Industrial Democracy Research Articles

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

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.

Editorial: Special issue of the International Journal of Action Research on industrial democracy

Bibliography: Ravn, Johan E./Imaz Alias, Oier/Haga, Trond Sanne/Greenwood, Davydd J.: Editorial: Special issue of the International Journal of Action Research on industrial democracy, IJAR – International Journal of Action Research, Vol. 19, Issue 1-2023, pp. 3-6. https://doi.org/10.3224/ijar.v19i1.01-----Open Access License: This contribution is available in Open Access under the Creative Commons license CC BY 4.0 (Attribution 4.0 International) as of May 31, 2023. More information about the license and the terms of use can be found here.

Varieties of industrial democracy – beyond neoliberalism or not? The Special Issue Editors’ response essay

Extract-----Bibliography: Ravn, Johan E./Imaz Alias, Oier/Haga, Trond Sanne/Greenwood, Davydd J.: Varieties of industrial democracy – beyond neoliberalism or not? The Special Issue Editors’ response essay, IJAR – International Journal of Action Research, Vol. 19, Issue 1-2023, pp. 83-90. https://doi.org/10.3224/ijar.v19i1.07

Democratic alternatives to hierarchy – why so few?

Examples are briefly described of organizations that offer a perspective to complement the experience of industrial democracy inNorway and Mondragon. The examples are organizations choosing a structure and culture that minimize hierarchy. They provide a less traditional approach to balancing political and socio-technical participation. To do so they devolve responsibility for coordination of effort and expertise to individuals and teams most directly providing the effort and expertise. This gives the individuals and teams high autonomy. Examples include a university class, action learning projects in community and organizational settings, and a voluntary self-organizing network of facilitators. In addition, a small sample of organizations from the larger sample documented by Corporate Rebels (https://corporate-rebels.com/) is also briefly described and compared. Finally, the examples are located within other, wider, changes taking place.

Comparing organizational democracy in Norway and Mondragon: Lessons learned for other nations and initiatives

We have been asked to compare and contrast the Norwegian system of industrial democracy with the Mondragon federated corporation of worker cooperatives to arrive at a realistic appraisal of what can be learned from both systems and to discern the lessons to be learned for other nations and other initiatives. In doing so, the kinds of lessons that are needed for the emerging system of broad-based employee share ownership and industrial participation in the United States will be introduced as a part of our analysis. We are hoping that our colleagues and readers can benefit from the books and empirical research sponsored by Rutgers University’s Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing1 and our sister Journal of Participation and Employee Ownership.

The psychological partisan effect of electoral systems: How ideology correlates with strategic voting

Districted proportional systems give an edge to right-wing parties that are more popular in rural areas where district magnitude is small and large parties are mechanically advantaged. In this paper, we explore the role played by voters in this bias by looking at how ideology correlates with strategic voting. We analyze survey data from 44 elections in Western Europe and find that left-wing voters are more likely to support a party that is not viable ( p < 0.01), but once in this position they seem less likely to desert this party for one that is viable ( p < 0.1). Further, we find that this pattern is likely driven by the intensity of partisan preferences as left-wing voters are on average more attached to their favorite party and thus more reluctant to desert it ( p < 0.01). Our study thus demonstrates that the psychological effect of districted proportional systems amplifies the mechanical one in advanced industrial democracies.

Tempered Radicalism: Zhang Dongsun and Chinese Guild Socialism, 1913–1922

AbstractIn the 1910s, guild socialism emerged as a response to the particular social and political problems of Britain and as a radical rebel against the established English socialist movement. From the beginning, guild socialism was characterized by its “Englishness”, and its global influences have largely been neglected. Through the case of Zhang Dongsun, a leading Chinese guild socialist, this article provides a transnational and comparative dimension of guild socialism and examines how its ideas were accepted, reinterpreted, and localized in a non-Western context. While English guildsmen propagated a strong anti-capitalist ideology and highlighted industrial democracy, mass self-government, and direct action, their Chinese comrades were advocating, at least temporarily, domination of the bourgeoisie and seeking to temper the radical social ethos motivated by the October Revolution. Guild socialism in China was deprived of its rebellious and militant elements and transformed into a moderate, wait-and-see theory that could, in Zhang's opinion, strike a perfect balance between elitism and mass democracy. Zhang's elitist interpretation of guild socialism showed his agency and ambition in pursuit of political modernity for China, but ironically it was his active reinterpretation that sealed the fate of Chinese guild socialism.

