Introduction

Below we include a statement of the foundational research which gave rise to the establishment of the Unit for Membership Based Organisations followed by a summary of the developing research undertaken since the Units foundation. The statement is followed by a list of the main publications arising from the research.

For recent research please click on one or more of the three links below:

• Co-operative Community Green Energy Project
• Co-operative Green Energy Initiatives in the USA
• Character Development within Management Development

Statement of Foundational Research

The foundational research that led to the identification of the need for a specialist unit focused on the problems of management, governance and development within the co-operative business model commenced in historical studies into the evolution of co-operative political and economic thinking and practise. Some of this research was published as a paper in the Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics (1988) and in the International Review of Co-operation (1989) and as a chapter in a book published by Co-operative College and the History Workshop Trust, (1996). A development of this work was disseminated in the long running Journal of Rural Co-operation in its 25th Anniversary issue. A further dissemination of the research came out as a book in Greek and English, (2000) in a joint publication between the Harokopio University, Dept of Home Economics and Ecology, Athens and University of Leicester Management Centre. Some further aspects of this foundational research are now being published as part of a joint paper with Prof Martin Parker in 2007 in the Review of Radical Political Economics.

The contemporary empirical research in to managing in the context of co-operative organisations was taken foreword by a substantial two year programme covering co-operative managers from some 27 countries involved in co-operatives in the agricultural, financial services, consumer housing worker and fishing sectors. (See Davis and Donaldson, 1998).

From the mid 1990s onwards we have focused on what we see as the evolving synergy between the changing emphasis in management thought and co-operative values and principles. In this connection we published two more books on co-operative management, both published by the ILO Co-op Branch in 1999 and 2004. The earlier work by Davis and Donaldson was republished in Spanish by Granica a publisher based in Argentina in 2005.

Essentially our research has identified four ideal types of co-operative management. Three are generally current in the movement the fourth we argue exists but is currently a rare phenomenon and needs to be more generally applied. The current types are:

• The Charismatic Leader Model
• The Collective Leadership Model
• The Civil Service Model

The new emerging type that we have identified based on research at the UK Co-operative Bank plc we refer to as the:

• Co-operative Value Based Model

This fourth type draws heavily on much contemporary management literature and practice on the role of culture and values as management tools but places it in the very different context of co-operative values and ownership.

Some of the empirical research was developed out of a series of interviews conducted by Barker, Davis and Donaldson through a Loughborough and Leicester University funded joint research programme and was developed by Davis (1995) and Davis and Donaldson (1998) who aimed to synthesise the earlier foundational research, the current context of modern management and the organisational development needs of modern co-operatives. Davis and Donaldson identified seven principles that they believe are essential for the practice of Co-operative Value Based Management in any co-operative business and for the protection and application of the ICA Statement of Co-operative identity. (See below)

The seven Principles of Co-operative Value Based Management:

• Pluralism
• Mutuality
• Individual Autonomy
• Distributive Justice
• Natural Justice
• People Centred
• Multiple Roles of Work and Labour

We have further explored the application of these principles to HRM, Learning Organisation, Learning Community and Intellectual Capital Theory in the context of the co-operative membership based model of business. In this research we returned to undertake a further case study with permission from the management of the UK Co-operative Bank plc and arising from this mix of theoretical and empirical work we have evolved a new Learning Community model for people management and intellectual capital / knowledge management and development for co-operatives which we define as Co-operative Social Capital Management (CSCM). We suggest that measured in terms of Intellectual Capital the co-operative membership base represents a huge additional human capital resource when modern management practices are applied to it over and above the employee and customer capital available to all progressively run businesses.

The pedagogic implications of our research have been extensively published in co-operative professional journals and in three peer reviewed papers in issues of the Journal of Co-operative Studies. The research has also received recognition outside the co-operative studies area, coming to the attention of a wider academic audience particularly those working in the area of business education and values and regional economic development.

*The Co-operative Identity Statement is the work of an international team led by Prof. Ian MacPherson on behalf of the International Co-operative Alliance. See; Ian MacPherson, Co-operative Principles for the 21st Century, Studies and Reports, No 26, December 1995, International Co-operative Alliance, Geneva. pp69.

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