Participatory management and industrial relations climate: a study of Chinese, Japanese and US firms in Taiwan

This study examines the relationship between industrial relations climate and the employee attitudes towards participatory management in Chinese-, Japanese- and US-invested electronics firms in Taiwan. Among the findings, Chinese firms tended to have a higher level of participatory management and more effective participatory management than US-invested firms in Taiwan. It was also confirmed that the harmony and openness aspects of industrial relations climate had a positive and significant correlation with the effectiveness of participatory management, including the personnel, operational and social matters. It was concluded that multinational corporations (MNCs) which need centralized control of their overseas operations will be less willing to encourage participatory management in their local operations. Finally, it was revealed that the effectiveness rather than the level of participatory management could better predict industrial relations climate.