{"id":1595,"date":"2015-11-26T17:06:42","date_gmt":"2015-11-26T15:06:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kritische-organisationsforschung.de\/?p=1595"},"modified":"2015-11-26T17:06:42","modified_gmt":"2015-11-26T15:06:42","slug":"cfp-egos-2016-cooperatives-as-a-fortress-of-participation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.kritische-organisationsforschung.de\/?p=1595","title":{"rendered":"CfP EGOS 2016 – Cooperatives as a Fortress of Participation?"},"content":{"rendered":"

F\u00fcr alle Interessierten an Kooperativen und Genossenschaften:<\/p>\n

Auf der EGOS Tagung 2016 in Neapel organisiere ich zusammen mit Irma Rybnikova (TU Chemnitz) und Christopher Land (University of Leicester) einen Stream zu Kooperativen und Partizipation. Die Einreichungsfrist f\u00fcr Short Papers ist der 11. Januar 2016.<\/p>\n

Infos zur Tagung:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/egosnet.org\/2016_naples\/subthemes_call_for_short_papers<\/a><\/p>\n

Sub-theme website:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/egosnet.org\/jart\/prj3\/egos\/main.jart?rel=de&reserve-mode=active&content-id=1434639284029&subtheme_id=1407070330859<\/a><\/p>\n

Wir freuen uns \u00fcber Eure Einreichungen und nat\u00fcrlich auch \u00fcber Weiterleitungen des CfPs an interessierte KollegInnen!<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Convenors:<\/p>\n

Irma Rybnikova<\/strong>, Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany<\/p>\n

irma.rybnikova@wirtschaft.tu-chemnitz.de<\/a><\/p>\n

Christopher Land<\/strong>, University of Leicester, UK<\/p>\n

cdl13@le.ac.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

Ronald Hartz<\/strong>, Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany<\/p>\n

ronald.hartz@wirtschaft.tu-chemnitz.de<\/a><\/p>\n

Call for Papers<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the face of the current financial crisis a vivid revival of interest in alternative organizational forms, including cooperatives, can be observed in the literature (Cheney et al., 2014). Cooperatives are mainly considered as an alternative way of organizing in the shadow of private and public sectors which is often presumed to be able to respond to economic challenges and at the same time to maintain social values, such as organizational participation and democracy.<\/p>\n

Conceptual as well as empirical considerations regarding participative issues in cooperatives are quite contradictory. On the one hand, a number of authors (e.g. Rothschild-Whitt, 1979; Allgeier, 2011; Paranque & Willmott, 2014) place cooperatives into a prominent position among participatory forms of organizing, especially because of the principle „one member \u2013 one vote“. On the other hand, a range of concepts, such as the so called „iron law of transformation“ (Oppenheimer, 1913) or „degeneration thesis“ (for an overview, see Storey et al., 2014), express strong skepticism regarding participatory power of cooperatives because of managerial dominance over democratic efforts. Several empirical studies support these ideas by providing evidence for the „successive de-democratization“ as a result of the management control (Ringle, 1990), „apathy of cooperatives‘ members“ (Patera, 1980) as well as participation practices as a „farce“ (Bonus ,1994) based on ritualized members‘ voting on the basis of the ready-made lists of their representatives in the large cooperatives.<\/p>\n

Instead of dealing with the dualistic question if cooperatives are able to maintain lively participation or if they mainly reproduce managerial forms of organizing, more recent studies point to tensions and contradictions cooperatives face while maintaining participatory values. Following these studies, conflicts can occur between democratic principles and the ‚demands‘ of a global market (Flecha & Ngai, 2014) or as an ongoing contestation between workers and their representatives in cooperatives regarding democratic principles (Hernandez, 2006). Drawing on these tension- and paradox-oriented analyses, this call for papers invites conceptual contributions and empirical research on cooperatives with the focus on participative values and practices in these organizations as well as ambivalences and challenges emerging from participatory struggles within cooperatives, often linked with ‚market demands‘. Since most empirical studies up to now have dealt with large cooperatives, such as cooperative banks or cooperatives operating on a multinational level, we particularly encourage empirical contributions addressing smaller cooperative organizations covering different sectors in order to reflect the large width of participative practices.<\/p>\n

We invite papers addressing a range of issues, including but not limited to the following topics:<\/p>\n