This book provides evidence on how worker cooperatives are functioning today.

As the world of work and jobs is more uncertain than ever because of various trends impacting it, including the rise of robotics and the gig economy, Cooperatives and the World of Work furthers the debate on the future of work, sustainable development, and the social and solidarity economy of which cooperatives are a fundamental component. Throughout the book, the authors, who are experts in their respective fields, do not limit themselves to praising the advantages of the cooperative model. Rather, they challenge the narrow understanding of cooperatives as a mere business model and raise debate on the more fundamental role that cooperatives play in responding to social changes and in changing society itself. The book is unique in tracing the historical connection between cooperatives and the world of work since the end of the First World War and the recent shifts and restructuring in enterprise and the workplace. It presents a redefinition of the very concept of work, focusing on organizational innovation. This book is published in recognition of 100 years of the International Labour Organization, and gathers together research from leading experts who were brought together at an event co-hosted by the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) and the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Expert advice for more effective teamwork in the library! Cooperative Reference: Social Interaction in the Workplace addresses the need for reference librarians to work together to keep the system running smoothly. This book explores the various means of developing social professionalism, collaborating on projects, and combining forces with other libraries to remain on the cutting edge of information services in this new century. Using this guide, you will learn from the first-hand experiences of on-the-job reference librarians. This book will give youas a reference librarian, administrator, library science student, or educatorideas to support cooperative efforts in the library and beyond. This book will show you how to better interact with: other reference librarians face-to-face users online users library and academia faculty other libraries Cooperative Reference reveals how patrons perceive you from the other side of the desk. This book shows that first impressionshow you dress, your attitude, how you interact with other workers, and how you address the patron's questionsdirectly affect the patron's visit and influence his or her decisions about using your library in the future. The social skills in this volume can also directly benefit your library as library budgets can no longer keep up with the skyrocketing costs of library materials. To continue viability, many libraries must be willing to work together to share costs and experience. Other topics in Cooperative Reference include: tag-team referencinga dynamic, synergistic environment at the reference desk teaching librarians about interpersonal skillshow to establish professional, collegial relationships with one another librarians teaming up to teach a class together cooperative reference desk schedulinghow to create and implement tailored desk hours collection development between librarians for different departments working together to create online services a consolidation of reference services by two separate libraries Using several case examples, this well-referenced book takes an innovative look at the ever-increasing necessity for librarians to work together for the good of the patrons, the workers, and the library structure. Cooperative Reference will improve the reference services of public and academic libraries both large and small.

In this inside look at worker cooperatives, Joan Meyers challenges long-held views and beliefs. From the outside, worker cooperatives all seem to offer alternatives to bad jobs and unequal treatment by giving workers democratic control and equitable ownership of their workplaces. Some contend, however, that such egalitarianism and self-management come at the cost of efficiency and stability, and are impractical in the long run. Working Democracies focuses on two worker cooperatives in business since the 1970s that transformed from small countercultural collectives into thriving multiracial and largely working-class firms. She shows how democratic worker ownership can provide stability and effective business management, but also shows that broad equality is not an inevitable outcome despite the best intentions of cooperative members. Working Democracies explores the interconnections between organizational structure and organizational culture under conditions of worker control, revealing not only the different effects of managerialism and "participatory bureaucracy," but also how each bureaucratic variation is facilitated by how workers are defined by at each cooperative. Both bureaucratic variation and worker meanings are, she shows, are consequential for the reduction or reproduction of class, gender, and ethnoracial inequalities. Offering a behind the scenes comparative look at an often invisible type of workplace, Working Democracies serves as a guidebook for the future of worker cooperatives.

Compilation of essays on workers cooperatives in the USA - covers historical aspects of production cooperatives, the role of state aid in employment creation during the economic recession of the 1930s; includes case studies of workers cooperatives in Berkeley, California, partic. Membership, management, pricing, marketing; discusses the role of workers stock ownership and financing, legal aspects, workers participation and future perspectives. Bibliography, questionnaire, statistical tables.

Information technology has been used in organisational settings and for organisational purposes such as accounting, for a half century, but IT is now increasingly being used for the purposes of mediating and regulating complex activities in which multiple professional users are involved, such as in factories, hospitals, architectural offices, and so on. The economic importance of such coordination systems is enormous but their design often inadequate. The problem is that our understanding of the coordinative practices for which these systems are developed is deficient, leaving systems developers and software engineers to base their designs on commonsensical requirements analyses. The research reflected in this book addresses these very problems. It is a collection of articles which establish a conceptual foundation for the research area of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work.