What is the geography of trust? The urban-rural trust gap in global perspective

What is the geography of political trust? Influential studies point to a growing urban-rural cleavage between low-trust authoritarian populists in rural areas and higher-trust liberal pluralists in densely populated urban areas. We use data from the World Values Survey and European Values Survey, covering nearly 100 countries, to test whether development has a moderating effect on the urban-rural divide in political trust. Our results reveal that at high levels of development, there are similar levels of trust in government between people living in urban and rural areas, while at low levels of development we find higher levels of trust for rural populations compared to those residing in urban areas. These findings add an important caveat to the standard account of the ‘geography of discontent’ in advanced industrial democracies, while suggesting the need for further investigation of the trust gap in the developing world and its implications. How trust is spatially distributed matters for how polities are governed, and is consequential for electoral behaviour, trends and outcomes.

EMPLOYEE PARTICIPATION IN DECISION-MAKING: A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON PERCEPTION OF EMPLOYEES AND EMPLOYERS IN NEPALESE ENTERPRISES

There is much debate as to whether employees should be participated or not in the decision-making process. This study examined the status of employee participation in decision-making using Government-Owned Enterprises namely Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), a corporate office located in Kathmandu, and privately run industry, Bira Furniture within Patan Industrial Estate located in Lalitpur, Nepal, as a case study. The study employed qualitative research for empirical investigation. Interviews, Focus Group Discussions (FGD), and observation were used for primary data collection. A purposive sampling method was applied. The study used thematic analysis of data. Lower-level employees have also adequate rights in their workplace decision-making at the head office of NEA. However, high-level decision-making power rest in top-level management. Most of the decisions are made based on rules, by-laws, and procedures. By nature, almost all functions are performed based on teamwork. Even though the employer/manager of the Bira Factory argues that workers have sufficient engagement in the workplace decision-making process, the great majority of workers express a lack of such opportunity in the factory. This finding implies that employees or workers in the public sector are more involved in decisionmaking than those in the private sector. The researcher suggests that managers should participate with employees in the decision-making process in the present time of industrial democracy.

ПРО КОНЦЕПЦІЮ ТРУДОВОГО КОЛЕКТИВУ В СУЧАСНИХ УМОВАХ

The article examines the theoretical and legal problems of determining the legal status of the labour collective as a subject of Labour Law and a party to collective labour relations. The concept of collective labour relations, which stem from the 80s of the last century, is analyzed. The ideological and substantive problems of the Law "On Labour Collective and Increasing Their Role in the Management of Enterprises, Institutions, and Organizations" are cited. The problems of the legal status regulation of the labour collective in the Code of Labour Laws of Ukraine are being followed. Gaps regarding the consolidation of the concept of "labour collective" as a party to collective labour relations and collective labour disputes in the Laws of Ukraine "On collective contracts and agreements", "On collective agreements and contracts" and "On the procedure for resolving collective labour disputes (conflicts)" are indicated. Scientific opinions are criticized, the latter argue for the need to completely abandon the labour collective concept as an "ideological relic of the past" and deny the existence of such a subject to Labour Law. Attention is focused on the doctrinal position that the labour collective is the primary entity that unites employees at the local level of the enterprise, institution, and organization and in relations with a physical person – employer, which initiates the formation of other bodies authorized to represent employees. Emphasis is placed on the importance of the role of the labour collective in ensuring industrial democracy at the enterprise, institution, and organization and in relations with a physical person – employer. The special status of the labour collective as a party to the social dialogue is indicated. The need to intensify the modernization of labour legislation in terms of the legal status regulation of the labour collective is proven. The point of view regarding the expediency of replacing the concept of "labour collective" with "employee collective" is supported, which in terms of content and mental perception fully corresponds to current trends.

