We have a neighbourhood community garden across the street. I ventured over there early this summer, as the plot owned by the elementary school is often overgrown during summer months with copious lavender and lemon balm there for the taking.
I filled my palm with lavender and noticed a woman a few plots over, watching me. “Hello!” she said. “Are you a gardener here?” She had a suspicious facial expression but her tone was friendly.
“No,” I admitted. “I’m just here for the overgrown lemon balm and lavender, the school plot isn’t normally tended to over the summer months. I haven’t been down here in a few years though.”
We had a friendly chat about the garden. I asked if any plots were available and got the same answer as always: “No, sorry, they’re all taken. Most of the plots have had the same owner for years, ever since the garden was created. Some of them don’t even live in town anymore. That plot over there, see that?” She gestured towards a badly overgrown, untended plot. “That person lives on Vancouver Island! But they come out once or twice a summer and they don’t want to give up their plot.”
I was reflecting on this situation yesterday, as I pondered the amusing concept of “corporate social responsibility”. And then I had an “Aha!” moment.
In large publicly held corprorations, the shareholders often have very little to do with the day-to-day business of the company they own. Ownership has nothing to do with work, in these cases. Ownership of these companies exists in a vacuum, an end unto itself. The ownership interest of these shareholders has been disconnected from the actual business of the company.
Something is wrong here.
Looked at from another point of view, the publicly held company (or even some very large privately held companies with many shareholders) has been severed, disconnected, from its people – the owners. The company functions as a headless body. The owners are bodiless heads.
Being disconnected, both in reality and in concept, owners and the business entities that they own can safely perform ethically questionable acts together. Neither entity is totally responsible for these corporate acts. Management is just fulfilling the orders of the Board of Directors. The Board is just serving on behalf of the owners. The owners are only owning – nothing else. And this is how it has come to be that nobody is responsible. This ownership disconnect is the reason that corporations are soulless, mindless, resource-gobbling, unethical destructive machines. Corporations have become monsters which have gone rogue on their owners – with permission and even encouragement.
As an owner of a large corporation, you can stand back and shrug. Whatever! I’m just the shareholder. I don’t run the place. I have no idea. I trust the courts, our lawmakers, the securities commission – if they’re quiet, then it’s all good. That’s all I know.
There is a qualitative difference between this type of nebulous, disconnected ownership (like those people who have permanently claimed those garden plots, whether they use them or not) and the type of ownership a small businessperson has over their proprietorship.
A small business owner is likely hands-on, involved in daily business, making purchasing decisions, in charge of overall performance. This type of ownership is more organic, more natural, than shareholders of large corporations.
Even more natural are co-operative businesses, run by staff who are also owners. There does not seem to be any downside to running a business this way. Taking pride in the business and participating in the bottom line always motivates people to do their best – no exceptions. These types of businesses thrive commercially and competitively. There is no reason not to have them.
How do we transform our economy from being comprised mostly of empty, hands-off shareholders, to having vibrant co-operative staff-owned enterprises?
Simple. Somebody just do it. There’s a highly successful American bakery run this way – every single employee is an owner, and they all share equally in the profits. They rotate around so that each person will perform all of the duties involved. Nobody gets stuck with the joe-jobs. Nobody takes the plum job for themselves. Decisions are made by consensus and/or super-majority. Do the research, find these businesses, and set one up for yourself.
If enough people just went ahead and set up alternative business models, the old model would gradually fade away. It’s hard to move away from something bad, something which doesnt work, into nothing at all. We need options.
I bet that consumers would be willing to support employee-owners, who are keenly interested in maximizing service and quality since they will share in the profits. People will flock to these businesses not only because they provide a superior product (due to having happier, healthier staff), but because this is an idea whose time has come.
NOTE: none of the above is a suggestion that existing, thriving businesses should re-structure. Many longstanding locally-owned businesses provide good solid jobs. If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. Rather, the Co-Op business model is a suggestion for people who are skilled, out of work, willing to forge new ground and work together towards common goals. See Argentina. Naomi Klein knows all about this of course & she made a doc that everybody should see.
