THE LIMITS TO EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT - PROFIT SHARING AND DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION

This article seeks to explore the ways in which profit sharing is used by employers as a means of securing more employee involvement. Although this is the main reason employers have given for introducing profit sharing, and has been a principal objective of the government's recent initiative over profit-related pay, the evidence suggests that little so far has been achieved. By examining employers' deep seated concerns about some of the implications of profit sharing, particularly those that involve disclosure of information, this article argues that employers are reluctant to pursue such a strategy of involvement because of the risk of stimulating employees to demand greater influence in how the enterprise is managed. This prompts a consideration of the conceptual ambiguity surrounding the notion of employee involvement, and the article concludes that the contradictory implications this entails for employers renders it largely impotent except at the level of rhetoric.