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Introduction: Workplace Democracy?
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19645 |
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Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
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Date : |
10 / 1991 |
196 Words |
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The next round of competition is going to be over ideas--ideas about how to manage the workplace. Industrial America developed largely through the assembly line model of work. At its foundation, this model rests on functional specialization--pegging workers into jobs that require arms and hands but not much brain. But there is a growing body of evidence that this model is counterproductive and that alternatives to conventional practices are needed. Workers today tend to be more educated and want more satisfying and fulfilling work. Increasingly, workplace democracy is seen as an alternative vision of industrial society, minimizing the alienation and drudgery of the previous system.
Here, Charles Heckscher and Elliot Jacques debate the pros and cons of this approach. While both agree that the old model of industrial organization is outdated, Heckscher sees the principles of participatory democracy in the workplace leading to higher organizational performance and greater employee satisfaction. Jaques, however, believes that the model of workplace democracy is a dangerous folly, one that dissolves accountability between managers and workers. In his view, the trouble with these ideas is that they are based upon unrealistic fantasies about what the managerial hierarchy should be.
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