This article is based on a study of the work experience of production workers at MaikroTek's (a pseudonym) computer manufacturing division in California's Silicon Valley. The majority of the labor force was composed of men and women of color and white women, groups that presently are the fastest growing (Johnston and Packer 1987) populations in the workforce. At the time of this study, participatory management policies were being implemented in major corporations throughout the country; MaikroTek was at the forefront of companies with such policies. This study will show that men and women of color and white men and women hold different places in the firm's internal labor market, and that participatory management policies pose new problems for these workers. On the surface, such policies appear to provide more participation for all employees. However, this study reveals a differential effect on workers depending on structural and socio-demographic factors. Second, different groups of women workers responded differently to participatory management policies and to management's actions during the economy-wide recession of 1982-1983. Third, the present study confirms that working conditions in the primary sector of the industry are much better than secondary sector jobs. At MaikroTek workers have stable employment, relatively high wages, and fringe benefits on the job. At MaikroTek however, the heterogeneity within and among women and workers of color is such that workers' responses to management policies vary.

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