6th EMES International Research Conference on social Enterprise, Louvain-La-neuve
Democratic participation - easy to like, hard to practice
Keywords
Social enterprise, democratic participation, action learning, action research project, process design, participative management, governance
Introduction
In the paper ’Participatory Governance in social enterprise’, presented at the 5 th EMES Conference, Pestoff and Hulgaard concludes, that ‘futher research is needed […] to specify the governance structures and democratic nature of social enterprises”. More knowledge about what participation looks like, what kind of influence stakeholders get in decision-making and how these processes are facilitated, is needed to complement research on the economic and social dimension, which all together forms the EMES approach to social enterprise (Pestoff & Hulgaard, 2015; Defourny & Nyssens, 2012).
In the Danish criteria for social enterprises, ‘active citizenship’ and ‘democratic participation’ are also key concepts (Udvalget for socialøkonomiske virksomheder, 2013). If social enterprises shall not only be synonymous with job integration and jobtraining, but also achieve social aims and ambitions on being sustainable and able to create social value (Agger & Tortzen 2015), more attention to the criteria of democratic participation is needed.
This present action research project addresses and contributes to the specific requirements to describe ‘the democratic nature of social enterprises’.
The project focuses on a small social enterprise Havredal garden and construction enterprise (Havredal Have & Anlæg) - employing pupil with learning disabilities. Havredal Have & Anlæg strives to balance economic requirements and the objective of creating social value and sustainability through the pupil´s opportunity to achieve democratic participation. The entire project seeks answers to the following question:
‘What does democratic participation look like, in a social enterprise, and how can actionlearning processes strive to ensure and develop it further?’
Methods and approach
The theoretical approach of the research project is based upon the discussion of governance criteria of social enterprise (Defourny & Nyssens, 2012, Hulgård & Pestoff 2016).
Our project finds its methodological frame in an action research approach in which the ambition is to allow researcher and participants in the field to take an active role in designing and conducting research is essential.
The research project identifies, in a preliminary faze, how ‘the culture of participation’ is already interpreted and negotiated in different levels of the organization.
Based on this established ‘culture of participation’, we have initiated a number of action-leaning experiments (Madsen 2013, Madsen 2010, Duus 2014). These experiments are described and designed with the aim to establish experimental rooms where the pupil´s possibility of (democratic) participation can be unfolded and the existing ‘culture of participation' developed further. The project offers, in the same time, a possibility to gather new knowledge about how to design and facilitate these experimental rooms and thus new knowledge addressing the criteria of governance (Defourny & Nyssens, 2012).
Significant findings:
The idea of democratic participation is easy to like, but the project shows us that it can be very hard to practice:
Analyzed through both a social situated learning theory and a psychological perspective both encompassing an individual and a community perspective, we identified certain patterns in the culture of participation in the social enterprise. Based on these findings, we have designed and implemented actionlearning experiments to ensure and enhance the partcipatory possibilities in the social enterprise. All of this together with the pupils and the employees.
It has becomes clear, how complex and challenging it is to establish and maintain experimental rooms, that ensures a culture of participation within the social enterprise of Havredal Have & Anlæg. It seems essential to bring the attention to
1) the motivation and ownership of the participants
2) how to establish and maintain room for reflection
3) the difference between the vision of democratic participation and how to practice it.
Perspectives
The research contributes to the understanding of democratic participation in a social enterprise. It offers a connection between an academic approach to governance as defining criteria in social enterprises, and what governance look like, when implemented in a small, local social enterprise.
3. Governance, employment and human resource management
Paper_EMES_konference_2017_Democratic_participation_easy_to_like_hard_to_practice_.pdf 