What Do Workers Get Out of Agility? Examining Workers’ Capability for Democratic Self-Government of Work

This chapter emphasizes that agility is a doctrine of management promoting decentralized autonomous teamwork with short and iterative work sequences, involving some level of end-user feedback throughout the development process. Arguing for critical pessimism regarding the belief that agility makes an organization more democratic, the authors highlight that agility does not disrupt the institution of subordination peculiar to the employment relations and the domination it institutes. Building on Amartya Sen’s capability approach, the text shows that agility still represents some interest in the promotion of a democratic society, considering it contributes to the development of workers’ capability for democratic self-government of work. The text shows that Agility contributes to the development of professional self-awareness and to the institution of collective autonomy.