Industry 4.0 and Proactive Works Council Members

Background: Integrating Industry 4.0 technologies in organizations affects employees’ workplaces and working conditions. Works Council members play an essential role in this because as intermediaries of information between employees and management, they increase mutual trust and help introduce changes in the work environment. This article discusses the Works Council members’ autopoietic endowments that are necessary for their proactive activity, which we discuss as building blocks for creating constructive relationships with management and quality energy in an organization. As such, we were interested in examining whether the autopoietic endowments of Works Council members influenced the type of relationship with the Works Council and management, and whether this relationship affected Works Council members’ organizational energy. Methods: A questionnaire was developed, piloted and distributed to Works Council Members, and 220 completed questionnaires were returned. Results: We found that the higher the level of self-awareness, the better the relationship between Works Council members and management. Moreover, poor energy represented poor relationships, and poor relationships signified a higher degree of resigned inertia and corrosive energy. Conclusions: Our research provides managements with insights into the relationship between employees and management, and the quality of their organizational energy.