Cover

Half-title

Title

Copyright

Dedication

Contents

Acknowledgements

Legal Instruments

1 Introduction

Employee participation as an ethical issue

Catholic Social Thought

Human self-development or integral self-realisation and work

The corporation and corporate governance

The transnational dimension

Share ownership

The plan of the book

2 Catholic Social Thought: nature, sources and core principles and values

Introduction

Nature and sources of Catholic Social Thought

Christian anthropology

The human person and society

Natural law theory and human self-development

Homo Economicus

3 Catholic Social Thought and work

Introduction

Work as a recurring theme of Catholic Social Thought

Work as a basic human good

The Bible and work

Employee participation

Capital and labour

Workers’ rights

Economism

Conclusion

4 Catholic Social Thought, private property and markets

Introduction

Private property and human dignity

Private property and efficient use of resources

The universal destination of goods

The role of the state concerning private property rights

Markets

Conclusion

5 The corporation

Introduction

Catholic Social Thought and the corporation

The common good

Theories of the firm

The nexus of contracts view of the firm

Williamson’s theory of the firm

The stakeholder theory of the firm

Does the corporation have a reality of its own that cannot be reduced entirely to the reality of its members and the contract between them?

The principle of subsidiarity

Legal personality of the corporation

Catholic Social Thought and the social sciences

Implications for employees

6 The firm and society

Introduction

Society

Catholic Social Thought and corporate social responsibility

Society as an interconnected system

Globalisation and political authority

Subsidiarity and globalisation

The state and markets

The state and labour markets

Structures are not enough

7 Employee participation in corporate governance: an ethical analysis

Introduction

Corporate governance

Agency theory

Corporate governance and employee interests

Profitability as the central purpose of corporate governance

Employee participation in governance

Co-determination

Employee share ownership

The John Lewis Partnership

Mandatory co-determination?

Conclusion

8 Corporate Governance in the United Kingdom

Introduction

Catholic Social Thought’s prescriptions for an ethically sound approach to corporate governance

Ownership of shares in UK listed companies

Shareholder value

Shareholder value and British corporate governance

Takeovers

Where does this leave employee participation?

Can institutional shareholders help?

Conclusion

9 Labour law and employee participation

Introduction

Trade unions

Collective bargaining

European Works Councils

The Information and Consultation Directive

Corporate governance and labour law as complementary governance mechanisms

Catholic Social Thought and employee involvement in economy-wide dialogue

Conclusion

10 Employee participation and EU corporate governance

Introduction

Divergence of approach to employee participation across the EU

Regulatory competition

The threats to the German co-determination system: the danger of regulatory competition

The European Community’s Company Law harmonisation programme

The Societas Europeae and employee participation

Appraisal

Conclusions

11 Conclusion

Integral self-realisation is the point of it all

Work

Private property

The corporation

Employee participation

British corporate governance

Labour law

European corporate governance

Faith and reason

Catholic Social Thought and social sciences

The impact of communities on the well-being of the individual

Bibliography

Index