Over the past two years (since fall 2022), the Görlitz Workshops —on the initiative of Jeannette Kirst and in collaboration with Prof. Maja Dshemuchadse—have promoted employee participation in shaping the future development of the workshops as part of the “Participatory Goal Setting” project. As part of this effort, two scientific-empirical Bachelor theses were completed, and valuable insights for goal development were derived from them.

Participation is a central concern for people with disabilities, who—despite the 2008 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities—are still excluded in many areas. This makes the Görlitz Workshops’ goal of involving their employees more closely in the development and direction of the workshops all the more important. To identify issues important to the employees, Carla Wagner first conducted open discussion sessions with selected groups as part of her Bachelor thesis. Based on the results of these discussions, Fanny Maxime Müller developed a questionnaire in plain language as part of her Bachelor thesis, which 225 of the 273 employees completed. Many conclusions could be drawn from the employees’ responses. For example, on average, respondents indicated that pay and recognition for their work were equally important to them. Employee participation was also important to many respondents (60%), and the opportunities for participation at the Görlitz Workshops were rated positively by a large majority (70%).

In addition to employee participation, the staff members were also involved in the development of the Görlitz Workshops during a professional development day. Fanny Maxime Müller and Carla Wagner facilitated this using the Open Space method. During this process, the staff members reflected on the employees’ concerns and contributed their own perspectives.

Overall, the collaboration between Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences and the Görlitz Workshops not only generated many ideas for employee participation and the further development of the Görlitz Workshops, but also resulted in two Bachelor theses in the field of communication psychology. Carla Wagner’s final dissertation was also awarded the prize from the Friends of the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences. This fruitful collaboration is set to be extended to other workshops for people with disabilities in the region in the future.

Author: Prof. Maja Dshemuchadse
Communication psychology degree programme, Faculty of Social Sciences