Traditionally, worker participation systems in most countries have
been promoted by labour movements. This was done for both
ideological and practical reasons. Worker participation, or
industrial democracy, has been conceived as a means of
democratising workplaces as well as of realising both intrinsic and
extrinsic work values. This paper explores the experiences of two different forms of
worker participation or employee involvement/empowerment
schemes operating in two of Malta's leading enterprises: Malta
Drydocks (MDD), an old ship-repair, state-owned company; and
Micro-Malta (MM), the pseudonym for the local subsidiary of a
foreign company producing micro-electronic components.peer-reviewe
