The end of a dream
The high ideals of co-operative ventures described in this section invariably make the business failures more spectacular and news-worthy than most corporate news. Davis (2006) says that Catholic priests and nuns are often the founders of co-operatives, with high ideals, but immersion in the secular and hence commercial world will start to water these down:
In the establishment of credit, producer and consumer co-operatives the founding influence has often been either a Catholic priest or nun. The problem is that the influence of the founder will quickly diminish as the secular forces that surround the co-operative begin to take effect.
The influence of the market and of money is seen as striking a decisive blow to the high ideals of co-operatives. The author cites the recent privatisations of building societies in Britain as an example, with only the Nationwide left in its original mutual form. The process can be seen from the start of the co-operative movement: in 1850 some men in Rochdale began a co-operative corn mill with help from the original Rochdale Society. In 1862 they took in outside shareholders, who soon cancelled profit sharing among workers; the Rochdale Society withdrew its support.
In a study of twelve failures in worker co-operatives in the 19th Century Hall and Watkins (1934, pp. 100-101) found that in six cases management subverted the business for their own ends and they become converted to private companies, in two others it was incompetent management, and in two more lack of discipline by the workingmen themselves. Arnold Bonner noted from reports of failure at the time that some societies soon changed their form to that of private companies and that poorly thought through self-governing management systems and little attention to the quality of recruited members were significant factors explaining co-operative failure. (Bonner, 1961, pp.63-65)
Given its high profile it is unsurprising that Mondragon has received considerable critical scrutiny over the years. Clive Beed and Cara Beed (2009) acknowledge claims that Mondragon’s success is due more to the unique historical and cultural conditions of the Basque region than any theological innovation. They cite a critical study by S. Kasmir (1996) which challenges the claim that Mondragon’s workers have any more say over the management of their business than workers in other businesses.
2. The rise of the incorporated company
Introduction
The idea of incorporation speaks of something central to the Christian faith, a notion full of meaning and symbolism for a religion founded on the incarnation. God takes on a bodily form, and in turn shares this body with the faithful. Though we are many, we are one body, says the priest as she or he gathers the congregation to unite in the central act of the Eucharist. It is symbolised with bread: cum panis in Latin. The theology is clear and well-known, but what is less well known is that this gives us the derivation of the modern word company. It might be dismissed as a mere coincidence or no more than a convenient metaphor, but some writers have considered that there is something inherently Christian about certain forms of secular organisation. If the church is the body of Christ, so a company might be considered the body economic, a gathering of people sharing a common commercial purpose.
This section looks at the rise of the incorporated company in the 19th century, and the Christian influences that have helped to shape this now ubiquitous organisational model. It includes some of the many interpretations and criticisms of Max Weber’s link between capitalism and the Protestant work ethic, but also looks at how companies with a specifically Christian heritage interpret their theological purpose. It ends by looking at some examples in the specific sector of publishing, including a case study from America, in one of the few pieces of specific research into what a Christian-based company looks like in terms of management practices.