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I've always wondered why cooperatives assume consensus decision making. Couldn't I be an equal owner of something, but decide to leave the leadership to someone

I've always wondered why cooperatives assume consensus decision making. Couldn't I be an equal owner of something, but decide to leave the leadership to someone else, at least for a specified time? I feel like the consensus/debate thing often brings down egalitarian organizations. But ownership does not HAVE to equal control.

deleted 12y ago
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bryondowd 12y ago
I don't have a source, but I'm sure I've read about coops that hire a CEO. Basically, they offer a CEO enough money to attract a skilled executive, but they still own the company, and can collectively give the CEO the boot if things go sour. So, individually, everyone answers to the boss, but the boss then answers too the collective group.
nhaehnle 12y ago
You're absolutely right, and I think this is more an assumption about cooperatives rather than how cooperatives actually work. For example, Mondragon is a federation of coops some of which have hundreds of employees; they're not going to have a debate with everybody about everything. Another way to think about it is that cooperatives are the ultimate expression of a democratic workplace. Yet it's not as if every law were discussed by everybody in a democracy. In a way, that shows that we have a lot to learn about how cooperatives can work. The quote of the union representative is very relevant: Cooperatives aren't magic dust, even though I personally believe that they are one of the key tools for dealing with the problems of capitalism. As a society, we simply have too little understanding of how cooperatives work, and until enough experiences is collected and networks exist to advise founders of cooperatives, and all those other little things that help traditional business founders are extended to cooperatives, it's going to be difficult.
mrxd 12y ago
I believe that is how most coops are run. The workers elect the board of directors.
dragonwriter 12y ago
> I've always wondered why cooperatives assume consensus decision making. Except for very small coops, they generally don't -- they generally either appoint managers directly, or elect a board, which generally appoints managers much like the board of any corporation. Cooperatives may require more decisions to be voted on by the membership than most corporations would require be voted on by shareholders, but they generally delegate day-to-day management and much long-term strategy and oversight of management.
bcheung 12y ago
Yes, that is how it works with corporations and LLCs with board members and limited partners.
dllthomas 12y ago
One significant advantage of consensus is that once you're able to get past disagreement you have everyone pulling in the same direction. That's not to say that there're no disadvantages, but it's often overlooked.

deleted 12y ago

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bryondowd 12y ago

I don't have a source, but I'm sure I've read about coops that hire a CEO. Basically, they offer a CEO enough money to attract a skilled executive, but they still own the company, and can collectively give the CEO the boot if things go sour. So, individually, everyone answers to the boss, but the boss then answers too the collective group.

nhaehnle 12y ago

You're absolutely right, and I think this is more an assumption about cooperatives rather than how cooperatives actually work. For example, Mondragon is a federation of coops some of which have hundreds of employees; they're not going to have a debate with everybody about everything. Another way to think about it is that cooperatives are the ultimate expression of a democratic workplace. Yet it's not as if every law were discussed by everybody in a democracy. In a way, that shows that we have a lot to learn about how cooperatives can work. The quote of the union representative is very relevant: Cooperatives aren't magic dust, even though I personally believe that they are one of the key tools for dealing with the problems of capitalism. As a society, we simply have too little understanding of how cooperatives work, and until enough experiences is collected and networks exist to advise founders of cooperatives, and all those other little things that help traditional business founders are extended to cooperatives, it's going to be difficult.

mrxd 12y ago

I believe that is how most coops are run. The workers elect the board of directors.

dragonwriter 12y ago

> I've always wondered why cooperatives assume consensus decision making. Except for very small coops, they generally don't -- they generally either appoint managers directly, or elect a board, which generally appoints managers much like the board of any corporation. Cooperatives may require more decisions to be voted on by the membership than most corporations would require be voted on by shareholders, but they generally delegate day-to-day management and much long-term strategy and oversight of management.

bcheung 12y ago

Yes, that is how it works with corporations and LLCs with board members and limited partners.

dllthomas 12y ago

One significant advantage of consensus is that once you're able to get past disagreement you have everyone pulling in the same direction. That's not to say that there're no disadvantages, but it's often overlooked.