Developments in sociotechnical systems (STS) theory and practice in Norway during the past two decades have closely supported and been supported by public policies aimed at democratizing working life. This article discusses the resulting Norwegian model of democratization through empowering participation, comparing this model to similar ones based on work done in Denmark, Australia, and Germany. The author finds that the resulting general model incorporating the major features of this work, while not widely known, is clearly not limited to Norway. The article identifies some of the consequences of participation under different working conditions and some necessary conditions for empowering participation, andnotes that-although work-place participation is populardemocracy in the work place is more often preached than practiced.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Berstein, P. (1976). Workplace democratization: Its internal dynamics. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press.
2.
Blumberg, P. (1968). Industrial democracy: The sociology ofparticipation. London: Constable.
3.
Bolweg, J. (1976). Job design and industrial democracy: The case of Norway. Leiden, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff.
4.
Borum, F. (1980). A power-strategy alternative to organization development. Organization Studies, 1(2), 123-146.
5.
Brown, L.D., & Tandon, R. (1983). Ideology and political economy in inquiry: Action research and participatory research. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 19(3), 277-294.
6.
BrAten, S. (1973). Model monopoly and communication. Acta Sociologica, 2, 98-107.
7.
Davies, A. (1983). Participative tools and their application. In J.F. Blickfeldt & T. Qvale (Eds.), Teori i praksis-Festskrift til Einar Thorsrud. Oslo, Norway: Tanum-Norli.
8.
Dickson, J.W. (1982). Participation as a means of organizational control. Journal of Management Studies, 18(2), 159-176.
9.
Elden, M. (1979). Three generations of work democracy experiments in Norway: Beyond sociotechnical experiments. In C. Cooper & E. Mumford (Eds.), The quality of working life in Eastern and Western Europe. London: Associated Business Press.
10.
Elden, M. (1981a). Politicalefficacyat work. Americ-an Political Science Review, 75(1), 43-58.
11.
Elden, M. (1981b). Sharingthe research work. In P. Reason & J. Rowan (Eds.), Human inquiry. London: Wiley.
12.
Elden, M. (1983). Democratization and participative research in developing local theory. Journal of Occupational Behaviour, 4, 21-33.
13.
Elden, M. (1985a). Democratizing organizations: A challenge to organization development. In R. Tannenbaum, M. Margulies, & F. Massarik (Eds.), Human systems development. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
14.
Elden, M. (1985b). Varieties of participative research. In A. Cherns & M. Shelhav (Eds.). Communities in crisis. Brookfield, VT: Gower.
15.
Elden, M., & Taylor, J.C. (1983). Participatory research at work: An introduction. Journal of Occupational Behaviour, 4(1), 1-8.
16.
Emery, F. (1978). The historical significance of the democratization of work. In F. Emery, The emergence ofa newparadigm of work. Canberra: Centre for Continuing Education, Australian National University. (Reprinted from 7Tdskrift for Samfunnsforskning, (1969), 3-4, Oslo.)
17.
Emery, F., & Thorsrud, E. (1976). Democracy at work: Report of the Norwegian industrial democracy program. Leiden, The Netherlands: Nijhoff.
18.
Englestad, P.H., & Odegaard, L.A. (1979). Participative redesign projects in Norway. In Working on the quality of working life in Europe. Leiden, The Netherlands: Nijhoff.
19.
Evered, R., & Louis, M.R. (1981). Alternative perspectives in the organizational sciences: "Inquiry from the inside" and "inquiry from the outside." Academy of Management Review, 6, 385-395.
20.
Fricke, W. (1983). Participatory research and the enhancement of workers' innovative qualifications. Journal of Occupational Behaviour, 4, 73-87.
21.
Gray, B., Bougon, M., & Donellon, A. (1985). Organizations as constructions of meaning. Journal of Management, 2(2), 77-92.
22.
Greenberg, E.S. (1983). Context and cooperation: Systematic variation in the political effects of workplace democracy. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 4, 191-223.
23.
