Download - Co-operative lifestyle - Invitation to come back to Rochdale

Co-operative Lifestyle

Invitation to come back to Rochdale !

Saint Mary’s University, Halifax MIK, University of Mondragon University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Katowice !Presented at Canadian Worker Co-op Federation CoopZone Conference Wolfville, Nov. 6-8, 2014

Ryszard Stocki

Rochdalecc RHL Images, from flickr.com

http://flickr.com

New (ICA) version of Rochdale Values and Principles

• Values: self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, solidarity, honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.

• Principles:

1. Voluntary and open membership 2. Democratic member control 3. Member economic participation 4. Autonomy and independence 5. Education, training and information 6. Co-operation among co-operatives 7. Concern for community

Are Rochdale times gone? !

Our main question is…

…why co-operatives have more and more difficulties to live up to their values and principles and, stay competitive and

attractive workplaces at the same time.

There are many ways to answer the question.

Motivation

Values

Generation

Life experience

Income

Social Roles

Career path

Market change

Family issues

Ownership

Management skills

Habits

Education

Expertise

ParticipationInvestment

Policy

Interests

4

seem good to start with, but they are very difficult to operationalize and measure. Much easier to

measure seems to be…

ValuesExpertise

LifestyleWhat is more, it is closely related to what co-

operatives do.

Lifestyle has been the subject of many disciplines but four most distinctive are:

2. Lifestyle medicine shows cruel evidence of what is happening to us due to thoughtless consumption.

3. Lifestyle exposure to victimization shows how our lifestyles make us victims of crimes.

1. Marketing research investigates and utilizes the concept to make us consume and spend more and more.

6

4. Sociology and ethnography try to make sense of social changes related to lifestyles and propose a research agenda.

If you try to put all this research together…

!Co-op’s Decision Making Practice !

Governance Adherence to Co-op Values & Principles

!Economic

Effectiveness

!Social

Effectiveness

H1

H2

H3

H4

H5

H6

H7

RTrade-off

expected in short

time perspective

Values CV&P

Coping / expertise

Expo

sure

to

cons

umer

life

styl

e -

in M

edia

, Lei

sure

, Wor

k, E

duca

tion Vocational (Co-operative lifestyle)

Personal Demographics

Psychological Constraints

Adaptive - Accommodative

lifestyle

Social change lifestyle

Transformative lifestyle

Adaptive -Assimilative

lifestyle

Economic Constraints

Institutional & legal structural

constraints

Experiential lifestyle

Social and cultural

constraints

Educational constraints

Familial/community constraints

Lifestyle

Situational contraints

Geographic contraints

Affect

Informational contraints (Media)

Reactive

Proactive

Educational/ traininig and development

Decision making

Nutritional Decision Making

Leisure Time Decision Making

Family Decision Making

Health

Well-being/Happiness

Transcendence - Becoming a better

person

Investment and Purchasing

Decision Making

!Individual social and

personal impact

!Love

!Business (strategic)

Expertise

Lifestyle expertise in personal

transcendence

(Macro)Economic (political) Expertise

R

R

Lifestyle expertise in interpersonal

relations

Lifestyle expertise in nutrition

Lifestyle expertise in physical activity

Lifestyle expertise in family relations

RLeisure - home lifestyle

…the picture becomes very complicated. So let us extract some key elements.

etc.

Inco

me

Free

tim

e

Cha

ract

er (

virt

ues)

= d

irec

ting

will

to

valu

es

Expe

rtis

e Adaptive - Accommodative

lifestyle




lifestyle


Reactive

Proactive

Although there are many factors that influence

our lifestyle that are independent

of us. Many others depend

on us.

Lifestyle medicine and criminology

give ample examples that we can change our

lifestyles.

We only have to remember that we do not have to be reactive

but freely shape our lives.


lifestyle




lifestyle


Reactive

Proactive

Cul

tura

l exp

osur

e to

rea

ctiv

e lif

esty

le

Voca

tiona

l exp

osur

e to

pro

activ

e lif

esty

le


Expertise

Lifestyle expertise in personal transcendence


R

R

Lifestyle expertise in interpersonal relations

Lifestyle expertise in nutrition

Lifestyle expertise in physical activity

Lifestyle expertise in family relations

R

Expe

rtis

e

We can do it if we increase our expertise and redesign our workplaces to show how proactive lifestyle can counter the reactive, consumer lifestyle of

mass culture.

Contemporary empirical research on lifestyles

does not seem satisfactory enough. We need to implement two

rules.

Practical

Propositional = theory

Presentational

Experiential

Forms of knowledge

Rule 1. We need a general lifestyle theory. From the times of Copernicus, we know that sometimes we have to deduce a theory that cannot be empirically proven.

Nicolaus Copernicus lived from 1473 to 1543 but parallaxes, an

empirical proof of his theory was first observed as late as 1838.

Practical

Propositional

Presentational

Experiential

Forms of knowledge

John Heron (1928 - now) claims “We get deeper information about the nature of our

realities when our prime concern is to develop practical skills which change these

realities.” Co-operative Inquiry, p. 114

Rule 2. A sound lifestyle theory has to be practically relevant for co-operatives. The only way to develop such a theory is co-operation with co-operatives.

I would like to do research not “on” co-

operatives, but “with” co-operatives so we could

test the following model:

!!!!!!!!!

Vocational (Co-operative

lifestyle)

!External

and internal constraints


lifestyle




lifestyle


Reactive

Proactive


Expertise

Lifestyle expertise in personal transcendence


R

R

Lifestyle expertise in interpersonal relations

R

!Co-op’s Decision Making Practice !

Governance Adherence to Co-op Values & Principles

!Economic

Effectiveness

!Social

Effectiveness

H1

H2

H3

H4

H5

H6

H7

RTrade-off

expected in short

time perspective

Cul

tura

l exp

osur

e

We will focus on four groups of variables in the large grey square.

1. Expertise 2. Lifestyle 3. Co-operative practice 4. Results

Organizational practices

CoopIndex 2.0O

rgan

izatio

nal r

epor

t

Personaliz

ed confidential reports

for

willing m

embers and employees

Individual lifestyle and expertise

This research shall result in the development of a new tool

for co-operative diagnosis.

The tool will assist not only co-operatives but also individual

members in their personal development.

What are participating co-ops’s

• Thorough diagnosis of a co-op including individuals’ position on the lifestyle line and their expertise.

• Individual and organizational development.

• Improving teamwork.

• Time and a facilitator to reflect on co-operative values and principles and possible directions in the contemporary world.

• Making the co-op a more attractive workplace.

• Risk of wasting time if no action is performed on the basis of the results.

• Possible resignations of persons who find themselves unfit for co-operative values.

• Emotional stress related to going out of comfort zone.

• Cost related to organizing workshops and meetings.

• Necessity to cover future costs to continue the project.

17

gains risks

What’s next? Deadlines

• December: Individual interviews

• January: Development of a draft of all diagnostic methods.

• February: Two-hour online webinar about the methods and consulting/research.

• February: Draft versions of all the tools and documents ready for inspection.

• March: Declarations to participate in the Isomorphism project and selection of participants

• April 2015 - March 2016: The consulting/research project.

If you are interested in this research and its results write to

[email protected] Thank you!

!

!

!

!

Research in several co-ops in Canada and the Basque Country is sponsored by the European Union

mailto:[email protected]

Download - Co-operative lifestyle - Invitation to come back to Rochdale

Top Related