Work Democracy: Towards a Three-dimensional Approach

Abstract

This paper examines concepts of democracy as they impinge upon the world of work, covering the workplace or enterprise, the organised work-group or trade union, and the broader industrial society. It tries to develop a three-dimensional approach, involving formalisation, directness and implementation as central variables. It integrates into the discussion that specific area of the industrial democracy debate which relates to experiments at the task-level, involving, for example, job design changes. Such experiments are usually discussed outside the orbit of political/sociological theory. Experiments at work which are not integrated with Jormalised enterprise-level industrial-democratic institutions, and/or union- democratic bodies may have lower long-term chances of impact and survival. Discussions about experiments in the workplace, whether relating to job-redesign or wider changes, should not be considered in isolation. Moreover, the study of work democracy needs to be inter-disciplinary, and cover more than just the workplace or the union.