Empowerment and Democracy in the Workplace: Applying Adult Education Theory and Practice for Cultivating Empowerment

206 Pages·1997·9.28 MB·English

by  John R. Dew

EMPOWERMENT
AND DEMOCRACY
IN THE
WORKPLACE
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EMPOWERMENT
AND DEMOCRACY
IN THE
WORKPLACE
Applying Adult Education
Theory and Practice for
Cultivating Empowerment
JOHN R. DEW
QUORUM BOOKS
Westport, Connecticut • London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dew, John R.
Empowerment and democracy in the workplace : applying adult
education theory and practice for cultivating empowerment / by John
R. Dew.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-5672O-094-X (alk. paper)
1. Employee empowerment. 2. Democracy. I. Title.
HD50.5.D49 1997
658.3,14—dc20 96-17926
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 1997 by John R. Dew
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 96-17926
ISBN: 1-56720-094-X
First published in 1997
Quorum Books, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48-1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 32
In order to keep this title in print and available to the academic community, this edition
was produced using digital reprint technology in a relatively short print run. This would
not have been attainable using traditional methods. Although the cover has been changed
from its original appearance, the text remains the same and all materials and methods
used still conform to the highest book-making standards.
Contents
Introduction vii
1. Some Practical Advice About Empowerment and Democracy 1
2. Changing the System 11
3. Creating an Empowerment Planning Team 29
and Creating Team Leaders
4. Education for an Empowered Workforce 55
5. Changing the Support Systems 81
6. Consensus Decision Making 109
7. Empowerment and Planning 123
8. Perspectives on Democracy in the Workplace 131
9. Adult Education and Workplace Democracy 143
10. Unions, Adult Education, and Industrial Democracy 161
11. The Organizational Gardener 173
Bibliography 183
Index 193
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Introduction
This book is written from the perspective of the experiences of an adult
education practitioner engaged in helping create empowering work sys
tems in manufacturing, service organizations, city governments, and with
in educational systems.
There are many principles and practices from the adult education field
that will help organizations effectively achieve an empowering and demo
cratic condition in the workplace. The field of emancipatory education with
its emphasis on praxis, reflective thinking, conscientization, and partici
patory research provides the key ingredient to generating change that will
create an empowering workplace.
One of the guiding principles of this book is the concept of praxis. Praxis
is a term that describes the process in which we consider our actions and
refine those actions based on our understanding of what we are doing. At
the same time, we think about our theory and understanding and refine
it based on what we have learned from our actions. Through praxis, lead
ers in organizations can apply their knowledge to create change and uti
lize their experiences to expand their knowledge.
A major component in democratizing workplace centers around the
education of managers and everyone in the workforce. The focus on "reflec
tive thinking" in the adult education field offers a vital tool for the prop
er design for educating managers to become empowering leaders. The con
cept of "endullment" and the action research cycle that are both compo
nents of the emancipatory branch of adult education are likewise neces
sary for creating change in the workplace.
This book is for people who work in organizations and who are seek
ing to enhance their understanding of how to reshape their organization
into a more consentaneous setting for productive work.
The adult education tradition contradicts the theorists and practition-
viii Empowerment and Democracy in the Workplace
ers who claim that empowering organizations can only be created when
those at the top of the hierarchy decide to share power. The emancipato
ry education process is the tool of those who work from within systems
whether the issue is literacy in a society that controls who can read, civil
rights in a society that discriminates, or democracy within an autocratic
work system.
From its inception, the adult education movement has linked its pur
pose with the planting, cultivation, and growth of democratic processes.
Early adult education practitioners were closely attuned to the creation of
democracy in the workplace. Today, the lessons that have been learned from
almost a century of theory and practice are being applied anew to the trans
formation of the workplace.
1
Some Practical Advice About
Empowerment and Democracy
A democracy is more than a form of government; it is pri
marily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated
experience.
—John Dewey; Democracy and Education
There are two issues that need to be addressed up front in this book for it
to serve you as a practical guide to creating an empowering workplace. First,
what is meant by the concept of empowerment and workplace democra
cy? Second, why has the issue of empowerment become important in the
contemporary workplace and what does this mean for greater democracy
in the workplace?
ON EMPOWERMENT AND DEMOCRACY
There is a reason why many organizational change efforts appear to be
short-lived and faddish in their nature. The reason lies in the mental per
ceptions of the people who attempt to lead or serve as change agents in
organizations. The roots of this problem grow from the manner in which
people perceive organizations, and themselves as leaders or change agents.
It can be argued that there are two types of mental reference points
among those who serve as leaders in organizations. There are those who
think from an organic, evolutionary perspective, and who will view even
the most radical change as part of the evolutionary process, and there are
those who think from a mechanistic point of view, imagining organiza
tions as machines that are built and reassembled, and who search for the
right mechanical factors and conditions to achieve success. Put another
way, there are those who see their organizations as gardens, and those who