Organizational Democracy in the Private Sector: A Field Research (original) (raw)
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Workplace Democracy From a Democratic Ideal to a Managerial Tool and Back
In different political theories, democracy is not reduced to state institutions, but includes the democratization of the whole society, its organizations and enterprises. This idea goes back to the beginnings of modern democratic theory and to Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Social Contract. It was adopted by different socialist thinkers, later on by trade unions and, in the 1960s and 70s, by political scientists such as Carole Pateman and other promoters of participatory democracy. According to this tradition, workplace democracy is considered to be necessary for the realization of democratic ideals like individual autonomy, freedom, voice and participation in all relevant questions influencing citizens' lives. Parts of this normative idea were realized by trade union movements and laws, especially in Western European countries. Nevertheless, workplace democracy in the sense of the above-mentioned theories remained far from becoming reality. In the 1990s, the idea was co-opted by organizational development and management studies and underwent a change: Workplace democracy, then mostly operationalized as limited participation, became a managerial tool that should help to increase employees' motivation and efficiency and thereby contribute to entrepreneurial success. In the last few years, however, the original democratic ideal of workplace democracy seems to have been revitalized under conditions of a worldwide economic crisis. This article shows the development and the latest revival of the concept of workplace democracy, and discusses its innovative potential for today's democratic societies.
Exploring the antecedents and consequences of organizational democracy
The TQM Journal, 2018
PurposeOrganizational democracy is the new model of organizational design for a Democratic Age, and out of this new model grows a freedom-centered and healthy climate. Democratic management is a key to greater organization success and a necessity to gain higher levels of performance and innovation. The purpose of this paper is to explore the antecedents and consequences of organizational democracy in an Iranian context.Design/methodology/approachStatistical population includes the employees of the Gas Company of Isfahan Province. For data analysis, 263 accurate completed questionnaires are used. Structural equation modeling is applied to investigate the relationship between the research variables.FindingsThe findings showed that some types of organizational culture (i.e. self-criticism, team, and participatory culture) (β=0.33); and some dimensions of organizational structure (i.e. decentralization, flat hierarchy, and less formalization) (β=0.55) as antecedent variables have a sign...
• Abolade, D.A. (2015). Impact of industrial democracy on organisational performance.
This study investigated the impact of industrial democracy on organizational performance. A structured survey instrument was used to collect data from a sample of 815 workers randomly selected from purposively selected work organizations. Both male and female respondents who had spent between 3 to 10 years and above in their organizations were used as subjects for the study. Three hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Data were analyzed using Statistical Analysis System (SAS 9.2). Regression Analysis and Pearson Correlation coefficient statistical were used in testing the hypotheses. Simple percentage was used to analyse the demographic information collected from the respondents. Findings revealed that industrial democracy had positive impact on organization performance with the degree of influence being 93.06%. The finding also showed that there was significant relationship between industrial democracy and employee behaviour; and that industrial democracy did not undermine management power but rather strengthened it, since it accounted for 53.60% of the total strength of management power: Fcal>Ftab (211.37>3.8925). It is therefore recommended that management should make industrial democracy part of its policy and ensure that it is practiced to the letter for better performance of the organization and the satisfaction of the employees.
2015
This study investigated the impact of industrial democracy on organizational performance. A structured survey instrument was used to collect data from a sample of 815 workers randomly selected from purposively selected work organizations. Both male and female respondents who had spent between 3 to 10 years and above in their organizations were used as subjects for the study. Three hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Data were analyzed using Statistical Analysis System (SAS 9.2). Regression Analysis and Pearson Correlation coefficient statistical were used in testing the hypotheses. Simple percentage was used to analyse the demographic information collected from the respondents. Findings revealed that industrial democracy had positive impact on organization performance with the degree of influence being 93.06%. The finding also showed that there was significant relationship between industrial democracy and employee behaviour; and that industrial democracy did not un...
Applied Psychology, 2019
Our meta-analytic review investigates how employee participation in democratic enterprises is related to psychological outcomes. We gathered 60 studies through a systematic literature search of quantitative field studies (published between January 1970 and May 2017) and extracted 138 effect sizes related to three indicators of organisational democracy (OD) and 15 psychological outcomes. The overall findings suggest that employees' individually perceived participation in organisational decision making (IPD) had a stronger relation to job satisfaction (ρ = .25), job involvement/work motivation (ρ = .36), prosocial work behaviours (ρ = .24), civic and democratic behaviours (ρ = .21) and perceived supportive climate (ρ = .44) than the other two OD indicators: structurally anchored employee participation (SAEP) and employee participation in collective ownership (EO). This was not the case for valuebased commitment: the relations of SAEP (ρ = .40), EO (ρ = .34), and IPD (ρ = .46) with commitment were nearly equal. Mediation analyses indicated that IPD partially mediated most of the effects of SAEP and EO on the outcomes mentioned. The cross-sectional database and a small number of studies for some of the outcomes are the main limitations of this study.
Mapping of organizational democracy: a bibliometric study
Social, economic and political developments in the globalising world have necessitated a re-examination of the concept of democracy. The concept of organisational democracy is a process that expresses the inclusion of individuals in the management processes of organisations and allows freedom of expression in organisations. In this study, it is aimed to reveal at which stage the concept of organisational democracy is included in the international literature. In this context, it is desired to evaluate the development stages of the concept in terms of literature and to set an example for future studies by filling the gaps in the literature. In line with the main purpose, 99 publications related to the concept of "organisational democracy" between 1990 and 2023 in the Scopus database were analysed using R Studio and VOSviewer softwares. The analyses were evaluated by considering the studies conducted in the fields of "Social Sciences", "Business, Management and Accounting" between 1990 and 2023. The concept of organisational democracy is often associated with concepts such as participation, hierarchy, employee participation organizational culture, organizational commitment and communication. As a result, it has been determined that organisational democracy plays a role in the satisfaction of internal stakeholders.
