Accolades for The Business of Employee Empowerment: Democracy and Ideology in the Workplace include:

"Tom Potterfield has come to grips with the notoriously slippery concept of empowerment. Combining the experience of an executive [with] the analytical expertise of an academic he has produced an accessible yet penetrating study. The idea of empowerment is set in its historical context, detailed empirical illustrations of its application are discussed and a sustained critique of its contradictions and emancipatory potentials is delivered. Anyone who is intrigued, baffled or just plain irritated by talk of empowerment should read this book." - Hugh Willmott Professor of Organizational Analysis Manchester School of Management

"The history of American management is littered with "fads" that promised to reconcile democratic values with corporate profits. However, to date the political economic context surrounding these fads has limited their success. Inattention to this context by students of organizations has prevented us from understanding why the efforts failed. In this book, by keeping the larger context before us, Potterfield's research on empowerment helps us understand why this seemingly promising approach may follow a similar course." - Walter Nord Professor of Organization Theory and Behavior University of South Florida

"Thomas Potterfield gives a penetrating and even-handed account of participatory mangement in general, and specifically the practice of "empowerment," situating these approaches historically and providing an illuminating case study of empowerment at a Fortune 500 company. This is a first-rate guide for those who would explore and develop participatory management with their eyes open." - Donald Rothberg Chair of Faculty Saybrook Graduate School-San Francisco

"Dr. Potterfield's work presents us with a well-supported argument that "empowerment" means feeling good about one's impotence while being blinded to the realities of corporate self-interest. Dr. Potterfield has done employees, but, more importantly, democracy a very great service by revealing in a scholarly and morally grounded way this form of exploitation. We are in his debt." - Tony Stigliano Professor of Human Science and Psychology Saybrook Graduate School

"Thomas Potterfield's book, The Business of Employee Empowerment: Democracy and Ideology in the Workplace is an acute analysis and critique of currently trendy and influential theories and practices of employee "empowerment" in North America. The book skillfully examines the social and intellectual roots of the concept of empowerment and creatively assesses both the emancipatory potential of and the ideological constraints on authentically democratic strategies of employee empowerment. It is essential reading for both organizational and critical theorists." - Charles P. Webel Executive Faculty Saybrook Graduate School San Francisco