The conference’s thematic line addressed
Our proposal addresses the third thematic line: “Governance, employment and human resource management”
A statement of the empirical or theoretical question locating it within the scientific literature
We want to analyse the pattern of the organisational change when a conventional firm is transformed into a worker cooperative. More precisely, we are interested in the reconfiguration of relationships between the members of the organisation and we try to identify factors that facilitate or hinder the transformation. We will refer to the neo-intuitionalist theory (Di Maggio & Powell 1997) and to the economics of conventions (Boltanski & Thévenot 1991) in order to focus on legitimacy tests and debates about the justice of the transformation process. Desroches’s analysis (1976) of cooperatives’ governance structure will help us develop the analysis at different levels within the firm.
A Concise account of the empirical or theoretical methodological approach
We carried out in-depth studies of six firms that have switched from a conventional to a cooperative status in the last 10 years in the Rhône-Alpes region (France). The empirical protocol involved studying their legal status and financial accounts but mainly undertaking semi-structured interviews with managers and employees about the transformation process and the changes in the organisation.
The main argument of the paper
In order to analyse the transformation process, we consider three phases (gestation, realisation and stabilisation) during which relationships within the firms are reconfigured at three levels: the governance level, the management level and the collective regulation level. This framework allows us to identify different tests that the organisation must complete in order to achieve its transformation.
The “gestation phase” starts with an original destabilisation of the organisation which the cooperative transformation seeks to resolve. The destabilisation can occur when the manager retires or decides to change their relationship with the workers (transmission) or as a result of a crisis in the economic model or a change in the managerial model (take-over). The worker cooperative project then emerges as a possible answer. The next phase starts with the communication of this project to all potential participants. The “realisation phase” includes information and engagement of employees, business plan, financing and in most cases designation of a new manager. It is completed with the creation of the new juridical entity. It can fail if employees refuse to participate, for financial reasons or as a result of internal conflict. The “stabilisation phase” starts at the creation of the entity and ends when the original crisis is over, which is to say that the new configuration of relationships can be regarded as stabilised.
Throughout these three chronological phases, we analyse the reconfiguration of relationships at the governance, management and collective regulation levels. Each of these levels of the organisation has to go through legitimacy tests to fit the new requirements of the cooperative organisation. For example, at the governance level, the new managers but also the new employee-share-holders must be regarded as both competent and likely to make fair decisions for all. We also take into account contingency variables that can have an impact on the process (characteristics of the workforce, intervention of a potential buyer of the business, etc.)
A Statement of the main conclusions and their relevance to an international audience
The in-depth analysis of six cases of cooperative transformations gives us more information about the details of the process and allows us to identify factors that facilitate or hinder the creation and stabilisation of newly transformed cooperatives in France as well as in other countries.
The 2013 CECOP report estimates that 150,000 jobs may be lost every year in Europe because the owner of a firm cannot find anybody to take over. Better knowledge about the cooperative transformation process can have broad international applications.
Main references
Boltanski, L., Thévenot, L., 1991. De la justification : les économies de la grandeur. Gallimard.
CECOP, 2013. “Business Transfers to Employees under the Form of a Cooperative in Europe” - CECOP | CICOPA Europe
Desroche, H., 1976. Le Projet coopératif : Son utopie et sa pratique, ses appareils et ses réseaux, ses espérances et ses déconvenues. Editions Economie et Humanisme.
Dimaggio, P., Powell, W., The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis. University of Chicago Press
3. Governance, employment and human resource management