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.
Comparison of the Perceptions of Organizational Democracy of Educators Working in Turkish Historical Schools and Minority Schools, 2022
In this study, the perceptions of organizational democracy of Turkish historical schools and minority schools with historical roots in Istanbul were compared. Population of the study: The study included 21 minority schools with the private school status, 16 of which belonged to the Armenian community, 4 of which belonged to the Greek community, and 1 of which belonged to the Jewish community, and 15 Turkish historical schools affiliated with the Ministry of National Education, which have been in service since the Republican Period, in Istanbul. The sample consisted of school administrators and teachers who were selected from these schools on a voluntary basis. A descriptive research model was used to compare the perceptions of organizational democracy of educators working in Turkish historical schools and minority schools. Employees of minority schools are mostly members of the community which the educational institution educates. The fact that minority schools have a long history like Turkish historical schools and they may have an institutionalized organizational culture in this context has been important for our study. The data were collected via the "Organizational Democracy Scale" developed and studied for validity and reliability by Geçkil & Tikici (2015).1 The data obtained through scale and questionnaire were analyzed using SPSS 22 Program. As a result of the study, the perceptions of organizational democracy of the participants working in Turkish historical schools were found to be lower than those of the participants working in minority schools. There was a significant difference between the perceptions of organizational democracy of educators working in Turkish historical schools and minority schools in favor of those working in minority schools. In this context, educators working in minority schools were observed to have higher levels of perception of democracy. Bu araştırmada İstanbul’da bulunan ve tarihi köklere sahip Tarihi Mektepler ile Azınlık Okullarının örgütsel demokrasi algıları karşılaştırılmıştır. Araştırmanın evreni İstanbul’da Millî Eğitim Bakanlığına bağlı özel okul statüsünde 16’sı Ermeni cemaati, 4’ü Rum cemaati ve 1’i Musevi cemaatine bağlı olmak üzere toplam 21 Azınlık Okulu ve Cumhuriyetten günümüze intikal eden 15 tarihi mekteptir. Örneklem ise bu mekteplerden seçilen gönüllü okul yönetici ve öğretmenlerden oluşmuştur. Araştırmada Tarihi Mektepler ile Azınlık Okullarda görev yapan eğitimcilerin örgütsel demokrasi algılarının karşılaştırılması amacıyla betimsel araştırma modeli kullanılarak analiz yapılmıştır. Azınlık okullarında bulunan çalışanların genelde azınlıklardan oluşması ve tarihi mektepler gibi azınlık okullarının da köklü geçmişe sahip olması, oturmuş bir örgüt kültürüne sahip olacakları savı araştırmamız için önem arz etmiştir. Veriler Geçkil ve Tikici (2015) tarafından geliştirilen ve güvenirlik, geçerlilik çalışmaları yapılan “Örgütsel Demokrasi Algısı” ölçeği marifeti ile toplanmıştır3. Ölçek ve anket vasıtasıyla elde edilen veriler SPSS 22 Programı kullanılarak analiz edilmiştir. Araştırma sonucunda Türk Tarih Mekteplerinde görev yapan katılımcıların örgütsel demokrasi algısının Azınlık Okullarında görev yapan katılımcılardan daha düşük olduğu görülmüştür. Türk Tarihi Mektepleri ile Azınlık Okullarında görev yapan eğitimcilerin örgütsel demokrasi algısı arasında Azınlık Okullarında görev yapanların lehine anlamlı fark görülmüştür. Bu bağlamda azınlık okullarında görev yapan eğitimcilerin daha yüksek düzeyde bir demokrasi algısına sahip oldukları gözlemlenmiştir.
South African Journal of Business Management, 2018
Numerous studies have investigated OCB in manufacturing organisations (Morrison 1994). Service-oriented OCB has been somewhat ignored (Yoon & Suh 2003); however, with the growth of the service industry, the behaviour of service-oriented employees' has come to light. Serviceoriented employees are constantly engaged in direct contact with their customers (Bartel 2004); therefore, the OCB of service-oriented employees can increase their performance and enhance service quality. Even though there is a lack of research on the influence of OD on individual behaviours, research on other organisational practices exists and indicates the influences of these practices on creating positive behaviour, which has been seen to improve organisational performance. The banking sector is a service-oriented sector in which performance is realised through providing superior customer service. However, research on OCB in the banking sector is not very evident in the literature and represents a significant gap. In this sense, the main objective Background: It has been said that organisational democracy influences the improvement of behavioural orientations related to being good organisational citizens. Objectives: The main purpose of this study was to provide empirical evidence on bank employees' perceptions towards organisational democracy and their organisational citizenship behaviour, in addition to indicating whether a relationship exists between organisational democracy and organisational citizenship behaviour. Method: Data were collected through the use of a questionnaire. The population of the study consisted of bank employees working at branches of a private bank located in the province of Istanbul, Turkey. A total of 240 bank employees took part in the study. Data analysis entailed the computation of descriptive statistics, as well as t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA) test, correlation analysis and regression analysis. Results: The study results indicated that a statistically significant relationship exists between the bank employees' perceptions of organisational democracy and their organisational citizenship behaviour. Conclusion: Through this study, it can be concluded that organisational democracy is an important variable that can be used by managers to facilitate the favourable behaviour of employees and to promote the sense of citizenship that employees feel towards their organisation, which in turn will positively influence organisational performance.