The 1980s have been a period during which important private experiments with innovations have occurred in employee participation, work redesign, and the introduction of new technologies and new systems of production. It is now time to move beyond the experimental stage. The following four interrelated policy initiatives should guide public efforts to promote diffusion and institutionalization of workplace innovations: (1) establish a national database for measuring the diffusion of innovative practices and evaluating their economic and social consequences; (2) update labor law to remove the barriers to labor-management cooperation and innovations; (3) integrate support for workplace innovations with broader human resource, labor market, and economic policies; and (4) provide the political leadership needed to produce a positive climate within which innovative labor management relations can flourish. These initiatives are necessary because there is no reliable estimate of the extent to which employee participation or work redesign principles have diffused across the U.S. work force; growing evidence indicates that current law is undermining workers' and union representatives' confidence in the fairness of the law and heightening labor-management tensions; and diffusion is not likely to occur without strong national leadership and the commitment of financial resources to build support for the innovations. (77 references) (CML)