Calculation skills: Answers

Working in employee-owned companies: The role of economic democracy skills

“…The finding that EOCs have a particular approach to (and focus on) internal promotion may support the contention that EOCs are less likely to admit new members (the horizon problem), yet in all other respects the focus on home-grown talent was driven by a long-term vision for the sustainability of the organisation. In this way, our data both support Nuttall’s (2012) and Lampel et al’s (2010) assertions that EOCs have a longer-term focus, and enable us to explain how economic democracy skills play a significant role in supporting these economic democracy effects. In this way we extend the understanding of the importance of HRM for EOCs and illuminate how democracy at work can be operationalised through what might, in other contexts, be viewed as conventional HR practices.…”

“…Our data suggest that economic democracy skills can moderate the link between employee ownership and performance by deferring short-term performance benefits in favour of long-term democratic sustainability. This link between protecting democracy skills and legacy also adds explanatory depth to the findings of Nuttall (2012) and of Lampel et al (2010) concerning EOCs’ long-term business perspectives. We argue that, in EOCs, the ideology of democracy at work is at least as important as the financial stake, providing a counterbalance to the pervasive line of thought that dignity at work proves an elusive goal in traditional organisational forms (Sayer, 2007).…”

“…Research suggests that employee ownership in particular, and economic democracy more broadly (Cumbers et al, 2017), can have significant benefits for organisations and employees. Employee-owned companies (EOCs), as a growing sector of the UK economy (Employee Ownership Association, 2018; Nuttall, 2012; Pendleton and Robinson, 2017), are a topic of increasing policy interest especially as employee-owners are seen to be ‘more committed to delivering quality service and more flexible in responding to the needs of the business’ (Lampel et al, 2010: 4), with a positive impact on performance (Kaarsemaker et al, 2009; Kurtulus and Kruse, 2017).…”