Organizations for the 21st Century? Co-Operatives and "New" Forms of Organization

Abstract. This paper discusses calls for "new" forms of organization coming from the literature on sustainable community development and the contemporary organizational literature. There is significant overlap in the forms of organization being advocated, despite important differences in the premises and logic used in promoting particular organizational characteristics. Co-operative organizational forms are shown to provide models of the "new" forms of organization appropriate for the contemporary economy and for community economic development. Co-operatives also offer a mechanism for introducing democratic values and processes into the international economy, an alternative to globalization a la multinational corporation. Resume. Dans cette communication, nous examinerons les appels a de > systemes d'organisation dont il est question dans les publications professionnelles sur le developpement communautaire durable et dans les journaux contemporains traitant des systemes d'organisation. Les divers systemes d'organisation preconises ont beaucoup de points communs, bien qu'ils presentent toutefois de grandes differences au niveau des premisses et de la logique employees pour promouvoir des caracteristiques organisationnelles particulieres. Les cooperatives y sont presentees comme un exemple de > systeme d'organisation, a la fois parce qu'elles sont appropriees pour l'economie contemporaine et parce qu'elles favorisent le developpement economique communautaire. Les cooperatives offrent egalement la possibilite d'introduire des valeurs et des procedes democratiques dans l'economie internationale, une alternative a la globalisation partiquee par les corporations multinationales. I. Introduction There are urgent calls for "new" forms of organization coming from the literature on sustainable community development, and from the contemporary organizational literature. In this paper I review these bodies of literature to identify the characteristics deemed new, and the rationale for such characteristics. I demonstrate that there is significant overlap in the form of organization being called for, although the reasons for advocating particular organizational characteristics differ significantly. I then discuss the co-operative form of organization in light of the organizational characteristics identified above, and argue that co-operatives offer the potential to address the needs identified in the community development literature. I also suggest that they may well meet some of the needs identified by the organizational management literature as relevant to success in today's economic context. Co-ops (e.g. consumer co-ops, worker (labour) co-ops, housing co-ops, producer co-ops, marketing co-ops) are community-based businesses set up to serve the needs of their member/owners. (2) Although co-ops are not, strictly speaking, non-profits, they are part of the "social economy" (Quarter, 1992) which encompasses organizations intended to meet community needs in a democratic fashion. (3) As The Economist has noted, co-ops make possible public ownership of the means of production without state ownership, and free enterprise without capitalism (Craig, 1993: 76). Co-ops are typically incorporated under distinctive co-op legislation, recognizing co-ops as different from conventional businesses. While locally rooted, co-ops are often part of regional, national and international federations, and have the opportunity to participate in international trade and production linkages which may offer the potential for an alternative to globalism a la multinational corporation (Normark, 1995). To further this line of argument I shall consider selected examples of co-ops and co-op activists in the consumer co-op sector. Key actors in these co-ops are seeking to position their co-operatives as organizations which combine characteristics needed by successful enterprises with those required of successful democratic community-based associations. …