The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Discourse, 2004
Tropes, Discourse and Organizing Cliff Oswick, Linda L. Putnam and Tom Keenoy Good analysis rests... more Tropes, Discourse and Organizing Cliff Oswick, Linda L. Putnam and Tom Keenoy Good analysis rests not on just spotting...'which metaphor fits best', but in using metaphor to unravel multiple patterns of significance and their interrelations.(Morgan, 1986, p. 342) Tropes1 are an ...
This chapter addresses the nature and limits of an alternative model of work organization in a UK... more This chapter addresses the nature and limits of an alternative model of work organization in a UK coal mine. It charts the history and progress of the Tower Colliery coal mine in South Wales as an historic form of industrial democracy–the worker-owned producer cooperative–across its 13-year existence as a productive mine under the ownership and direct control of its workers. It further explores the argument that workers' cooperatives are significantly different to typical work organizations, in that they are social movements, and that ...
Abstract The article presents views regarding the 2002 article&qu... more Abstract The article presents views regarding the 2002 article" Metaphor and Analogical Reasoning in Organization Theory: Beyond Orthodoxy," by C. Oswick, T. Keenoy, and D. Grant. The article discusses the use of metaphor, metonymy and synecdoche to aid in knowledge generation, and argues that it is theoretically problematic to expect this tactic to be fruitful. The article states that metaphors are not based on high levels of similarity, and that they are not simple enough to help in idea generation because they create ...
Our destiny is not horrible because of its unreality; it is horrible because it is irreversibl... more Our destiny is not horrible because of its unreality; it is horrible because it is irreversible and ironbound. Time is the substance I am made of. Time is a river that carries me away, but I am the river; it is a tiger that mangles me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I ...
The paper will draw on four years research at Tower Colliery. This is the last deep mine in South... more The paper will draw on four years research at Tower Colliery. This is the last deep mine in South Wales which, following closure in 1994 under a Conservative government's rationalisation programme, was reopened as a worker co-operative on January 1st 1995. Since then, employment has expanded from 239 to 417 of whom some 350 are full members who are the collective owners of the mine. Production has increased by 43% during a period of continuous decline in the industry; there is 100% union membership; the 'employees' ...
Alongside document analyses and numerous site visits to observe operations and talk informally wi... more Alongside document analyses and numerous site visits to observe operations and talk informally with cooperative members across the organization, we have conducted more structured interviews at all levels in the organization. These include extensive discussions with the personnel officer (an ex-NUM official), other managers and (elected) Board members, face-workers and surface workers. All members are deemed to be 'employeeshareholders'.
Executive Summary The cooperative sector in Wales is thriving, with worker-owned businesses demon... more Executive Summary The cooperative sector in Wales is thriving, with worker-owned businesses demonstrating longevity and viability across a wide range of sectors. Wales's agricultural sector has a large and growing number of secondary cooperatives which co-ordinate production and distribution. There are also cooperative dairies and agricultural suppliers. Tower Colliery is Wales's best known and its largest primary cooperative, but there are several other examples in the areas of fisheries and forestry. There is evidence ...
There is a shared view among business people that it is common sense to organize work in a hierar... more There is a shared view among business people that it is common sense to organize work in a hierarchical, management-led way. Notwithstanding fashionable managerial programmes about employee participation and involvement (which in the best of cases collapse like sandcastles in the storm of economic crises), within capitalism,'management has the right to manage'. That somebody needs to be empowered in the interests of the business to make quick decisions and impose the execution of these on working people is a principle hardly ...
and Institute for Studies in Political Economy Brno| June 2008, 2008
(Wales Institute for Research into Cooperatives, Cardiff School of Management, UWIC) but the alte... more (Wales Institute for Research into Cooperatives, Cardiff School of Management, UWIC) but the alternative is not clear and like much of similar analysis it implies that the market has to end. But is this, as Melucci suggests even possible or even desirable? A diffi cult thought, which will be returned to at the end of the paper.
