Institutionalization of Employee Representatives on Boards of Directors and the Social Construction of the Board as a Practical Strategic Actor

This study analyzes how the implementation of employee representatives on Danish boards of directors transformed labor market relations, & how boards of directors developed integrative rather than aggregative decision-making processes. The 1973 legislation granting employees of private Danish companies the right to elect members to boards of directors broke with a 75-year-old tradition of labor-management relations. The article analyzes the role of political parties (from a wide political spectrum) in the development of the law. This development is seen as one of a struggle between two kinds of logic: aggregative as opposed to integrative logic, or consistency vs practicality. The credibility of these boards depends on the fact that they make decisions from the perspective of practical logic, but employ consistency logic when they explain their decisions to the voters. 1 Table, 1 Figure, 27 References. Adapted from the source document.