Democratic member control in Chinese cooperatives: A study of the Gung Ho Movement
Table Of Contents
<p> Table of Contents </p><p>Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements..........................................................................................................................v List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. viii Abbreviations..................................................................................................................................ix
Chapter ONE
: Introduction................................................................................................................1 1.1 Research Contribution ............................................................................................................4 </p><p>1.2 Chapter Outline.......................................................................................................................7Chapter TWO
: Gung Ho ..................................................................................................................11 2.1 Cooperatives.........................................................................................................................11 2.1.1 Cooperative Definition...................................................................................................11 </p><p>2.1.2 Types of Cooperative Enterprise ...................................................................................16 </p><p>2.1.3 Cooperatives: development and modern significance ...................................................17 </p><p>2.2 History of Cooperatives in China .........................................................................................18 </p><p>2.3 The Gung Ho Movement......................................................................................................22 2.3.1 Rewi Alley and the beginning of the Gung Ho movement............................................22 </p><p>2.3.2 The Gung Ho Movement Goes into Hiatus ...................................................................24 </p><p>2.3.3 Revival of the International Committee for Chinese Industrial Cooperatives...............24 </p><p>2.4 The New Zealand China Friendship Society........................................................................26 2.4.1 Establishment of New Zealand China Friendship Society ............................................26 </p><p>2.4.2 New Zealand China Friendship Society and the Gung Ho Movement..........................26 </p><p>2.5 Shandan County....................................................................................................................27 2.5.1 The Shandan Bailie School............................................................................................28 </p><p>2.5.2 Shandan Cooperative Experimental Zone .....................................................................29 </p><p>2.5.3 Work of New Zealand China Friendship Society in Shandan .......................................29 </p><p>2.6 The 2007 Farmers’ Professional Cooperative Law ..............................................................30 2.6.1 Definition of a cooperative under Chinese Law ............................................................30 </p><p>2.6.2 Chinese Cooperative Principles.....................................................................................31 </p><p>2.6.3 Development of Chinese Cooperatives under the 2007 Law.........................................33 </p><p>2.7 Conclusion............................................................................................................................35Chapter 3
: Cooperative Democracy ...............................................................................................36 3.1 Historical Development of a Democratic Workplace...........................................................36 </p><p>3.2 Variations in Terminology....................................................................................................40 </p><p>3.3 Working Definition of Workplace Democratization ............................................................43 </p><p>3.3.1 ‘Measuring’ workplace democracy................................................................................47 </p><p>3.4 Workplace Democratization within Cooperatives................................................................49 </p><p>3.5 Workplace Democracy within Chinese Cooperatives..........................................................61 </p><p>3.6 Conclusion............................................................................................................................70Chapter FOUR
: Cooperatives as relationships of power ..................................................................72 4.1 The Contested Nature of Democracy ...................................................................................73 </p><p>4.2 Organization and Power .......................................................................................................74</p><p> 4.3 Discursive Reality.................................................................................................................76 </p><p>4.4 Critical Discourse Analysis view of power..........................................................................81 </p><p>4.5 Foucaldian Discourse Analysis view of power ....................................................................82 </p><p>4.6 Examples of Foucaldian Discourse Analysis in management studies..................................89 </p><p>4.7 Critiques of Foucaldian Discourse Analysis ........................................................................94 </p><p>4.8 Cooperatives as Relationships of Power ..............................................................................97 </p><p>4.9 Conclusion............................................................................................................................97Chapter FIVE
: Research Design ......................................................................................................99 5.1 Research Strategies.............................................................................................................100 5.1.1 An ethnographic approach ...........................................................................................102 </p><p>5.2 Locating myself as a researcher..........................................................................................104</p><p>5.3 Data Collection...................................................................................................................106 5.3.1 Interviews.....................................................................................................................107 </p><p>5.3.2 Observation ..................................................................................................................112 </p><p>5.3.3 Secondary Data ............................................................................................................113 </p><p>5.4 Translation..........................................................................................................................114 </p><p>5.5 Ethical Implications............................................................................................................115 </p><p>5.6 Methodological Limitations ...............................................................................................116 </p><p>5.7 Data Analysis......................................................................................................................119 </p><p>5.8 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................128 Chapter 6: What’s in a name? Exploring the meanings of the Cooperative Enterprise in China 129 6.1 Local experience versus international standards................................................................132 </p><p>6.2 Under the Influence ............................................................................................................139 </p><p>6.3 Common people, uncommon knowledge ...........................................................................149 </p><p>6.4 Progress not Perfection.......................................................................................................157 </p><p>6.5 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................161 Chapter 7: The Meanings and Practice of Democracy in Chinese Cooperatives.........................163 viii 7.1 Chinese Democratic Parameters.........................................................................................163 7.2 Democratic Meanings.........................................................................................................169 </p><p>7.3 Cooperative Democracy in Practice ...................................................................................176 </p><p>7.4 The role of leadership.........................................................................................................187 </p><p>7.5 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................195 