Organizational Participation: Myth and Reality. . - Other Reviews - book review

Administrative Science Quarterly, March, 2002 by Raymond Russell

Frank Heller, Eugen Pusic, George Strauss, and Bernhard Wilpert. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. 294 pp. $24.95, paper.

Organizational Participation: Myth and Reality is a self-described "valedictory" by four of the Western Hemisphere's leading experts on power sharing between workers and managers: Frank Heller from London's Tavistock Institute; Eugen Pusic from Zagreb University; George Strauss from the Institute of Industrial Relations at the University of California, Berkeley; and Bernhard Wilpert from Berlin's University of Technology. For the past several decades, a high fraction of the best literature on this topic has consisted of works in which one or more of these four men figured prominently as authors, as members of international research teams, or as editors. The four served together as senior editors of two three-volume series: The International Yearbooks of Organizational Democracy (Wiley, 1983, 1984, 1986); and the International Handbooks of Participation in Organizations (Oxford University Press, 1989, 1991, 1993). In Organizational Participation: Myth and Reality, they attempt to summarize what they have learn ed from all this research.

The first chapter, by Strauss, provides a review of the many varieties of organizational participation, along with succinct discussions of their causes and impact. The coverage is comprehensive, ranging from quality circles and other problem-solving groups through teams, representation on boards of directors, works councils, and producers' cooperatives. The language is sufficiently accessible to make the chapter a useful introduction for general audiences, while the many references to recent literature make the chapter equally valuable to specialists.

My only quibble with the first chapter is with the page (p. 13) on which Strauss belittles certain forms of participation by labeling them as "fads." He dismisses as fads all programs that "were popular for a while and were then abandoned for new concepts which differed little from their predecessors except in name and buzz words used." Offered as a case in point are quality circles (QCs), which "in their classic form may now be on their way out." As evidence for this, Strauss cites a 1994 study, which reports that "the term 'team' is often used for activities which ten years previously were called QCs." If the labels change but the behavior endures, is it accurate to write off a social movement of the past as a fad? In the case of QCs, if one takes Osterman's (2000) view that an "off-line problem-solving group" is still a QC, whatever it may currently call itself, then QCs were still rising in frequency among U.S. establishments in the 1990s.

The issue of what is a fad and what is not was also the only problem I found in the otherwise engaging Introduction by Heller. Heller begins by taking a liberal and permissive approach to the use of terminology. This book is about "'participation,' the oldest and still most likely used term, although from time to time we will use other words, such as 'influence-sharing,' to avoid repetition and boredom, or 'organizational democracy,' to capture the flavour of certain European schemes" (p. 2). A few pages later, however, Heller labels as "fads" a long list of "new terms... which describe procedures that are similar or identical to one of those we have already mentioned" (p. 5). Again, the impression given is that behavior that is described in approved terminology will be taken seriously, but the same behavior using alternate labels will be dismissed as a fad.

In the second chapter, "A View from Psychology," Wilpert considers many of the same forms of participation that Strauss discussed, but his treatment asks more pointed questions about how each form of participation engages the motivation and capabilities of the individual. On each topic, Wilpert reviews both theoretical and empirical literatures. The discussions of applicable theories are creative, and the command of literature is impressively broad. Wilpert argues that employees respond favorably to opportunities for participation because participation can help them actualize themselves as individuals, develop their job skills, and achieve control over their environments.

The third chapter is an essay by Pusic, "Organizational Theory and Participation." Whereas Wilpert focused on psychological factors that promote the spread of participation, Pusic concentrates on the implications of such organizational factors as size, technology, and environments for the distribution of power in organizations. Pusic argues that increasing differentiation and professionalization in organizations promote the dispersion of power and legitimate the incorporation of diverse interests in decisions.

In the fourth chapter, Strauss considers the implications of organizational participation for labor unions, and vice versa. Once again, Strauss's treatment is comprehensive. Succinct and sensible reviews of the literature are provided on such topics as democracy within unions, union involvement in management-sponsored participation programs, and union representation on boards of directors.