ENCOURAGING MUTUALITY AND PLURALISM IN ORGANISATIONS - OUR BEST HOPE FOR THE FUTURE?

 

Mutuality- Our best hope for the future?

 

A healthy civic society and a degree of healthy responsible pluralism within organisations needs to be the way forward for society. This is the only way that new ideas emerge to drive us forward into the future. The alternative to this pluralism is a very centralised stalinistic approach where the centre holds on to old ideas and does not let go or even listen to what change is needed. One absolute and unchallenged set of ideas and processes can never be an effective substitute for a society or organisation that generates new ideas in a pluralistic way,which will need to move us forward in this new millennium. Yet some organisations are very guilty of succumbing to this very centralist ideology and it does not become them or indeed any of us as well.

There is now increasing discussion around moving economic and social policy forward more hand in hand with the wider interests of society. According to the latest Respublica publication on mutuals in society- " Diverse and devolved ownership, power and capital, alongside user, consumer and employee participation in governance and decision-making, are principles that we can all agree with. Unlike any other policy agenda, mutual, employee-owned and co-operative models, and their underpinning ideals, have attracted cross-party support and have been promoted as foundational players to our public institutions, private services and businesses, not just in this Government’s lifetime, but the ones that have preceded."

The position that many organisations find themselves in, especially in the not for profit sector - is that they are facing a position of cuts in public spending and lower economic activity. The workforce in those organisations is in danger of being dis-incentivised as it does not have much of a stake in the organisations that it works in. Traditional salary and reward mechanisms mean that the workforce can expect minimal rewards for the the future, unless the workforce is given a greater stake in the organisations in which it works. Those businesses i.e. like John Lewis which do have more of a mutual approach have held their own in this economic climate.

 

Is greater mutuality the answer, please read the latest Respublica publication on this at:

 

http://www.respublica.org.uk/item/Making-it-Mutual

 

This will give you all some new insights into the way that our organisations can develop and grow in th elight of the huge economic challeges we face.