An Empirical Study of the Role of Management and Labour in the Overall Development of Tata Steel, Jamshedpur

India is the world's second-largest producer of crude steel after China, as of 2021, with an output of 118.2 million tonnes. (worldsteel.org, n.d.) The steel industry is emerging, and with the initiatives taken by Government, the steel industry’s growth is very positive for the nation’s economic development. The present paper deals with an empirical approach to Workers’ Participation in management or the role played by management and labour at Tata Steel Jamshedpur, which leads to Industrial harmony. The introduction of the Worker’s Participation in Management, where closer employee association with Management is an important landmark in the development of modern management philosophy in India and is an essential feature of industrial democracy. Tata Steel has successfully implemented this concept and has achieved more than 100 years of harmonious industrial relations.

Israel’s One-State Reality and The Challenge Of Democratization

Decades of massive Israeli settlement of the West Bank reflect a fundamental transformation of Israel from a state with a social democratic ethos to one dominated by a militantly nationalist political culture. Consequently, the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem has become unattainable. De facto Israeli rule of the entire country between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea is not a one-state solution but a one-state reality. The remaining path to a better future for both Jews and Palestinians is the democratization of that state. Factors that can contribute to this process are considered. The struggles and political emancipation of blacks in the United States, Irish Catholics in the United Kingdom, and women in most industrial democracies, suggest this process is likely to take decades or generations rather than months or years, but early signs of change are apparent.

What sort of workplace democracy can democratic management achieve in China?

AbstractThe year 2022 marks the 10th anniversary of the adoption of democratic management (DM) provisions in China. DM, once predominant in state‐owned enterprises, has now been extended to all enterprises. Democratising workplaces in China represents institutional experimentation. Both DM‐related research and practice thus require updating. Ten years on, a social consensus on DM's orientation and legitimacy remains elusive. Can expanding DM inspire industrial democracy or strengthen Party control over market‐oriented workplaces? Or is DM merely window dressing as previous studies suggest? This article aims to uncover the type of workplace democracy that DM can achieve in China. A triangle of DM is established and integrated with institutional theory as an analytical framework to explore the causes and characteristics of DM in six case companies.

Uluslararası Normlara ve Temsili Endüstriyel Demokrasiye Atıfla İşyeri Çalışan Temsilciliğinin Kurumsal İnşası: Türkiye için bir Çift Kanaldan Temsil Modeli Önerisi

This article explores the feasibility of setting up a shop-floor social dialogue mechanism in Turkey based on the synthesis of EU Directive (2002/14/EC), the German works council model and various dimensions of Turkish labour law and practice. Evaluating the outputs of the questionnaire conducted between the years 2015-2016 and addressed to selected samples of representatives of labour unions and employers’ organizations as well as to officials of the Turkish Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the article proposes two alternatives for a dual-channel representation system: namely, the establishment of works councils to co-exist with unions and the election of employee representatives. Since the majority of Turkey’s workplaces are currently unrepresented by unions, it is assumed that either option may serve the objectives of adapting Turkish labour relations to international standards and locating representative industrial democracy at the core of work life.

Perceptions of Intergenerational Inequality in Policymaking and Possible Responses: The Case of Australia

Evidence suggests that, on average, younger citizens in advanced industrial democracies tend to have different policy preferences to those aged 65 and over. Population ageing and relatively lower levels of electoral participation among young people amplify the political voice of older citizens and contribute to policymakers being more responsive to their preferences. This paper presents qualitative evidence on whether young adults and older Australians recognise a need to increase young people’s influence on policymaking in the context of intergenerational inequality. The paper considers possible responses to this need, such as voting age reform. Results indicate that there is reasonable support, including from the older participants, to enhance young people’s political voice and influence over policymaking. Growing awareness of intergenerational inequality in ageing democracies may make public opinion more favourable towards voting age reform and other measures to increase the political voice of young people.

