Summary
This paper is a brief discussion of the early history of industrial democracy in two Scandinavian countries: Denmark and Norway. Specific attention is paid to the evolving labor laws and the impact they had in creating these truly unique nation-wide approaches to cooperative management-labor relations. It is interesting to note that these two nations and their neighbor, Sweden, developed along such similar lines, but still maintained their individual characteristics and philosophies towards the democratization of the work-place. It is also clear that industrial democracy in Scandinavia meant much more than employee representation on the board of directors. It encompassed all employees participating in the decision making process from the individual worker on the shop floor, through various cooperation committees or works councils, to the board of directors, and even outside of the organization.
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Extract
Industrial Revolution to 1980: The History of Industrial Democracy in Denmark and Norway
In the first paper in this series, the author argued that the early Swedish experimentation with employee participation and workplace democracy provided significant lessons for the rest of the world (Haug, 2003). This paper attempts to provide an understanding of how the two other Scandinavian countries, Denmark and Norway, faced with the same pressures and issues as everyone else coming out of the industrial revolution, also evolved unique approaches to labor relations. On purpose this history lesson is incomplete. The reader is taken from the Industrial Revolution to 1980. Since, it was in the economic downswing of the late 1970's and early 1980's that some of the Scandinavian practices were found to be unrealistically excessive, this is a reasonable place to stop. The reader is encouraged to make comparisons between the Scandinavian experiences and other nations' of which he/she is familiar with in order to develop a true appreciation for how these two nations evolved such unique approaches to management.
DenmarkHistory of Danish Industrial RelationsIn 1857 the Danish government abolished the guild system via the Free Trade Act. The initial re...See the full content of this document
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