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Workplace Democracy Democratized: The Case for Participative and Elected Management

  • Camille Ternier EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: May 29, 2025
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Abstract

Traditional versions of workplace democracy imply that the decisions in which workers should have a say primarily concern governance issues. Worker cooperatives are, therefore, often cited as some of the most promising examples of workplace democracy. In this paper, I argue that a comprehensive and fully developed theory of workplace democracy should aim to democratize both spheres of power: governance and management. Indeed, there exists a broad spectrum of intermediate decision-making – carried out by middle and line management, such as team leaders, supervisors, superintendents, and foremen – that constitutes an often-overlooked site of power in worker cooperatives. The primary responsibilities of managers – which should remain subject to oversight by the workers – should therefore include facilitating and fostering democratic deliberation on work-related issues, supporting coordination efforts, and providing assistance to workers. This perspective also supports the view that managers themselves should be elected rather than appointed by the cooperative’s general manager or board of directors, as is usually the case.


Corresponding author: Camille Ternier, Post-Doctoral Researcher, CEVIPOF, SciencesPo, Paris, France, E-mail:

Acknowledgements

I would first like to thank the members of the cooperative where I conducted my research. A previous version of this paper was presented at the MANCEPT Workshops 2024, in the “Workplace Democracy and Meaningful Work” panel organized by Matías Petersen and Joaquín Reyes, to whom I am grateful. I also thank the participants for their insightful questions. Special thanks go to Ada Reichhart, José Pereira, James Carey, and Marcus Carlsen Häggrot. I would also like to express my gratitude to Emmanuel Renault, Pierre-Yves Néron, and to the Centre de Recherche en Éthique at the Université de Montréal, as my post-doctoral stay there allowed me to refine the initial ideas developed in this article. Many thanks to Samuel Hayat and the Cevipof (Sciences Po Paris) for providing ideal conditions for my research. Finally, I thank the two reviewers of this article for their insightful revisions and comments.

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Published Online: 2025-05-29
Published in Print: 2025-05-26

© 2025 the author(s), published by De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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