Workplace Democracy From a Democratic Ideal to a Managerial Tool and Back (original) (raw)

Workplace Democracy-the recent debate

Philosophy Compass, 2019

The article reviews the recent debate about workplace democracy. It first presents and critically discusses arguments in favor of democratizing the firm that are based on the analogy with states, meaningful work, the avoidance of unjustified hierarchies, and beneficial effects on political democracy. The second part presents and critically discusses arguments against workplace democracy that are based on considerations of efficiency, the difficulties of a transition towards democratic firms, and liberal commitments such as the rights of employees and owners to work for or invest in non-democratic firms. The conclusion summarizes the debate and argues that experiments with democratic workplaces as what Erik Olin Wright (2010) calls "real utopias" could deliver new insights and thus move the discussion forward.

The Problem of Workplace Democracy

New Labor Forum, 2017

The link between political and economic democracy was strong following the Civil War, in which one of the central questions was the compatibility of an economic system based on 745037N LFXXX10.

Employee involvement and Workplace Democracy

Business Ethics Quarterly, 2020

The paper aims to bridge divides between political theory and management and organization studies in theorizing workplace democracy. To achieve this aim, the paper begins by introducing a new definition of democracy which, it is contended, is better suited than mainstream accounts to highlight the democratizing potential of employee involvement. It then defines employee involvement as an offshoot of early 20th century humanistic psychologies, from which it inherits an emancipatory ambition. In a third step, the paper presents employee involvement as a set of organizational practices liable to transform dominant patterns of authority and social interaction in the workplace. The paper concludes by contending that, apart from representation/participation and the employee's voice, employee involvement must be considered the third necessary pillar of workplace democracy, endowed with distinctive normative features that neither representation/participation nor voices can aptly capture.

Constructing Workplace Democracy

Industrial Relations, 2011

PSA Organising centre: +00-64-(0)4-495 7633 C o n s t r u c t i n g W o r k p l a c e D e m o c r a c y P a g e | iii C o n s t r u c t i n g W o r k p l a c e D e m o c r a c y P a g e | vi

Democracy at work : what , why and how ?

2019

This chapter investigates ‘democracy at work’ in theory and presents some empirical evidence of it in practice in today’s European Union. Beginning with a conceptual discussion of how we can understand the meaning of democracy at work across a range of different approaches, we go on to explore its beneficial impact on civic democracy, economic performance, the reduction of inequalities, sustainability, and job quality. Turning then to existing EU and national-level policies, we assess the current state of play of democracy at work as it is articulated and implemented across a wide range of EU and national policy instruments. We look at some concrete outcomes, such as the instruments put in place for the protection of occupational health and safety. We critically address shortcomings of the proposed Company Law Package regarding workers’ participation in corporate governance. We identify unequal access to democracy at the local workplace level and assess the state of play of gender e...