Workforce participation: developing a theoretical framework for longitudinal research

This paper describes and evaluates an action research project on workforce participation at Viewpoint Research Community Interest Company (CIC). By setting out the research protocols devised by Viewpoint to stimulate and study co-operative management, it is possible to abstract a theoretical framework that emerged from a pilot case study. The paper contributes to theory by highlighting not only the potential of action research to catalyse interest in co operative management but also how to engage theoretically with the paradox of a workforce voting to limit its own participation in ownership, governance and management. In this study, the authors interpreted that participants did not automatically equate participatory management with workplace democracy leading to a theoretical perspective that “democratic management is the propensity and capacity of management systems to respond to members’ desires regarding the scope, depth, level and quality of participation in management”. The paper concludes by evaluating the efficacy of Viewpoint’s action research methodology as a strategy for deepening knowledge on workforce participation in co-operatives and employee-owned businesses.