The organization and behaviour of UK – worker co-operatives: an empirical investigation

This chapter examines the aspects of the organization and behaviour of firms in which labour is the residual claimant and controls the firm. It analyses survey data which is able to mirror the state of worker co-operation in the UK economy. The chapter presents a brief examination of previous questionnaire-based surveys and a description of the size and nature of the survey. It considers the growth aspirations and discusses organizational form. The chapter also analyses the degree of managerialism with the co-operative firm. It also discusses the results of the previous sections and notes the implications of them. The degree to which any theory can be supported or refuted relies on the empirical evidence available. The egalitarian co-operative, one may assume, will be democratically run with decision-making being done by all the members. The diverse nature of the co-operative sector in the UK reflects the diverse number of objectives of coalitions within the organization.