POSITIVE IMPACTS OF EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP AND REPRESENTATIVE PARTICIPATION In response to intensifying global and domestic competition, many companies around the world have sought to improve business performance through more efficient use of its workforce. One of the main ways to utilize the workforce efficiently is to involve employees in various business proposals and activities (Cooke, 1994). Employee involvement is defined as “a participatory process for utilizing the full capacity of workers, designed to encourage employee commitment to organizational success” (Cotton, 1993). One of the major topics of debate in recent times is the extent to which an effective employee engagement program helps an organization thrive and grow, rather than having a negative effect on its performance. This essay focuses on the impact of two specific employee engagement programs, namely employee ownership and representative participation, on an organization's performance, drawing data from several empirical studies. Employee ownership refers to workers who become partial owners of a company by being awarded shares in their respective companies in addition to their salary. Having a direct link between effort and reward, employees are motivated to put in more effort since they have a greater interest in the profitability of their employees (Bennett, 1997). A study on Polish cooperatives was conducted in 1993 to derive the effect of employee ownership on a company's productivity. The information was collected in a survey across three industries: apparel, printing and construction. The investigation revealed that these industries were characterized by a fixed percentage of shares owned by employees. Productivity was... center of paper... Empowerment for business results: a Powergrid study. Indian Journal of Industrial Relations. 39(4), p517-532Leana, C Ahlbrandt, R & Murrell, A. (1992). The effects of employee involvement programs on unionized workers' attitudes, perceptions, and preferences in decision making. The journal of the Academy of Management. 35(4), p861-873.Markey, R Harris, C Lind, J Busck, O & Knudsen, H. (2010). Employee participation in the workplace in the food processing industry in Denmark and New Zealand. Indian Journal of Industrial Relations. 45(4), p622-634.Marsh, T & McAllister, D (1981). ESOP Tables: Survey of Companies with Employee Stock Ownership Plans. Journal of Corporation Law (6), p551-623Wilson, N & Peel, M (1991). The impact of absenteeism and terminations from profit sharing and other forms of employee participation. Labor and Industrial Relations Review, 44(3) p454-468