Worker ownership,participation and control: Toward a theoretical model

The administration of the employee-owned or worker cooperative firm must provide for two conceptually separable functions: organizational governance and the management of work. Three theoretical models tend to shape the thinking of those who design the organization: authoritarian, bargaining, and town meeting or community democracy.We review the experience of self-management in Yugoslavia, the Israeli kibbutzim, Mondragon cooperative system, and employee ownership in the United States. We conclude that the model best designed to favor the growth of employee ownership in the United States will be one that combines certain features of all three theoretical models noted above.