Chapter 8: Discussion...................................................................................................................196 8.1 Inconsistencies and opportunities in defining a ‘true’ Chinese cooperative ......................197 </p><p>8.2 Workplace Democracy and the leader/ member relationship.............................................205 </p><p>8.3 The Chinese Communist Party and its relationship to Workplace Democracy in the Shandan cooperatives...............................................................................................................213 </p><p>8.4 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................222 Chapter 9: Conclusion..................................................................................................................224 9.1 Key Arguments...................................................................................................................224 </p><p>9.2 Contributions to the study of workplace democracy and cooperatives..............................231 </p><p>9.3 Methodological Contributions............................................................................................235 </p><p>9.4 Practical Implications.........................................................................................................236 </p><p>9.5 Future Research ..................................................................................................................237 9.6 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................240 REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................242 Appendix A: Interview Questions for ICCIC Members in Beijing and Shanghai.......................269 Appendix B: Interview Questions for Cooperative Leaders........................................................271 Appendix C: Interview Questions for Cooperative Members......................................................273 Appendix D: Observation Guidelines..........................................................................................275 </p>Project Abstract
ABSTRACT
Since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party has encouraged various forms of collective agricultural organizations in an effort to improve economic development for those living in rural areas. The introduction of a Specialized Farmers’ Cooperative Law in 2007 has seen an upsurge in the formation and registration of agricultural cooperatives in China. The law specifically states that Chinese cooperatives must be democratically managed. The main aim of this thesis is to explore the various meanings of democracy within Chinese cooperatives. To do this, the meaning and definition of the cooperative enterprise in China, is also scrutinized. Modern day cooperatives in Shandan County, that have been historically associated with the ‘Gung Ho’ movement, are the empirical focus of this thesis. This thesis makes an original contribution to the field of workplace democracy by presenting a qualitative exploration of democracy within cooperative organizations in China. Over recent years, there have been a limited number of efforts by scholars to quantitatively measure the level of democracy within Chinese cooperatives through the use of large-scale surveys. In contrast, this thesis draws on ethnographic principles of data collection. A series of in-depth interviews, conducted over a seven month period in China, provides a rich data source to examine the meanings of democracy within Chinese cooperatives. Unlike the studies previously conducted within this academic field in China, this thesis does not assume there is necessarily a single appropriate definition that can accurately measure the complex concept of democracy on a quantitative scale. This thesis adopts a critical approach to the research questions based on the analytical theories of Michel Foucault, in particular, his theories of power/ knowledge relations. The discourse(s) that interview informants used to describe their interactions and experiences within their cooperatives allow for an exploration of the power relations that exist to circulate, regulate, and resist the discourse(s) on democracy. This thesis presents an alternative perspective to the commonly used quantitative studies and provides an alternative approach that is able to further analyze and understand the function and presence of democracy in Chinese cooperatives. The use of this theoretical approach leads to a discussion on the complex power relationships between cooperative members and their leaders
Project Overview
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND STUDY
The underlying premise of this thesis is that cooperative enterprises have the potential to stimulate economic development and encourage democratic participation. The focus of this thesis is an exploration of agricultural cooperatives in China. However, the benefits of cooperative development have been experienced worldwide. Over recent years, there has been a growing interest in cooperative enterprises from major international agencies. In recognition of the important role cooperatives play in social development, poverty reduction, employment creation and participatory development, the United Nations (UN) declared 2012 as the ‘International Year of Cooperatives’ (UN, 2011a). The UN has acknowledged the impact that cooperatives have on improving social integration, and the successful development of common social and economic needs and aspirations (UN, 2011b). The International Labour Organization (ILO) hails cooperatives as people centred organizations concerned for their members and communities, and which also place a high regard on democratic and human values (Birchall, 2003). It is proposed that, through their promotion, cooperatives have the potential to positively contribute towards the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals that were set by the UN in 2000, especially in regard to halving poverty by the year 2015 (Logue & Yates, 2006). Cooperatives have been touted as organizations that help the poor and should hence be given more support in the interests of social equity and fair globalization (Birchall, 2004; Bibby and Shaw, 2005). The purpose of this thesis is to explore the definition of cooperatives from the perspective of cooperative members in China. Specifically, it will focus on the meaning of democratic member control, a pivotal feature of the cooperative enterprise. As defined by the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), cooperatives are “an autonomous association of individuals united voluntarily to meet their economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise” (ICA, 1995). The ICA is the world’s largest nongovernmental organization (NGO) representing over a billion cooperative members worldwide.
Essentially, a cooperative is an organization that is owned by its members, controlled by its members, and operates for the benefit of its members (Barton, 1989). There are a number of different forms of the cooperative enterprise including: producer, supplier, worker, and financial cooperatives, each with its own unique purpose for cooperation between individuals who choose to join the cooperative. Cooperatives aggregate the market power of individuals who on their own could achieve little or nothing; therefore, they provide a way out of poverty and powerlessness. Through collective ownership, individuals pool resources together and share risks in order to solve common problems.
1.2 Research Contribution
This study contributes to the WD literature by offering an account of how democratic member participation operates within the unique political and social environment of north-west China. While there has been much theorizing about the potential and problems of WD, only a small amount of empirical research looking at the phenomenon within cooperatives has been published. Only a handful of studies look at aspects of WD in Chinese cooperatives. Democratic member control is one of the most essential features of a cooperative enterprise and it differentiates them from other types of business entity (ICA, 1995). However, scholars point out the lack of research published on the inner workings of democracy within cooperatives (Harrison, 1994; Skurnik, 2002). Even less has been published about how agricultural cooperatives in China approach democratic decision making amongst their membership. This study provides an insight into a fast growing cooperative sector, both in China, and across the globe. It explores the significance of what it means to be a member of an agricultural cooperative from the perspective of the cooperative members themselves. Considering the size, success and long history of the Gung Ho Movement in China, it is surprising to see that very little has been written about how this social movement operates within management, organizational behaviour, and industrial relations literature (although there have been articles published on Gung Ho in cooperative studies (Clegg & Cook; 2011) and development journals (Chen, 1999)).
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