US Worker Co-Operatives and Their Spans of Management, Decision Making, and Governance: An Exploratory Analysis

Lambert, Thomas (2016): US Worker Co-Operatives and Their Spans of Management, Decision Making, and Governance: An Exploratory Analysis.

Abstract

Much has been written over the years about worker co-operatives as an alternative to traditional forms of business organization and ownership. The literature has mostly covered the issues of whether worker co-ops are more productive, more profitable and/or have a longer existence than traditional firms. This paper tries to fill some gaps in the literature by covering topics rarely if ever mentioned in writings on worker co-ops by exploring their spans of management, their decision making with regard to investment and hiring, and the governance input from their local communities. The results from a recent survey are interesting from an organizational behavior or institutional perspective in that worker co-ops show themselves generally to be different from most of their counterparts.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: entrepreneurship, community, small business, span of management, worker co-operatives,
• Subjects: B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches > B50 - General; P - Economic Systems > P1 - Capitalist Systems > P13 - Cooperative Enterprises; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R1 - General Regional Economics > R11 - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

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