Participative Design Workshop

Purpose

Participative Design, rooted in the sociotechnical systems tradition of Fred Emery, empowers the people who do the work to redesign their own work structures. Instead of experts imposing a new org chart, teams analyze their current design against six psychological criteria for productive work (variety, learning, decision-making, support, meaningfulness, and desirable future) and redesign their structure so that the first three criteria move towards the optimum and the last three rise.

At a glance

How to run

1. Briefing (10 min). Explain the six criteria for productive work and the two design principles: Design Principle 1 (redundancy of parts — specialization, supervisory control) vs. Design Principle 2 (redundancy of functions — multiskilled, self-managing teams).
2. Assess current design (20 min). Each person scores the six criteria: decision-making, learning and variety from −5 (too little) to +5 (too much), 0 being optimal; support, meaningfulness and desirable future from 0 to 10. Collect the scores in a matrix per group. Where are the pain points? Where is skill concentrated in too few people?
3. Skills matrix (15 min). Create a matrix of all tasks vs. all team members. Mark who can do what. Identify critical single points of failure and skill gaps.
4. Redesign (25 min). Groups redesign their structure to move toward Design Principle 2: How can we distribute skills, decision-making, and learning more broadly? Draw the new structure.
5. Practicality check (10 min). Test the redesign: What training is needed? What resources? What would leadership need to approve? What can we start immediately?
6. Present and negotiate (10 min). Groups share their redesigns. If interdependencies exist, groups negotiate adjustments.

Materials needed

• Six criteria poster (large, visible)
• Skills matrix template per group
• Current org chart or work flow diagram
• Flip chart paper and markers for redesign
• Scoring sheets

Pitfalls & common mistakes

• Management overriding the design. If leaders reject designs without genuine dialogue, trust collapses.
• Ignoring training needs. Multiskilling requires investment. The redesign must include a learning plan.
• Designing for individuals not teams. The unit of redesign is the team, not individual job descriptions.
• Not revisiting. Work structures should be reviewed periodically, not designed once and frozen.

Inclusion & accessibility

• Everyone who does the work participates — including part-time, contract, and night-shift workers.
• The skills matrix reveals hidden expertise and can elevate overlooked contributors.
• Provide the six criteria in plain language, not academic jargon.
• Ensure redesign conversations include all shifts and locations.

Variations

• Mini Participative Design: Focus only on one team and one work process in a 90-minute session.
• Virtual Participative Design: Use shared spreadsheets for skills matrices and digital whiteboards for redesign.
• Multi-level design: Start with frontline teams, then move to coordination between teams, then to management layers.

When NOT to use this

• When management has already decided the new structure and is looking for buy-in theater.
• When the work is so individually specialized that team-based redesign does not apply (rare).
• When labor agreements or regulations constrain job redesign (address constraints first).

Source & further reading

• Emery, F. (1993). "Participative Design for Participative Democracy." In M. Emery (Ed.), *Participative Design for Participative Democracy*. ANU Centre for Continuing Education.
• Emery, M. (1999). *Searching: The Theory and Practice of Making Cultural Change*. John Benjamins.
• de Guerre, D. W. (2002). "Doing Action Research in One's Own Organization: An Ongoing Conversation over Time." *Systemic Practice and Action Research*, 15(4).