PUBLISHED IN DECEMBER 1999


People in Charge

Creating self managing workplaces

Robert Rehm

A step-by-step guide to designing self managing workplaces.

Powerful and practical, Participative Design enables companies to create more productive workplaces and better results. Here are the tools for creating self managing workplaces using Participative Design. The concepts, do-it-yourself guide and helpful examples show how people can re-design their work. The result is a more productive workplace full of energy, learning, quality and pride. And people in charge of their work.
Participative Design is a powerful but simple way of creating the conditions for good work. You can analyse your workplace, asking; 'Is there elbow room for decisions? Learning? Mutual support and respect? Meaningfulness? A desirable future?' Then you can take stock of the current structure and workflow, re-designing these to be self managing. Finally, each team agrees goals, resources, ground rules, training needs, co-ordination and career paths - checking if their plan improves working conditions.

 

 

288pp;

238 x 135mm;

1 869 890 87 6;

paperback;

£14.99

 

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Contents and Introduction

First Chapter

Contents

  • The self managing workplace;
  • the six criteria for productive work;
  • origins of Participative Design;
  • the workshop;
  • a start up guide for self managing teams;
  • case studies;
  • resources.

Participative Design was devised by Fred Emery in the 1970's. Here, Robert Rehm shows how managers and workers can use Participative Design to do a better job. And putting people in charge works. Examples include the US Federal Courts, a Prudential call centre, the South African Land Bank, retail stores, a wine company and the conductor-less Orpheus Orchestra of New York.

Robert Rehm consults with communities and businesses seeking renewal through participation. With a background in organisation development, socio-technical systems and fast cycle re-design, he specialises in participative planning, design and learning. He is a co-author of Futures that Work, published in the UK by Hawthorn Press.

'Frankly, I find most books on this subject useless. This one is different. It is filled with practical theories, and business related examples, that I can use on a daily basis.'

Kevin Purcell, Director of Organization Consulting,
Microsoft Corporation

'Far and away the most readable and informative book on democracy and participation in the workplace. Rehm describes how to design processes based on actionable principles that can, in fact, transform a system. People in Charge offers hope and possibility to anyone who seeks to fully utilise the creative potential of the people in an organisation. It's a gift.'

Sandra Janoff, PhD, Co-author, Future Search

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