Content, Process, and Effects of Participative Decision Making on the Shop Floor: Three Cases in the Netherlands

Abstract

This article discusses the experiences with participative decision making on the shop floor ("work consultation") in three Dutch organizations. Work consultation is characterized in terms of content, process, and effects. Besides the moderating effect of a number of contingency variables on the relation between participation and outcome variables is researched. The results lead to questioning the usefulness of a contingency model in research on the effects of participation.