Paper 1 – Chapter 6 – Works and Economic Life:
a) Social organization of work in different types of society- slave society, feudal society, industrial /capitalist society.
b) Formal and informal organization of work.
c) Labour and society.
INTRODUCTION
Industrial democracy means that the management in industrial units is by the people, of the people and for the people. Industrial democracy connotes an equilibrium between the rights of the dominant industrial hierarchy and the rights of employees with a broad social objective. The concept of industrial democracy is a complete departure from the traditional concept of autocratic management or one man rule. Industrial democracy means the application of democratic principles in managing industrial units.
OBJECTIVES OF INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY
(i) The create a sense of belongingness of workers to the organisation.
(ii) To improve a sense of commitment to the organisational objectives, plans and activities among employers.
(iii) To satisfy the psychological needs of the employees.
(iv) To respect the human dignity of the employees.
SIGNIFICANCE OF INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY
The current interest in industrial democracy is part of the historical movement in which workers everywhere hâve struggled for an équitable share in production and for improved working conditions. Everyone – workers, management and the public — it is argued, will benefit by the extension of democracy to the workplace. Participation will improve worker morale, develop human potential, increase production, create industrial peace.
WAYS TO ACHIEVE INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY
- Workers and management work together in one or another form of partnership. Workers may, by law or by voluntary arrangement, elect représentatives to the board of directors of their employer, share in the profits according to a prearranged formula, or acquire stock of the company under favourable conditions.
- The ownership and control of the means of production are democratized. Workers take control of factories, shops and offices and run them by worker-elected committees on behalf of the total public.
- Management is democratized. Décisions in such an enterprise may be made following consultation with a works council representing ail catégories of workers and supervisory personnel.
- Decision-making is democratized through collective bargaining. Décisions affecting wages and conditions of work are reached by a process of negotiations between management and représentatives of workers. The results of bargaining are codified in a collective agreement.
INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY AS AN ALTERNATE MODEL
Industrial democracy challenges not only the characteristically authoritarian and bureaucratic structures of the capitalist enterprise but also centralizing tendencies in the planned economies of socialist regimes. Without participation, it is argued, worker alienation will persist. Profit-sharing and share-ownership schemes may be regarded as examples of management-initiated systems of participation, which also include self-managed work-groups and teams, participatory leadership styles reflecting the ideas of the Human Relations Movement, and the quality circles based on Japanese practice.
SUMMARY
Democracy is ‘Government of the people, by the people and for the people’. Industrial democracy should likewise, mean management of a unit by the people, and for the people. The purpose of industrial democracy is to give the workers a sense of belongingness to the organisation and a sense of commitment to various decisions taken. It is believed that workers’ participation in management enhances productive efficiency, fosters, industrial harmony, enriches human personal- ity and renders workers’ participation a vehicle of industrial democracy.
