The German humanization of work programme: Review of its first twenty publications

The German government's programme on the ‘humanization of work’ is one of the largest efforts to improve working conditions through close cooperation between employers, unions and academia. An important feature of this programme is an extensive subprogramme to facilitate transfer of research findings, development results and experiences to practitioners and wider interested publics. A government-edited publication series is integral to such transfer activities. The first 20 book publications of this series are summarized and evaluated on the basis of 12 evaluative criteria derived in part from the programme's own goals. In spite of some notable deficiencies among the first publications (e.g. lack of basic research and integrative theorizing), it is argued that they cannot be taken as evidence of a failure of the programme as a whole. This is confirmed by the support of all interested parties for its continuation.