Participation versus Control -in Ergonomics and Quality Management

摘要

Participation has been much researched during the last century. In spite of this, there is still no general definition of the concept, and there is in particular little knowledge of how to apply participation in practice. The aim of this study was to identify views on the concept of participation and to clarify these. 40 leaders were interviewed. The results showed that leaders'view on participation varied substantially within the group. On group level, however, there were many similarities with the view of researchers. The concept of participation was found to include four dimensions, supported from both the case study and a literature overview. It is hereby proposed that participation may be regarded in the four dimensions Control, Communication, Activeness and Human consideration. Further, leader control and employee participation should not be seen as the only two alternative strategies. They may exist intermittently, and they may coexist in different domains at the same time. They may also be a mutually dependent on one another. An example of this is when leaders see that the organisation may be more effectively controlled through decentralised participation instead of personal leader control. Another example is when management introduces organisational structures in which employees participate, such as in participative problem solving.