The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Discourse, 2004
Tropes, Discourse and Organizing Cliff Oswick, Linda L. Putnam and Tom Keenoy Good analysis rests... more Tropes, Discourse and Organizing Cliff Oswick, Linda L. Putnam and Tom Keenoy Good analysis rests not on just spotting...'which metaphor fits best', but in using metaphor to unravel multiple patterns of significance and their interrelations.(Morgan, 1986, p. 342) Tropes1 are an ...
This chapter addresses the nature and limits of an alternative model of work organization in a UK... more This chapter addresses the nature and limits of an alternative model of work organization in a UK coal mine. It charts the history and progress of the Tower Colliery coal mine in South Wales as an historic form of industrial democracy–the worker-owned producer cooperative–across its 13-year existence as a productive mine under the ownership and direct control of its workers. It further explores the argument that workers' cooperatives are significantly different to typical work organizations, in that they are social movements, and that ...
Abstract The article presents views regarding the 2002 article&qu... more Abstract The article presents views regarding the 2002 article" Metaphor and Analogical Reasoning in Organization Theory: Beyond Orthodoxy," by C. Oswick, T. Keenoy, and D. Grant. The article discusses the use of metaphor, metonymy and synecdoche to aid in knowledge generation, and argues that it is theoretically problematic to expect this tactic to be fruitful. The article states that metaphors are not based on high levels of similarity, and that they are not simple enough to help in idea generation because they create ...
Our destiny is not horrible because of its unreality; it is horrible because it is irreversibl... more Our destiny is not horrible because of its unreality; it is horrible because it is irreversible and ironbound. Time is the substance I am made of. Time is a river that carries me away, but I am the river; it is a tiger that mangles me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I ...
The paper will draw on four years research at Tower Colliery. This is the last deep mine in South... more The paper will draw on four years research at Tower Colliery. This is the last deep mine in South Wales which, following closure in 1994 under a Conservative government's rationalisation programme, was reopened as a worker co-operative on January 1st 1995. Since then, employment has expanded from 239 to 417 of whom some 350 are full members who are the collective owners of the mine. Production has increased by 43% during a period of continuous decline in the industry; there is 100% union membership; the 'employees' ...
Alongside document analyses and numerous site visits to observe operations and talk informally wi... more Alongside document analyses and numerous site visits to observe operations and talk informally with cooperative members across the organization, we have conducted more structured interviews at all levels in the organization. These include extensive discussions with the personnel officer (an ex-NUM official), other managers and (elected) Board members, face-workers and surface workers. All members are deemed to be 'employeeshareholders'.
Executive Summary The cooperative sector in Wales is thriving, with worker-owned businesses demon... more Executive Summary The cooperative sector in Wales is thriving, with worker-owned businesses demonstrating longevity and viability across a wide range of sectors. Wales's agricultural sector has a large and growing number of secondary cooperatives which co-ordinate production and distribution. There are also cooperative dairies and agricultural suppliers. Tower Colliery is Wales's best known and its largest primary cooperative, but there are several other examples in the areas of fisheries and forestry. There is evidence ...
There is a shared view among business people that it is common sense to organize work in a hierar... more There is a shared view among business people that it is common sense to organize work in a hierarchical, management-led way. Notwithstanding fashionable managerial programmes about employee participation and involvement (which in the best of cases collapse like sandcastles in the storm of economic crises), within capitalism,'management has the right to manage'. That somebody needs to be empowered in the interests of the business to make quick decisions and impose the execution of these on working people is a principle hardly ...
and Institute for Studies in Political Economy Brno| June 2008, 2008
(Wales Institute for Research into Cooperatives, Cardiff School of Management, UWIC) but the alte... more (Wales Institute for Research into Cooperatives, Cardiff School of Management, UWIC) but the alternative is not clear and like much of similar analysis it implies that the market has to end. But is this, as Melucci suggests even possible or even desirable? A diffi cult thought, which will be returned to at the end of the paper.
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