1994 Volume 13 Pages 62-67
The distinctive feature of industrial democracy in the second half of the twentieth century is that is developing in a new stage of quality and scale. Today, industrial democracy has extended from weak participation to strong participation or self-management. It is now strongly supported by government policies in various countries and has diversified in its forms of participation in decision making, profit sharing, and ownership. Although the importance of democratic organizations such as self-management firms or cooperatives is increasing, from a theoretical point of view, the self-management system has several drawbacks for growth in capital intensive industries. In these capital intensive industries, the capital-labour partnership is a preferred system in that it can overcome the above drawbacks. The capital-labour partnership is a system in which capital and labor equally share risk, make decision, and distribute profit. This system can provide a balance between democracy and efficiency.