ABSTRACT
A great deal has been written on the subject of democracy and participation at work. The discussion of forms, purposes, and potential outcomes and problems of workplace democracy has been so widespread in some corners of academia that it is regarded as an idea whose time has already come. A number of different, although perhaps not competing, claims are made in discussing the exclusion of workers from decision-making authority. More precisely, different virtues are claimed for increased participation by employees in “control” issues that are now usually the prerogative of management. The principal division is that there are those to whom nonparticipation is a fact only, and those to whom it is not only a fact, but also a problem. These categories, while mutually exclusive, are not theoretically exhaustive. The very fact that employees deliver speeches on the subject indicates its importance to them.
