Employee Participation at the Workplace: Capitalist Control or Worker Freedom?

Abstract

Participatory work strategies are praised by some labor advocates while condemned by others. Proponents claim that employee involvement strategies create cooperation between workers and management and that this cooperation benefits both groups. Critics argue that capitalist's goal of profit makes cooperation between managers and workers impossible. Is worker participation, then, a goal for labor advocates to strive towards or an end to avoid? I agree that the nature of capitalism prohibits long-term cooperation between management and labor. However, I argue that both the tools and discourse of participation give workers more legitimacy to question managerial control than traditional Taylorist strategies.

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