Models of Democracy

Democracy & Dialogue Web Lecture

The web lecture lays out the different models of democracy. The procedural model consists of the basic fundamental rights necessary for any functional democracy. A competitive model has candidates vying for votes against each other to hold public office. The participatory model brings the people into it a common example being the town hall style meeting. Deliberative democracy is a model based on rational debate while the dialogic model recognizes the importance of people's emotions. Each model has their own weaknesses as on their own they can all result in serious difficulties for a functioning democracy.

Each of these models can be used in order to create a more democratic and open workplace. As in the real world these models can also lead to significant issues. Creating a participatory organization may make your employees or members feel more involved or of a greater use but it also can slow down the work process and hurt producitivity. A dialogic model may humanize and otherwise mechanical and coldly rational organization but there are serious issues with bringing to much emotion into an orgazination; this may lead to hurt feelings or a clouding of the organization's original goals. In my experience these models work much like Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. It is not necessarily and evolution of ideas but a working towards an ultimate goal of including all of the models together as seemlessly as possible. A workplace or organization that can involve small pieces of each model is more likely to have a functioning democracy of ideas and a truly open system for communication.