New managerial techniques such as total quality management and similar worker participation programs are an important albeit controversial component of the recent changes in the workplace brought about by increasing globalization of the economy. In addition, organized labor is faced with a changing and increasingly diverse population of new workers who are generally less willing to accept unionization, more accepting of collectivism, and more accustomed to working for lower wages. Unions have traditionally resisted attempts to introduce employee involvement programs with few or no reasonable countermeasures, and management has traditionally failed to rationalize the need for employee involvement programs with organized labor or to provide ample opportunities for negotiation subsequent to implementing employee participation programs. Consequently, the success of employee participation programs has been mixed. Management has generally been unwilling to give up control, and unions have been unwilling to experiment with innovative work methods. Corporate stakeholders, management, and union leaders must all realize that their historic roles of conflict have crippled their ability to succeed and that trust and honesty on the part of management and unions alike is critical to the country's economic future. (Contains 29 references.) (MN)