The Tragic Pragmatism of the Wagner Act

Abstract The Wagner Act established a right to collective action as the keystone of industrial democracy. In doing so, it also articulated a radical conception of the self: that individuals form genuine desires and attain full self-actualization through collective action. This conception ran counter to the traditional liberal idea of selfhood, which took possessive individualism as the fundament of democratic governance. This paper places the Wagner Act and its reception in the context of changing conceptions of the self in American political thought from 1920 to 1950. The Wagner Act derived its conception of democratic activity from a pragmatist and progressivist theory of the “social self.” But its reception took place amidst a very different intellectual context. By midcentury, a liberal hostility to “mass society” and its deleterious effects on individual choice had repudiated the older pragmatist collectivism. In other words, the Act’s core provision—the notion of collective action as central to the formation of workers’ individual desires—was born of a dying moment in American thought. The immediate hostility that the new labor law regime faced in Congress and the courts was a consequence, in part, of that disjuncture.

NEW LABOUR CODE - REGRESSION OF WORKERS RIGHT OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

Industrial relations play an important role in establishing and maintaining harmonious relation in industrial democracy. The establishment of good industrial relations depends on the attitude on the part of both labour and Management. The maintenance of good human relationship is the main goal of industrial relations, because in its absence the whole organizational structure may collapse. It is an art of living together for the purpose of production, efficiency and industrial progress. Basically the term ‘Industrial relations’ is used to refer to the relations between the parties within the industry. No industry can flourish without the co-operation between these two parties. To achieve the objectives of industrial jurisprudence more importance is given to collective bargaining. With the new labour code more power is given to government and it diluted the collective bargaining as a rights of workers.

A new cross-country index measuring the heterogenous effects of informal institutions

ABSTRACT Studies have identified two fundamentally different types of informal institutions: public and private informal institutions. Empirically, most studies have focused on public informal institutions such as social trust, since indexes measuring private informal institutions such as closed trust have been rare. This research introduces a new index of private informal institutions that captures whether private informal institutions hinder or enhance development by complementing, accommodating, competing, or substituting formal institutions. To this end, we introduce an empirical strategy to measure the four types of private informal institutions for more than 120 countries for the years 1990–2010 in a five-year interval. The extracted index reveals that advanced industrial democracies have complementing and accommodating private informal institutions, whereas post-communist and resource-rich countries have substituting private informal institutions, and countries with some experience of democratization and development display competing private informal institutions. The index also shows that private informal institutions can change rapidly, which can expedite and enhance institutional quality for some countries but deteriorate it for others.

Recent trends in German co-determination: a critical assessment of new research evidence

The purpose of this paper is to look at the developments in co-determination at workplace level as well as at the level of supervisory boards during and after the financial and economic crisis of 2007-2009. In Germany, co-determination is not only considered a way to develop industrial democracy, but also a way of increasing the efficiency and competitiveness of companies. Various studies show that co-determination contributes to the competitiveness of companies and that co-determined companies have also recovered from the financial and economic crisis more quickly. Although co-determination has a positive influence on the productivity, innovative capacity and competitiveness of companies, there is a growing number of companies that put in place strategies aimed at avoiding co-determination. However, despite the reduced spread of co-determination the German participation model has survived so far and is still part of the key institutional settings of German industrial relations. This is also due to the fact that the German co-determination system has always shown a remarkable capacity to adapt to new developments. The most recent examples in this regard are the Works Council Modernisation Act and the Act on Corporate Due Diligence in Supply Chains. That also means that basically co-determination has proved to be a stable yet flexible institution. Today, employee participation thus appears to be a helpful instrument for successfully managing transformation processes.

The wage impact of being a works council representative in Germany: A case of strategic discrimination?

AbstractWorks councils provide an essential mechanism for worker participation in decision‐making. While the literature has extensively explored their impact on worker and establishment outcomes, the negotiation process between works council representatives and their employer has remained largely unexplored. This article contributes to filling this gap by investigating wage discrimination towards works councilors in Germany. Fixed effects models leveraging panel data show that councilors receive a wage premium that positively correlates with the sectoral coverage of collective bargaining. In the manufacturing sector, where the tradition of bargaining is heavily entrenched, employers positively discriminate councilors. In contrast, in the service sector, where the culture of bargaining is weak, employers penalize works councilors. In both sectors, partisan and unionized works councilors are the most affected. The most likely hypothesis to explain these results is that employers strategically discriminate these councilors in order to bypass the traditional constraints of establishment‐level participation. This article therefore questions the quality of industrial democracy in Germany.