State, Trade Unions, and Self-Management: Issues of Competence and Control

373 Pages·1989·25.44 MB·English

by  Gyorgy Szell (editor), Paul Blyton (editor), Chris Cornforth (editor)

de Gruyter Studies in Organization 16
The State, Trade Unions and Self-Management
de Gruyter Studies in Organization
An international series by internationally known authors
presenting current fields of research in organization.
Organizing and organizations are substantial prerequisites for the viability and future develop-
ments of society. Their study and comprehension are indispensable to the quality of human life.
Therefore, the series aims to:
- offer to the specialist work material in form of the most important and current problems,
methods and results;
- give interested readers access to different subject areas;
- provide aids for decisions on contemporary problems and stimulate ideas.
The series will include monographs, collections of contributed papers, and handbooks.
Editorial Board: Michael Aiken, USA (Univ. of Wisconsin) - Franco Ferraresi, Italy (Univ.
Torino) - David J. Hickson, GB (Univ. Bradford) - Alfred Kieser, FRG (Univ. Mannheim) -
Cornelis J. Lammers, Netherlands (Univ. Leiden) - Johan Olsen, Norway (Univ. Bergen) -
Jean-Claude Thoenig, France (INSEAD, Fontainebleau)
The State, Trade Unions
and Self-Management
Issues of Competence and Control
Editors
Gyorgy Szell • Paul Blyton • Chris Cornforth
w
DE
G
Walter de Gruyter • Berlin • New York 1989
Editors
Dr. György Széll
Professor, Dept. of Social Sciences, Universität Osnabrück, FRG
Dr. Paul Blyton
Senior Lecturer, Cardiff Business School, The University of Wales, Cardiff, Wales
Chris Cornforth
Lecturer, School of Management, Open University, Milton Keynes, England
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The State, trade unions, and self-management : issues of competence
and control / editors Gyorgy Szell ... [et al.].
p. cm. - (De Gruyter studies in organization : 16)
ISBN 0-89925-475-6 (U.S.)
1. Management-Employee participation. 2. Trade-unions. 3. Works
councils. I. Szell Gyorgy. II. Series.
HD 5650.S 665 1988
338.6-dcl9 89-1094
CIP
Deutsche Bibliothek Cataloging in Publication Data
The state, trade unions, and self-management issues of
competence and control / ed. György Széll .. - Berlin ; New
York : de Gruyter, 1989
(De Gruyter studies in organization ; 16)
ISBN 3-11-011667-7
NE: Széll, György [Hrsg.]; GT
Copyright © 1989 by Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin 30. - All rights reserved, including
those of translation into foreign languages. No part of this book may be reproduced in any
form - by photoprint, microfilm or any other means - nor transmitted nor translated into a
machine language without written permission from the publisher. - Typesetting and
Printing: Tutte Druckerei GmbH, Salzweg-Passau. - Binding: Dieter Mikolai, Berlin. -
Cover Design: K. Lothar Hildebrand, Berlin. - Printed in Germany.
Preface
This volume is one of the outputs of Research Committee 10 of the
International Sociological Association, which draws together researchers
from various parts of the world with an interest in participation, workers'
control, cooperatives, and self-management. Many of the ideas and
arguments contained in the following chapters were first raised at a
workshop held in Osnabrück, Federal Republic of Germany in 1985,
which focused on the role of competence as a precondition for increased
démocratisation of political and work life. This main theme gave rise to a
number of sub-themes: how is competence created? What role does
education play? What is the significance of technological and industrial
change for the development of participatory competence? Do workers'
councils, cooperatives, etc. need internal or external experts or advisers if
they are to develop successfully? What is the role of trade unions in the
democratic workplace? Can external bodies such as trade unions or the
state assist in the development of competence?
In the following chapters we address these and related issues, by
focusing on such arenas as workers' co-operatives and community