Gustavsen, B. (1983). The Norwegian work environment reform: The transition from general principles to workplace action. In C. Cronch & F. Heller (Eds.), Organizational democracy and politicalprocesses. London: Wiley.
24.
Gustavsen, B. (1985a). Technology and collective agreements: Some recent Scandinavian developments. Industrial Relations Journal, 40, 34-41.
25.
Gustavsen, B. (1985b, November). Workplace reform and democratic dialog. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 6, 461-479.
26.
G'ustavsen, B., & Engelstad, P. (1985). The design of conferences and the evolving role of democratic dialogue in changing working life. Human Relations, 39, 101-111, 16-16.
27.
Gustavsen, B., & Hunnius, G. (1981). New patterns of work reformThe case of Norway. Oslo: University Press.
28.
Hall, B. (1975). Participatory research: An approach for change. Convergence, 8(2), 24-32.
29.
Herbst, D.P. (1984). Personal communication.
30.
Herbst, D.P. (1985). Contextual design: Towards the development of socio-technical learning networks. Oslo: Work Research Institutes.
31.
Herbst, P.G. (1976). Alternatives to hierarchies. Leiden, The Netherlands: Nijhoff.
32.
Hunnius, G. (1979). On the nature of capitalistinitiated innovations in the workplace. In T. Burns, L.E. Karlsson, & V. Rus (Eds.), Work and power The liberation of work and the control of political power. London: Sage.
33.
International Labor Office. (1984). The trade union situation and industrial relations in Norway. Geneva, Switzerland: International Labor Office.
34.
Johansen, R. (1979). Democratizing work and social life on ships: A report from the experiment on board M.S. Balao. In International Council for the Quality of Working Life, Working on the quality of working life in Europe. Leiden, The Netherlands: Nijhoff.
35.
Kieffer, C. (1981). The emergence ofempowerment: The development of participatory competence among individuals in citizen organizations. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
36.
Levin, M. (In press). Participatory action research in Norway. In M.L. Swantz & T. Orum (Eds.), Trends in participatory action research-Theoretical and methodological issues.
37.
Mulder, M. (1971). Power equalization through participation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 16, 31-39.
38.
Qdegaard, L. (1983). Deltagende handlingsforskning. In J. F. Blichfeldt & T. Qvale (Eds.), Teori i praksis-Festskrift til Einar Thorsrud. Oslo: Tanum-Norli.
39.
Pateman, C. (1970). Participation and democratic theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
40.
Qvale, T.U. (1976). A Norwegian strategy for democratization of industry. Human Relations, 29(5), 453-469.
41.
Salacik, G., & Pfeffer, J. (1977, Winter). Who gets power-And how they hold on to it: A strategiccontingency model of power. Organizational Dynamics, 3-21.
42.
Sandberg, A. (1976). The limits to democratic planning. Stockholm: Liber Forlag.
43.
Sandberg, A. (In press). Socio-technical design, trade union strategies and action research. In E. Mumford (Ed.), Research methods in information systems.
44.
Sandberg, T. (1982). Work organization and autonomous groups. Lund, Sweden: Liber Forlag.
45.
Thorsrud, E. (1972). Policy making as a learning process. In A.B. Cherns (Ed.), Social science and government policies and problems. London: Tavistock.
46.
Thorsrud, E. (1977). Democracy at work: Norwegian experiences with nonbureaucratic forms of organization. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 13(3), 410-421.
47.
Thorsrud, E. (1984). The Scandinavian model: Strategies of organizational democratization in Norway. In B. Wilpert & A. Sorge (Eds.), Internationalperspectives on organizational democracY. London: Wiley.
48.
Torbert, W. (1981). Why educational research has been so uneducational: The case for a new model of social science based on collaborative inqiury. In P. Reason & J. Rowan (Eds.), Human inquirr. New York: Wiley.
49.
Whyte, W.F. (1984). Learning from the field: A guidefrom experience. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
50.
Williams, T. (1982). Learning to manage ourfutures The participative redesign of societies in turbulent transition. New York: Wiley.
