Democratization of organizational change process through deliberation

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine deliberation in the context of organizational change and introduce an organizational jury as a change facilitator. Design/methodology/approach The research is based on an empirical study of four organizational juries that were organized by a non-profit organization in Finland. The main data of the study consist of a survey that the juries’ participants filled in. The data are triangulated with observations of jury meetings and relevant documents including pre-jury information package, jury presentations and juries’ proposals. In the analysis, the paper adopts deliberative democracy criteria to assess the inclusiveness, authenticity and consequentiality of the deliberative process. Findings The research findings suggest that the juries increased the inclusiveness of decision making and the quality of deliberation about the changes among the employees. The results indicate that juries facilitated the change process by providing a means for information sharing and building a shared understanding among the stakeholders. The main weakness of the juries was their low consequentiality. Originality/value Deliberative jury method provides a participative way to build and preserve socially shared meanings in an organizational change context. However, the studies on the use of deliberative forums in the organizational context are still scarce. Thus, the study provides an important addition to the existing research literature.

Maneuvering without offending on the road to democracy: the role of leaders' power in bringing greater freedom to all

“…Although leaders are important for strategic changes, distributing power to others so that they play a central role in the strategic change is likely to bolster overall success as teams can gather richer knowledge and react more flexibly (Landrum et al , 2000). Fostering deliberation with others that is inclusive, authentic and consequential is central to deliberative democracy theory, which posits that involving others who are affected by planned changes leads to greater satisfaction with the outcome (Värttö, 2019). The four political leaders studied here put great emphasis on involving others to foster acceptance of the democratic changes, for which referent and information power were crucial.…”

“…Research could also examine leaders' specific strategies for changing power structures. For example, empowering others to take on the role of a deliberative jury in mediating changes and involving others in ways that are inclusive, authentic and consequential have been found to have positive influences (Värttö, 2019). The importance of leaders' personalities also emerged across the data, and this merits further research.…”

“…Power is inexorably linked to freedom, but power can be helpful or harmful (Vince and Pedler, 2018). The negative impacts of freedom-constraining organizational structures and practices have led to a surge in research calling for more democratic workplaces (Landrum et al , 2000; Värttö, 2019). Understanding how institutions can transition from a paradigm of power to a paradigm of empowerment is thus important for our rapidly changing world (Helbing and Klauser, 2019).…”

“…Leaders, on the other hand, are in a unique position to potentially reshape macro-level structures to foster greater individual-level freedom. Growing awareness of the value and necessity of democratic elements in all institutions has contributed to widespread recognition of the need to consider how organizations should function and interact with stakeholders (Lloyd, 1996), and recent years have seen a surge in research calling for more democratic workplaces (Landrum et al , 2000; Värttö, 2019). Thus, a key element of effective leadership today revolves around the concept of democracy.…”

Pequeñas empresas agroindustriales en Tunja - Boyacá, Colombia. Una descripción del cambio organizacional

“…La forma en la que se ejerce el liderazgo como directivo puede influenciar la actitud de los colaboradores frente al cambio (García, Rojas y Díaz, 2011). Adicional a lo anterior, el líder es facilitador del cambio cuando incluye en la toma de decisiones al colaborador (Värttö, 2019).…”