| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | International Encyclopedia of Organization Studies. Volume 2 |
| Editors | Stewart R. Clegg, James R. Bailey |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Place of Publication | Thousand Oaks, CA |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications |
| Publication date | 2008 |
| Pages | 649-652 |
| Article number | 223 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781412915151 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2008 |
Abstract
Industrial democracy is about how workers influence their working life through participation. The concept of participation holds many dimensions:
- Who is participating. Exclusively workers or are they participating together with the company owners and managers?
- Who of the workers are participating. Are they all participating directly or through elected representatives—indirectly?
- Degree of participation. Is the degree low in that workers have information/consultation (ranging from information, opportunity of protesting against decisions, make proposals to being ensured prior consultations)? Does it involve codetermination (ranging from temporary to permanent veto right to codetermination right)? Or are the workers granted the highest degree of decision-making right?
- How participation takes place. Through negotiations, ballot, or dialogue?
- In which decisions workers are participating. Wage and working conditions and/or company decisions (at operative, tactic or strategic level, respectively)?
Industrial democracy is sometimes juxtaposed with organizational democracy and workplace democracy, and the discussions are often overlapping, although the types of organizations and work practices subject to analysis may differ significantly. For reasons of space, the following solely focuses on industrial democracy. Industrial democracy is also often linked to economic democracy, and this linkage is, to a certain extent, discussed in the following six stories of industrial democracy. But many aspects of economic democracy are also neglected here.
- Who is participating. Exclusively workers or are they participating together with the company owners and managers?
- Who of the workers are participating. Are they all participating directly or through elected representatives—indirectly?
- Degree of participation. Is the degree low in that workers have information/consultation (ranging from information, opportunity of protesting against decisions, make proposals to being ensured prior consultations)? Does it involve codetermination (ranging from temporary to permanent veto right to codetermination right)? Or are the workers granted the highest degree of decision-making right?
- How participation takes place. Through negotiations, ballot, or dialogue?
- In which decisions workers are participating. Wage and working conditions and/or company decisions (at operative, tactic or strategic level, respectively)?
Industrial democracy is sometimes juxtaposed with organizational democracy and workplace democracy, and the discussions are often overlapping, although the types of organizations and work practices subject to analysis may differ significantly. For reasons of space, the following solely focuses on industrial democracy. Industrial democracy is also often linked to economic democracy, and this linkage is, to a certain extent, discussed in the following six stories of industrial democracy. But many aspects of economic democracy are also neglected here.