Second, their contributions to U.S. public policy have resulted, for the most part, in stillborn legislation. While Kochan conceded defeat in a series of battles, he went on to rally the troops in the ongoing war for the soul of America's workplaces. Presumably it was nearly, or even entirely, written before the Republicans swept Congress in 1994. As such, it reflects far greater optimism than Kochan's more recent somber assessment. As the book's subtitle indicates, Levine holds that true high involvement work relations provide gains to both employers and workers.
Success requires employment security and curbs on arbitrary management authority.
Movement toward high involvement is impeded by existing institutions at the level of the firm, labor market, and macroeconomy. Indeed, the scarcity of genuine participation itself generates conditions in which participation is less likely to flourish. Nonetheless, Levine maintains, a relatively limited, non-intrusive set of public policies could tilt incentives toward high involvement. His economic analysis, in turn, fuels an unusually thoughtful and detailed set of public policy proposals. Part of what makes the policy discussion unusual is that Levine actually derives appropriate policies via economic reasoning, rather than simply hauling out a sackful of pet programs.