Summary
Course Description: This course will explore the contemporary revival of interest in broad based employee share ownership structures. We will investigate the legal and policy frameworks that presently structure employee ownership. We will investigate how broad-based ownership initiatives take place in a broad range of corporations from publicly traded, stock exchange firms, to closely held Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) and worker cooperatives, and in high technology firms. We will compare and contrast five specific starting points; five “verbs” for how employee ownership actually takes place in the economy. We will hear from business owners and working people affected by these ideas and we will hear from practitioners who facilitate the process. We will review empirical research on how employee ownership is performing and we will debate both the promise and the limitations of employee ownership as a business strategy and a strategy for motivating employees. We will research the practical uses of broad-based employee ownership with a focus on implementation that has taken place within the states of New Jersey and New York.