Industrial Democracy as a New Form of Work Organization and an Evolving Barometer of Human Resource Management Practices in Changing Organizations : A Kaleidoscopy of a Contingent and Processual Approach

Participative management, which appeared during the fifties, seems to bring a new hope and appears today not only as the energy mobilization vector of firms, but also as the key to a better social organization previously endangered by the industrial revolution. Perceived as the entity best structured to organize the work of men and women, companies seem to be increasingly experimenting with new interactions within the collective. Indeed, the image of the leader holding absolute power seems unsuited to the new realities of the work place, where organization is no longer only an economic and technical institution, but also a social arena where all actors must experience the human dimension that has been suppressed by more traditional capitalism. But caught between authoritarianism and exploitation on one hand, and servility, revolt and resignation on the other, participation seems to have become, with passing of time, the site of ambiguity, inaccuracy, distress, even of confusion. A romantic concept for some, a tool to manipulate for others, participation has entered the era of suspicion, mistrust, scepticism, even of hostility, undoubtedly because of the long history of conflicts which formerly marked the work place. This article suggests that participation as a singular experience is a treacherous path, a constantly renewable and difficult endeavour, which runs up against obstacles and should not be undertaken by those who lack courage or conviction. Indeed, the immaturity and the complexity of the organizational structures, choices and constraints faced by managers, and the cultural revolution that this form of management implies, lead us to believe that participation is a process which requires a significant temporal framework, a phenomenon which must not only take root on solid ground, but, more importantly, take into account, in whatever forms, historic, economic, cultural and sociological realities of the organization. ISBN-2-89524-197-X