Workplace Democracy Past, Present and Potential Futures

Workplace democracy has a long history in scholarship and in practice, taking a wide variety of forms in different settings. It is inspired by the organisations that actually practice democratic governance, the social movements that promote it, and the models, arguments and empirical findings developed across several academic disciplines. Based on new empirical studies and theoretical analyses, this contributed volume seeks to discern the conditions under which, and mechanisms by which, workplace democracy initiatives have and can flourish as well as what has led to the limited spread and development of workplace democracy.

The various chapters, authored by an interdisciplinary and geographically diverse group of leading academics, offer a range of cases and perspectives through which to explore the factors conducive or detrimental to workplace democracy, as well as the future prospects for workplace democracy in relation to contemporary societal and technological changes. It will be of great interest to scholars and students of work and employment, strategic management, HRM, employee participation and social sustainability in the workplace and the democratic transformation of society.

Chapter 1: The Past Present and Possible Futures of Workplace Democracy central dimensions and empirical insights.- Chapter 2: A conceptual model for workplace democracy.- Chapter 3: A lifespan perspective on intrinsic motivation and workplace democracy.- Chapter 4: Workplace Democracy in Australia The Arc of History and Nordic Influence.- Chapter 5: The Economic Precondition of Voice How a Universal Basic Income UBI Can Promote Workplace Democracy.- Chapter 6: Workplace Democracy and Job Control Unionism in the United States.- Chapter 7: Hungarian Trade Unions Platform Workers and Workplace Democracy New Challenges for post socialist labour movements.- Chapter 8: Employee voice and cooperative employment relationships in Italian firms a variegated picture.- Chapter 9: Workplace democracy resilience and job quality the case of cooperatives.- Chapter 10: Worker Cooperatives and the Hiding Hand How Limited Foreknowledge Facilitates Greater Worker Cooperative Participation.

Chris Mathieu is Reader in the Sociology of Work and Organization, at the Department of Sociology, Lund University, Sweden. He is a Fellow of the Birgit Rausing Centre for Medical Humanities (Lund University), a research affiliate at CIRCLE, Lund University’s Centre for Innovation Research, and Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Warwick’s Institute for Employment Research. His primary research areas include job quality, sustainable work, Human Resource Management, innovation, film production, cultural policy, career in the arts and creative industries, and medical training and innovation. He has published widely in books and journals.