ABSTRACT
Formative principles as theoretical concept cannot offer a normative, fixed and true picture of societal developments, as this concept was developed and is strongest in industrial countries where the principles of hierarchies, objectivism, and growth are at the heart of the theoretical frameworks. The hitherto image of the specialized technician embodied the idea of securely being able to cope with possibly negative effects on the ‘circumstantial’ masters of technology. Rethinking the way organizations exist and the advent of the business re-engineering approach are creating new research areas and questioning the traditional thinking in applied social sciences. The social impact of technology has been widely studied and a lot of attention has been paid in recent years to many concepts and various ideas and notions in this field. In addition to the environmental issues, a second essential outcome concerns working organizations and one of the central overriding themes of working relations, is the issue of participation.
