Suchergebnisse

Comparative studies of work organization indicate that learning-oriented forms are more widely applied in the Scandinavian countries than is generally the case in Europe. This is often ascribed to the cooperation between the labour market parties and the national political authorities, and the corresponding modification of market forces through welfare and employment policies. It can be argued that this interpretation is too general. An issue like work organization is not affected by the macro-political order of society alone, but also by what more specific initiatives are taken to promote organization development at the workplace level. In this article a number of bi- and tripartite efforts to promote learning-oriented forms of work organization are presented and discussed from the perspective of the question: Is there a Scandinavian model for workplace development and what are its characteristics? It is seen that while the various efforts differ widely in terms of strategy they have some elements in common, in particular the function of building trust between management and workers on the local level.

Many efforts to use the social sciences for the purpose of change and reconstruction have their roots in the idea of the field experiment. In various forms, the field experiment played a dominant role in the period 1930-1970. In more recent years, new patterns have emerged, such as complementary research roles in network building. In this contribution, focus is on the links between the early experiments and today's approaches, to see the latter in terms of responses to the challenges posed by the processes that were triggered off by the field experiments.

Theory to guide a process of workplace democratization can be of various types. In Scandinavia, structurally oriented theory of organization dominated in the 1960s and first part of the 1970s. More recently, however, there has been a change towards generative theory theory about how to create solutions to problems of work and organization. Contrary to the micro-orientation in most ideas about organization development, the emerging generative theory is macro-oriented and applies concepts such as democratic dialogue. The article outlines the development towards generative theory and discusses some of the problems emerging when democratization of working life is defined as the introduction of a democratic dialogue where work experience is the key to participation.

The Norwegian industrial relations system is marked by close co-operation between the state, the employers and the unions and by the high degree of institutionalization of labour relations in general and conflict resolution in particulilr. This co-operation arises partly from industrialisation at a time when democratic attitudes and processes were already established and from the need for national unity in the post-war reconstruction. This co-operation and institutionalization is illustrated by the highly centralised trade union movement and in the formal aspects of the bargaining and conflict resolution system such as the Labour Court and the committees and other bodies associated with the incomes policy and tripartite bargaining system.