Participation in Management

Abstract

A new socio-economic order which has been constructed since 1989 must guarantee workers an active part in it. The employee wishes today to be not only an object of someone else's decisions, but he aspires to cooperate and take part in the decision-making process as a partner. In response to such tendencies the social doctrine of the Church already dozens of years ago formulated a postulate to allow workers to participate in profit, in property and in management of an enterprise. The present study analyzes only one aspect of participation, that is participation in management. The first part analyzes the development of the idea of workers' participation in management in the social documents of the Church. The second part discusses all the matters included in the right to participation. Here we have three basic groups: social, personal, and economic matters. The postulate to admit employees to participation in the decision-making process in strictly economic matters evokes most controversies among the exponents of the Catholic social doctrine. According to the author, it is possible to reach a compromise between requirements for integration as regards the management of a firm and aspiration of the working people. The third part discusses two spheres wherein employees' participation is being put into practice: enterprise and nonenterprise institutions. Eventually, there is an attempt at an ethical and socio-economic justification for the workers' right to participate in the management of enterprise.