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Employee ParticipationThe Development of Management,
Governance and Ownership Models
Rory Ridley-Duff (March 2008)
[email protected]
Sheffield Hallam University
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]
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Introduction
Philosophical Perspectives
Psychological Perspectives
Case Study Findings
Business Practices
Conclusions
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Philosophical Perspectives Individualist (Smith, Taylor)
Shareholders prioritised
Self-interest = Common Good
Getting
Getting
Individualist
Admiring?
Giving
Communitarian
Admiring?
Giving Communitarian (Marx, Durkheim)
Community/Company prioritised
Common Good = Self-interest
Giving - Getting
Liberal Communitarian
Admiring?
Getting - Giving Liberal Communitarian (Tam, Etzioni)
Stakeholders as risk takers
Common Good = Equilibrio
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Psychological Perspectives Cognitive Psychology
(Individualist)
Rational choice to protect self-interest
Distortion occurs due to imperfect perception
Critical Social Psychology (Communitarian) Context specific
mediated by race, gender, status
Outcome of relationship dynamics within a culture
Social Psychology (Integrated) Context (objective) and social
meaning (subjective)
Subjects resist or distort objective world to resolve
cognitivedissonance (Festinger, 1957)
Value systems arise out of rational self-justification
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Case Study 18 Month Ethnographic Study
Worked inside the company (7 months)
Critical approach
Primary Case - Medium Size UK Firm Rapid growth
Market-leader (niche market)
Entrepreneur-led (130 staff)
Comparative Cases - Linked Start-up firm (employee-owned)
Multi-national corporation (co-operative)
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Management (Mondragon)
Departments(all members)
ExecutiveNominates
Appoints
Governing CouncilConsults
Elects
General Assembly
Social Council
Elects
Joint Body
Active
MD
Appoints
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Management (Custom Products)
Departments(all members)
General Assembly
Governing Council
Elects
Policy and Info.
Consults AppointsLegal Board
Passive
ExecutiveMD Appoints
Appoints
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Themes Management
Both economic and social objectives
Both unitarist and pluralist management philosophies
Governance Advocacy of democratic forums and rights
Control linked to labour investment / membership
Ownership Balance of collective / private ownership
Alignment of interests through employee-ownership
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Observed Constraints Management
Balancing economic efficiency / social democracy
Executive control of shared values (Griseri, 1998)
Governance Attitudes to management prerogative
Attitudes to existence of group interests
Line management v democratic accountability
Ownership Maintaining access to financial capital
Employee attitudes to ownership
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Business PracticesCommunitarian Liberal Communitarian
Individualist
Collective pursuit of shared goals
Entrepreneurial pursuit of social goals
Pursuit of privategoals
CommunityBenefit
Mutual Benefit Personal Benefit
Social gain Integrate Financialgain
Subordination of capital
Integrate Subordination of labour
Culture based onnormative values
Culture based on humanisticvalues
Culture based onmarket values
Member focus Stakeholder focus Investorfocus
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Conclusions Philosophy driven by experience
Starts with personal and inherited social learning
Modified by process of confronting and resolving
socialproblems
Rational Self-Justification (Aronson, 2003) Suggests reason for
different cognitive models
Suggests reason for divergent philosophical positions
Case Studies Progressively evolved liberal communitarian
values
(equilibrio)
Provide unitarist and pluralist democratic models
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