Looking Forward. By Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel

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  2.Participatory Workplaces

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  "We say only that pain can be diminished and pleasure enhanced by overcoming unnecessarily authoritarian, alienating, unfair, and uninformed facets of work life -not that all  work can be transformed  into distilled ecstasy."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Under participatory economics, since  all do rote work, all will want to  minimize it. Since everyone does creative work, everyone will want to increase the amount to go around and  no one will lose their livelihood if  automation eliminates rote tasks workers disliked in the first place."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We refuse to buy the right not to die of hunger by running the risk of dying of boredom.

 

-Student Slogan, Paris 1968

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The only inflexible rules are those recluding methods that obstruct participation or deny equitable access of all workers to equal opportunities for fulfillment and influence. "

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He, who before was the money owner,  now strides in front as capitalist; the possessor of labor -power follows as his laborer. The one with an air of importance, smirking, intent on business; the other hesitant, like one who is bringing his own hide to market and has nothing  to expect but - a hiding. 

-Karl Marx

 Capital

 

 

 

Northstart Efficiency

 

The reader may wonder:

 

1. Won't Northstart workers be frustrated because work is too fragmented? Is this a road to enrichment or psychosis?

 

2. Won't it take endless hours to train people for so many jobs? Is this excellence or institutionalized chaos?

 

3. Won't people ignore the authority of "leaders" on team A,when these same "leaders" are subordinate on team B?

 

4. Will one's co -workers provide enough motivation and oversight to prevent shoddy, dilatory work?

 

In answer to question I -won't fragmentation frustrate North­start workers? -first, having many responsibilities makes work life richer and more diverse and is therefore positive, not negative. Of course, tasks and schedules could be fragmented to the point of distraction, but if a group decides it has "gone overboard," it has only to make the required correction.

Changing from capitalist to participatory economics would mean that instead of most people doing rote work all the time -and being bored most of the time - everyone will spend at least some of their work day doing interesting work. Moreover, because boring tasks will be distributed equitably, these too will be more bearable, though certainly not joyful. We do not claim that digging ditches, pushing buttons, or dangerous work will become joyful merely because one does it in a good society, at one's own pace, and in teams with friends, much less because one basks in the glow of some great leader or is sustained by the memory of some long­passed revolutionary upheaval. We say only that pain can be diminished and pleasure enhanced by overcoming unnecessarily authoritarian, alienating, unfair, and uninformed facets of work life -not that all work can be transformed into distilled ecstasy.

Moreover, there will be every reason to automate or eliminate rote work whenever doing so will enhance productivity or diminish the human burdens of work. Under capitalism automation is a crucial area of conflict between labor and capital - - -capitalists seek to enhance profits by automating some people's livelihood out of existence while workers try to defend their jobs to avoid becoming obsolete and unemployed. Under participatory economics, since all do rote work, all will want to minimize it. Since everyone does creative work, everyone will want to increase the amount to go around and no one will lose their livelihood if automation elim­inates rote tasks workers disliked in the first place.

Question 1 really comes down to what happens to people who under capitalism have responsibilities which are almost entirely interesting and empowering. Yes, in participatory workplaces such work complexes will disappear because everyone will share rote work. Elementary justice dictates this, just as elementary justice dictates that consumption opportunities greatly in excess of average consumption must be eliminated. Those who have benefited from coordinator monopolization of desirable work will resist job balancing just as capitalists who monopolize wealth will resist income balancing. Both capitalists and coordinators advance argu­ments tojustify their advantages but the truth is, in both cases, these arguments are fanciful, self -serving rationalizations. In fact, even those who now do no rote work need not be any more "fragmented" by having to do some cleaning, filing, and production than they are currently. For under systems in which they monopolize desirable work opportunities, these people are constantly distracted by having to always oversee others even as they regulate their own behavior in the presence of superiors. Anyway, anyone who knows anything about business in capitalism knows that upper -level workers spend much of the time they are not worrying about protocol day -dreaming, chatting on the phone, or designing and scrapping projects that will never be implemented. Beside being a waste of productive talent, this is not even a particularly enjoyable way to idle time away.

 

In answer to question 2 -won't it take endless hours to train people for balanced job complexes? -at Northstart, training everyone to do editorial, business, and production work will admittedly take more time than training people to do just one of the three types of work. Likewise, developing skill in three areas will certainly take longer then developing skill in only one. But the mutually enforcing benefits of knowing more about each type of work, the enrichment that comes from having diverse responsibilities, and the increase in morale that accompanies understanding the whole publishing process will more than offset these additional training costs.

 

Or, if workers in a particular publishing house prefer the savings from reduced training over the benefits of greater diversity, then, provided equitable job complexes can be arranged in which each worker has fewer differently skilled responsibilities, workers can choose this option.

 

In answer to question 3 -won't useful, needed lines of authority deteriorate if there are no fixed hierarchies? - respect for a team leader need not be undercut because she is in a nonleader role on other teams. At Northstart respect for leaders will depend on the logic of particular assignments and the need for tight coordination, oversight, or scheduling in those assignments. Far from diminishing the credibility of legitimate leadership, eliminating fixed hierarchies will undercut many impediments to efficient expression of leadership, for example, class hostilities.

 

In answer to question 4 -will there be sufficient motivation?the desire to do a good job worth doing, and, when necessary, peer pressure and the desire to keep one's job will more than adequately ensure that people work hard. Of course there will be disagreements and personality clashes. But surely these will be more manageable once demeaning hierarchy is eliminated. Intractable personality clashes will eventually be resolved by transfers. Arguments about who is doing how much work, how well, how hard, and with what degree of sympathy for coworkers, will be resolved by participants, or, when necessary, through council oversight. Sometimes "firing" will occur, but not at the whim of a "boss" or in such a way as to threaten one's income. In essence, the workday at Northstart is self -managed in the context of assessing the collective's well -being and its desires to publish desired books in an effective, efficient fashion. The only inflexible rules are those precluding methods that obstruct participation or deny equitable access of all workers to equal opportunities for fulfillment and influence.

 

We should note, however, that since the Northstart work complex has more creative and fewer distasteful qualities than the average workplace in the economy, Northstart workers have to put in some of their worktime elsewhere. Some Northstart employees work in community clean -up squads. Others do rote tasks at a neighboring plant that produces computer equipment. In any event, everyone does his or her share of outside work to balance the relative advantage of working at Northstart.

 

Would a sensible person rather work at a capitalist or participatory publishing house? Since we have not yet described allocation, we only partially understand how participatory economic decisions are made. But allocation -related issues aside, the quality of participatory work should be obviously superior.

 

1. The hassles of hierarchies disappear.

 

2. The pleasures of publishing for human well -being rather than capitalist profits are significant.

 

3. Opportunities for personal development and camaraderie with coworkers abound.

 

4. No one does solely debilitating, subordinate work.

 

Though work at Northstart isn't without conflict and drudgery, it is nonetheless a generally pleasurable and enriching means to personal development and integrity within a supportive community of coworkers.