Re: Mondragon: Re: Mondragon

[Shann Turnbull <sturnbull@mba1963.hbs.edu>]

Race

It is my view that shop floor democratisation cannot be given creditability 
or sustained or be without democratising control of the firm.  This view is 
based on the truism that power corrupts and absolute power in firms 
controlled centrally by a single board of directors, corrupts 
absolutely.  This truism has been repeatedly demonstrated recently with 
high profile business collapses in the US, UK and Australia that has 
unitary boards unlike in Europe.

To sustain shop floor democratisation one has to break down the command and 
control hierarchies in firms and adopt A NEW WAY TO GOVERN.  This is the 
title of my public policy pocket book being published in London this 
Wednesday with the sub-title "Organisations and society after Enron".    An 
academic version of the pocket book with references, tables, and diagrams 
can be downloaded from the Social Science Research Network at 
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=310263>.

Business has become too complex to be managed centrally.  Distributed 
intelligence is required based on NETWORK governance that Mondragon so 
outstandingly demonstrates and is currently only found in the more dynamic 
and/or high tech industries like fashion textiles, movie production, 
electronics and bio science.  I use Mondragon as the leading exemplar for 
NETWORK governance in A NEW WAY TO GOVERN.

Mondragon has a lot more to offer than just shop floor democracy.  It would 
not do them justice to just focus on this issue in any IMSA.

Cheers

Shann


At 08:35 AM 1/7/2002, you wrote:
>I am concerned that COG's Mondragon page seems to be in danger of being 
>still-born.It was my hope in accepting COG's invitation to moderate the 
>page (at least in an interim capacity) that human resource 
>management,industrial relations and industrial democracy specialists could 
>be encouraged to address themselves in specific and practical terms to 
>what I see as the most important challenge currently confronting 
>Mondragon: namely, how to replicate at the shopfloor level the degree of 
>democratisation that has been achieved in the sphere of governance, and 
>thereby alleviate and perhaps ultimately eliminate the disturbing degree 
>of disaffection among some members of the co-operatives that the Greenwood 
>and Gonzalez research identified in the late 1980s and that has also 
>surfaced in subsequent studies by Mikel Lezamiz and his Office of 
>Sociological Research at Otalora. However, it was never my intention that 
>the theme of shopfloor democratisation should be pre-emptive, and I hope 
>that,if other issues are seen as being more important or likely to have 
>more widespread application, they can now be brought forward.
>
>Meanwhile, be other suggestions as they may, am I right is identifying 
>shopfloor democratisation as a priority issue? If so, what are people's 
>views as to whether and if so from whom relevant experience and insights 
>are available? How can these prospective sources of inspiration and advice 
>be brought into a productive dialogue with elements within the 
>co-operatives who are thinking along similar lines? Is it desirable for 
>there to be an International Mondragon Studies Association, and, if so, 
>how can it be brought about? If an IMSA is to be established, would the 
>COG conference in Washington in October be the time and place for it to 
>happen? Best wishes, Race Mathews
>
>--
>
>
>Dr Race Mathews,
>Senior Research Fellow,
>Government and Governance Unit,
>Faculty of Business and Economics
>Monash University.
>
>Postal Address:
>123 Alexandra Avenue,
>South Yarra, Vic, 3141,
>Australia.
>
>Phone/Fax: (03) 9826 0104.
>
>

Shann Turnbull  Ph.D.
P.O. Box 266 Woollahra, Sydney, Australia, 1350
Ph: +612 9328 7466 office; +612 9327 8487 home; Fax: +612 9327 1497;
Life long E-mail: 
sturnbull@mba1963.hbs.edu  Alternate:sturnbull@optusnet.com.au
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~sturnbull/index.html
Papers at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=26239
with other papers & book at http://cog.kent.edu/library.html