This paper (presented at ICA Research Conference, Paris, May, 2015) is based on research conducted in the 1980s. It has been updated, and addresses the timeless questions: if worker co-operatives embody the principle “Labour hires Capital”, does this mean that in co-operatives workers are able to control their own jobs? Can new work relations be constructed from grassroots in a democratic fashion? It is based on five case studies, which present possibly the most challenges to a positive response to these questions. The paper develops a theory based analytical framework embracing three different levels of control, and identifying four factors limiting worker influence: expert power, imported rationalities and expectations, external financing, market relations. Given these “worst case” scenarios, the findings demonstrate achievements regarding work organisation, different forms of supervision, and terms and conditions of employment.

While on the fringe of conventional managerial thought, worker participation and workplace democracy are at the very core of the co-operative business. Worker co- operative firm’s essential features, including common ownership and equal voting rights, place them firmly as special cases of participatory organizations, with a strong presence of values of equity, reciprocity, and liberty (Zamagni & Zamagni, 2010). Due to this uniqueness of co-operative entrepreneurship it is crucial to use an appropriate framework to evaluate co-operative performance. The literature assesses this type of organization by the same efficiency standards as the investor-owned enterprise, creating an ‘identity crisis’ for co-operatives with dual character- associational on the one hand, and a market-driven business on the other. The chapter provides both students and co-operative managers with methods and tools to initiate organizational change by first assessing performance of worker co-operatives as one of the ways to find the spots that weaken their social functions. It contributes to the discourse on the impact of employee participation in organizations by drawing on the theoretical and practical aspects of diagnosing and developing the “co-operative difference.” As the traditional approach to the theory of participation has been unable to capture the level of participation in co-operative firms, the chapter makes a case for the application of the Total participation (TP) framework (Stocki et al., 2008; Stocki, Assessing participation Page 3 2008; Prokopowicz et al., 2008) as an underlying concept in measuring co-operatives’ organizational performance. From the perspective of performance measurement, total participation framework offers elements that constitute a normative benchmark, or an “ideal” co-operative firm. The chapter describes the CoopIndex - a tool developed by the authors within the worker co-operative sector – used to diagnose key areas of co- operative performance linked to co-operative principles and values.

Abstract The article examines transformative alternatives that may offer pathways toa more participative, sustainable and equitable social order. It focuses on oneform of alternative, worker-owned co-operatives, and argues this existing form of democratic and economic relations has already proven capacity to generate more equitable socio-economic outcomes and residual social capital. The worker-owned model islocated within an ideological framework that focuses on the inherent democratising principles of their praxis that can in the right circumstances underpin firm strategic foundations for radical social change. It examines the development of worker-owned co-ops in Ireland north and south and the obstacles that need to be overcome to make these a more feasible and common form of economic ownership. Reflecting on the current debate in Ireland it argues such co-ops cannot work effectively without a secure legal framework governing their status and softer supports including entrepreneurship development, leadership training, market research, accessing loan finance and grant aid, inter-cooperative networking and federation building. The article poses workers’ co-operatives as sites of political struggle and consciousness, expressed in co-operatives’ core values including sovereignty of labour, the subordinate nature of capital, democracy, inter-cooperation and sustainability, and in tangible democratic experiences and transformative praxis. Key words: workers’ co-operatives, economic ownership, transformation, legal framework, participation

This special issue of Organization treats cooperatives as alternative forms of business and organization, focusing on worker-owned-and-governed forms. In reviewing extant research and considering the seven articles in this special issue, we treat five main challenges that workers' cooperatives face: (1) the organizational resources, structures, and dynamics allowing for social as well as economic resilience for worker cooperatives; (2) the complex types and roles of leadership in worker cooperatives and related organizational forms; (3) the capacity of and obstacles to the reinvention of democracy within cooperatives; (4) the relationships between cooperatives and organized labor, the state, the community, and the larger financial system; and (5) the pursuit of cooperative values and policies within international market and environmental contexts. The examination of these challenges in relation to the worker cooperatives specifically can inform new projects in employee ownership...

With the world of business often criticised for contributing to social and environmental damage, addressing sustainability has become necessary for virtually all business models, including co-operatives. This article investigates ways in which worker co-operatives can contribute to a more sustainable world, using the conceptual lens of Doughnut Economics (DE). It places enterprises, as a supporting pillar of our economies, at the intersection between meeting social needs and operating within planetary boundaries. A descriptive multiple case study of six worker co-operatives in the UK indicates that these enterprises contribute to sustainability primarily by embodying a mission of fulfilling the needs of workers and their communities, rather than just aiming for financial gains. Worker co-operatives are enterprises with highly generative design traits, distributive of the wealth they generate, and to some degree regenerative by design. Their strengths lie in learning capacity and dis...