Values at Work is an analysis of organizational dynamics with wide-ranging implications in an age of market globalization. It looks at the challenges businesses face to maintain people-oriented work systems while remaining successful in the larger economy. George Cheney revisits the famous Mondragón worker-owned-and-governed cooperatives in the Basque Country of Spain to examine how that collection of innovative and democratic businesses is responding to the broad trend of marketization.
The Mondragón cooperatives are changing in important ways as a direct result of both external pressures to be more competitive and the rise of consumerism, as well as through the modification of internal policies toward greater efficiency. One of the most remarkable aspects of the changes is that some of the same business slogans now heard around the globe are being adopted in this set of organizations renowned for its strongly held internal values, such as participatory democracy, solidarity, and equality. Instead of emphasizing the special or unique qualities of the Mondragón experience, this book demonstrates the case's relevance to trends in all sectors and across the industrialized world.
George Cheney is Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Utah. He is coauthor of Organizational Communication in an Age of Globalization and coeditor of International and Multicultural Organizational Communication.
Table of Contents
Preface Chapter 1 Tensions over Democratic Values in Today's Business Market Chapter 2 The Development of the Mondragón Cooperatives Chapter 3 Key Value Debates at Mondragón Chapter 4 Practical Lessons from Mondragón Chapter 5 Participation and Marketization at Mondragón and Beyond Works Cited Index
What People are Saying About This
Raymond Russell
Can democracy in the workplace co-exist with global competitiveness? George Cheney seeks answers from the workers and managers of the Mondragón cooperatives, providing a balanced and sensitive record of their contemporary voices.
Christopher Gunn
George Cheney provides new insight into the evolution of the Mondragón cooperatives, and the key tensions between their internal and external environments. This book ranks with the best of the organizational and sociological writing to date on Mondragón, and it productively uses the Mondragón case to reflect on larger issues at stake between innovative organizations and 'global' markets.
Charles Derber
"Values at Work is a provocative read on the prospects for workplace democracy in today's hyper-competitive global economy. George Cheney excels in showing how both cooperatives and conventional corporations must reconcile relentless marketization of our cultural and economic life with the democratic spirit."
