harper and Row.
23.
National Center for Employee Ownership
(1987) Beyond Taxes: Managing an Employee Owned Company. Oakland, CA: National Center for Employee Ownership.
24.
National Center for Employee Ownership
(1988) Employee Participation Programs in Employee Ownership Companies. Oakland, CA: National Center for Employee Ownership.
25.
Perrow, C.
(1986) Complex Organizations. New York: Newbury Award Records.
26.
Pfeffer, J.
(1978) Organizational Design. Arlington Heights, IL: AHM.
27.
Quarry, M.
(1986) Employee Ownership and Corporate Performance. Oakland, CA: National Center for Employee Ownership.
28.
Rosen, C.
, K. Klein and K. Young (1986) Employee Ownership in America. F/ie EquitY Solution. Lexington, MA: Lexington.
29.
Rosner, M.
(1983) 'Participatory Political and Organizational Democracy and the Experience of the Israeli Kibbutz', in C. Crouch and F. Adler (eds), Organizalional Democracy and Political Process. New York: Wiley.
30.
Simmons, J.
and W. Mares (1985) Workinig Together. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
31.
US General Accounting Office
(1986) 'Benefits and Costs of ESOP Tax Incentives for Broadening Stock Ownership', GAO/PEMD-87- (December), Washington, DC.
32.
tJS General Accounting Office
(1987) 'Employee Stock Ownership Plans: Little Evidence of Effects in Corporate Performance', GAO/PEMO-88- (October). Washington, DC.
33.
Weber, M.
(1947) The Theory of Social and Economic Organization (trans. T. Parsons). New York: Free Press.
34.
Weick, K. E.
(1976) 'Educational Organizations as Loosely Coupled Systems'. Administrative Science Quarterly21: 1-19.
35.
Whyte, W. F.
and J. R. Blasi (1982) 'Worker Ownership, Participation, and Control Toward a Theoretical Model', Policl Sciences14: 137-163.
36.
Whyte, W. F.
and C. Craypo (1987) Evaluation Research on Federally Assisted Worker Buyouts. Washington, DC: United States Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration, Research and Policy Unit.
37.
Zwerdling, D.
(1984) Workplace Democracy. New York: Harper and Row.