organisations, and against such backgrounds as market and non-market
economies, and the changing nature of industrial society. Separate
sections attempt to shed additional light on the various roles of
institutions such as the state, trade unions, and education in the advance
of more democratic forms of organisation.
Many of the issues under scrutiny are not new but a re-examination
seems timely. The world recession of the early 1980s severely reduced the
power of labour and restricted or curtailed many of the initiatives under
way in developing more democratic forms of work organisation.
However, the current period of economic growth is one in which moves to
greater power-sharing could again begin to flourish, bringing forth a new
requirement to tackle issues such as creating or maintaining sufficient
competence to make the democratic organisation viable in the long term.
Various people helped to make the Osnabrück workshop and this
collection possible. In particular thanks to Ute Széll, Susanne Raker, and
Wiking Ehlert and our typists Kath Hollister, Wendy Morgan and Penny
VI Preface
Malthouse in Cardiff, and Bernie Lake and Jennie Moffatt at the Open
University. Financial help for running the Osnabrück workshop was
gratefully received from the University of Osnabrück, the Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the Deutsche Stiftung für internationa-
le Entwicklung (DSE), and the State of Niedersachsen.
György Szell
Paul Blyton
Chris Cornforth
Contents
Preface V
Introduction
Chapter 1 - The Role of Competence in Participation, Workers'
Control, and Self-Management
Gydrgy Szell 1
Part I: Participation and Co-Determination 15
Introduction
Chris Cornforth 17
Chapter 2 - "Worker Participation" in the United States:
A Preliminary Analysis of Quality of Work Life Programs
Bob Barber and Rochelle Towers 19
Chapter 3 - The Law as a Force for Change
Philippe Bernoux 39
Chapter 4 - Co-Determination in the Federal Republic of Germany:
An Appraisal of a Secular Experience
Ulrich Briefs 63
Chapter 5 - A Political Bargaining Theory of Co-Determination
Ad W.M. Teulings 75
Part II: Worker Co-operatives and Labour-Owned Firms 103
Introduction
Chris Cornforth 105
VIII Contents
Chapter 6 - The Role of Support Organisations in Developing
Worker Co-operatives: A Model for Promoting Economic and
Industrial Democracy?
Chris Cornforth 107
Chapter 7 - Consulting for Second Order Change
Warner Woodworth 125
Chapter 8 - Self-Management in Wales: Trade Union Encourage-
ment of Worker Co-operatives
Paul Blyton 137
Chapter 9 - The Possibilities and Limits of Self-Management in
Cameroonian Enterprises: The Case of an Artisanal Co-operative in
the Building Trade
Emmanuel Kamdem 149
Part III: Economic Change, Labour, and the Unions 157
Introduction
Paul Blyton 159
Chapter 10 - New Work Processes, Unregulated Capitalism and the
Future of Labour
Daniel Drache 163
Chapter 11 - Belgian Unionism and Self-Management
Bob Hancke and Dany Wijgaerts 187
Chapter 12 - Trade Unions and the Challenge of Modernisation and
Computerisation in France
Peter Jansen and Leo Kissler 211
Chapter 13 - Technical Change and Informal Participation:
The Role of Competence and Control in Administrative Work
Ulrich Heisig and Wolfgang Littek 235
Part IV: The State and Self-Management 253
Introduction
Paul Blyton 255
Contents IX
Chapter 14 - Limited Expertise and Local Autonomy
Andras Sajd 257
Chapter 15 - Organizations and Society: On Power Relationships
Dusko Sekulic 273
Chapter 16 - The Impact of State Intervention on Workers' Control:
A Case Study of Autogestion in Algeria
Lena Dominelli 289
Part V: Education and Competence 299
Introduction
Paul Blyton 301
Chapter 17 - An Inter-Organizational Analysis of Competence
Veljko Rus 303
Chapter 18 - The Prospects of Industrial Democracy in the Context
of the Proposed New Educational Policy in India
Abha Avasthi 315
Chapter 19 - Cooperation Between Universities and Unions
Edgar Einemann 327
Conclusion 337
Chapter 20 - Competence and Organizational Democracy:
Concluding Reflections
Cornelius Lammers 339
List of Contributors 359