Democracy & Dialogue

Democracy in organizations occurs in may different ways. The democracy models explain five different forms of democracy that can occur in government as well as in an organization. The democracy models include; Procedural, Competitive, Participatory, Deliberative, and Dialogic. Depending on what organization you are working in not all of the models of democracy will fit well with every organizations goal at the time. For example, if a private company is looking to put a new innovative product on the market to beat out their competitors, then procedural democracy may not be an effective process. The company is likely to strive for a creative brainstorming process rather than a rules based structured atmosphere. The best models in this case may then be participatory and deliberative. The participatory model allows for engaged discussions and “greater commitment to outcome” (buy-in). The deliberative model allows for a collaborative process encouraging self expression, analysis, openness, and an exchange of differing ideas.

Likewise, if you are working for a government agency on developing policy for the homeless, then perhaps a participatory approach and a procedural approach would fit better. The participatory model would allow for “engaged informed discussions about societal issues and outcome,” (2), while the procedural process would implement a democratic process and structure toward the development of the policy.

Ideally, the deliberative democracy model encourages openness and the ability of group members to share while the rest of the group listens. The flow of ideas would be encouraged equally for all members, and all information would be considered and analyzed impartially, with no one member dominating the conversation. The article uses the example of a jury utilizing this model. I have seen a few juries argue very loudly and not use this model effectively because emotions and biases have dominated the group, thus the group arrive at a “hung jury.” Overall, deliberative democracy can be quite effective if all members are willing to listen and encourage differences and openness to new ideas.