Review of Productive Pragmatism: Can industrial democracy be viable under neoliberalist capital conditions?

Abstract

I review the two cases of industrial democracy in Norway and Mondragon using multiple perspectives. From a system thinking perspective, I use a General Systems Theory (GST), Viable Systems Model and Soft Systems Methodology. From a management perspective, I examine how institutional entrepreneurship plays a role in creating new ways of coping with regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive forces impacting the two cases. I then view the two economies from a governmentality perspective on how they deal with power and autonomy. My analysis demonstrates that the two democracies have coped well with internal and external forces. I also argue that industrial democracy would face challenges in dealing with new ways of working that have emerged due to the influence of technology.