ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights participation from three different positions. It discusses how experiences of 'resistance to change' can be understood through looking at them through the same perspectives. An important factor that emerges from formal democratic traditions of participation is that it also develops a collective competence in local problem-solving. An equally important and obvious point is the link between participation in the change process and the subsequent implementation process. An obvious challenge in traditional top-down change is the implementation of decisions and plans. The argument for participation as a democratic right assumed that there would be conflicts of interest in any organization. Resistance to some planned change from parts of the organization should then not be surprising, and participation may simply become the practical approach to bridging the organizational gap. Participation modifies the fundamental distinction between leaders and the ordinary employees.
