Workplace democracy
What is it?
Workplace democrats are concerned with individual workers having influence over decisions within the companies where they work. Beyond that general statement, accounts of workplace democracy vary when it comes to both the scope of decisions over which workers have influence, and the mechanisms through which worker influence is realised. Workplace democracy then captures everything from a concern with giving workers input over decisions affecting their immediate work process, to a concern with having workers be in complete control over the entire direction of the company (say through direct voting). Workplace democracy is about workplace control and not necessarily ownership, however writers disagree about whether control rights and ownership rights can be meaningfully split and hence whether workplace democracy can be brought about in the absence of worker ownership.
What values are at stake?
Writers defend the normative significance of workplace democracy out if its connection to a range of values. Perhaps most fundamentally is how workplace democracy – by giving workers a say in the managerial decisions of the enterprise – makes the power exercised in the workplace more accountable to those subjected to it. This could be normatively significant because one might think it is only when power is exercised nonarbitrarily in this way that it can be legitimate, compatible with democratic values, equality of status, and/or nondomination. Yet workplace democracy can also be valued for more instrumental reasons: e.g., out of a concern with meaningful or unalienated work, with fostering democratic virtues in citizens, and even with changing the nature of the impact of firms on society (insofar as workplace democracy can change the kind of decisions firms are likely to make).
Some questions facing the workplace democrat
If the concern is with giving individuals a say in the economic circumstances in which they find themselves, will workplace democracy suffice or is involvement in the economy more widely also necessary? Does workplace democracy give workers too much power over other individuals affected by the firm? Why focus on democratic involvement in the workplace and not increasing the bargaining power of workers in the labour market? What firms ought to be democratized: All of them? Just those comprising the commanding heights of the economy? What if individuals are happy being bossed about and don’t want to work in a democratic workplace? Are there likely to be efficiency costs, and are these serious enough to negatively affect the realisation of other important values?
Below is a small sample of important academic writings about workplace democracy:
1. Roberto Frega et al., 2019. “Workplace democracy—The recent debate” Philosophy Compass
2. Samuel Bowles and Herbet Gintis, 1993. “A Political and Economic Case for the Democratic Enterprise” Economics & Philosophy
3. Iñigo González-Ricoy, 2014. “The Republican Case for Workplace Democracy” Social Theory and Practice
4. Hélène Landemore and Isabelle Ferreras, 2016. “In Defense of Workplace Democracy: Towards a Justification of the Firm–State Analogy” Political Theory
5. Daniel Jacob and Christian Neuhäuser, 2018. “Workplace Democracy, Market Competition and Republican Self-Respect” Ethical Theory and Moral Practice
Other resources: