THE CO-OPINDEX the tool’s reliability for co-operative

development: Analysis of data collected so far, and plans for the future

Ryszard Stocki Peter Hough

Research supported by the European Union

WHY TO DIAGNOSE CO-OP?All value-based organizations are subject to forces which lead to abandoning their values and principles. If nothing is done they

decline and fall.

Time

Development (e.g. size)

Point of renewalArea of possible !change

Inevitable fall

Decline starts at the moment! of the greatest prosperity

Initial!adherence!to values

WE DO NOT NOTICE THE CHANGES LIKE A FROG IN A HOT POT UNTIL IT IS BOILED

Only monitoring the organization, reflection and habitual returning to the initial values can save the

organization from inevitable destruction. We may use

many different methods to do this, starting from

ordinary group meeting and reflection. The problem is

that in such discussions we my be avoiding difficult

topics. We need to objectify.cc Purple Slog at flickr.com

WE STARTED WITH A DREAM VISION OF AN IDEAL CO-OP

Following the values seems very difficult to diagnose. If you want to do it you have to start with accepting human

experience as a reliable source of information, and you have to do everything to objectify this experience to make it reflect not subjective but objective reality. What if all people are mistaken because of lack of knowledge or lack of access to information. You have to confront their experience with other data to change their experience. This is why diagnosis is always a learning process, and you should never make the

mistake of making decisions on the basis of mere questionnaire results.

CoopIndex results are just a starting point for better understanding of your co-op not the end of it.

WE VERBALIZED “A DREAM COOP” IN 172 DESCRIPTIVE STATEMENTS AND CLASSIFIED THEM

WITHIN DIFFERENT SCALES

IN COOPINDEX WE ASK 172 QUESTIONS ABOUT DAILY CO-OP

PRACTICES

ONLY AFTER SUCH DISCUSSION CAN WE DRAW CONCLUSIONS ABOUT THE WEAKNESSES OF VALUES, PRINCIPLES, SYSTEMS, CLIMATE, ATTITUDES AND

OUTCOMES.

Practices

CO-OP INDEX

Co-op

Prin

ciples

Co-op

Value

s

System

sClim

ate

Attitudes

Outcomes

Then we group the answers according to categories. The

results are meant to evoke strategic

discussion.

TPIM

DIAGNOSTIC PROCESS

Ideal Coops

Real Co-ops

EPIDEMIOLOGICAL MEASUREMENT ANALOGICAL TO MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS Number of positive similarities x number of persons who experience them

The tool reflects the perception of presence or absence of good

practices. The ideal is based on the concept of participation being an

element of human dignity and Coop Values and Principles

In medicine: Symptoms x Victims

Focus on positive aspects and not pathologies is the main difference between

our and medical diagnosis. Though lack of any positive experience is a sign of a pathology.

Such pathological organizations never want to be diagnosed.

CHARACTERISTICS OF 10 CANADIAN AND US CO-OPS WHO DECIDED TO

USE THE TOOL Industry, (number of respondents and country) 1. Engineering Co-op (3 - US) 2. Services (102 - US) 3. Retail Stores (47 - US) 4. Restaurant (32 - Canada) 5. Food processing (69 - Canada) 6. Service and production (23 - US) 7. Service (45 - Canada) 8. Engineering service (14 - Canada)

IN STEP 1. WE FOUND OUT THAT OUR QUESTIONS FALL INTO TWO DIFFERENT RESEARCH

PARADIGMS

To understand answers to such questions we have to better

understand the coop.

43 statements 129 statements

Most of the questions were answered as if they came from one population. We can use them to make generalizations.

When we analyzed the distributions of the answers we found out that in 43 questions, we cannot draw general conclusions, as there is a hidden factor which

influences the results and destroys the normality of the distribution.

STEP 2. TESTING THE RELIABILITY OF THE SCALES BY MEANS OF CRONBACH’S α

Management !Perspective

3 PerspectivesCo-op

Values

Co-op !Principles

Climate

Outcom

es

Systems

Attitude

s

The same set of 172 questions was used to view a cooperative from three different perspectives: (1) Co-op values, (2) Co-op Principles and (3)

Management practices. We found out that it is worth to view the results in this way as different people in a co-op are interested in different perspectives.

MANAGEMENT (1)

Organizational climate

1. Mutual Respect α=0.79

2. Leader Competence, α=0.57

3. Trust in leadership, α=0.76

4. Relations with co-workers, α=0.80 5. Trust among co-workers α=0.77 6. Participatory management α=0.84 7. Fun, α=0.67 !

!

!

!

Systems

8. Communication systems, α=0.77

9. Transparency, α=0.62

10. Feedback systems, α=0.72

11. Development of co-op members, α=0.74 12. Innovations, α=0.72

13. Remuneration, α=0.85

14. Processes, α=0.80

15. Personnel policies and recruitment, α=0.70 16. Strategy, α=0.87

Reliability of scales in the management perspective, the interpretation of the highlighted scale should be performed with special caution.

MANAGEMENT (2)

Attitudes

17. Participatory knowledge, α=0.82 18. Ownership, α=0.80

19. Process improvement, α=0.69

20. Responsibility, α=0.61 !

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!

!

!

!

Outcomes

21. Identification, α=0,67

22. Satisfaction, α=0.74 23. Self-realization, α=0.77

24. Independence, α=0.46

25. Viability, α=0.76 26. Products and services, α=0.75

27. Cooperation with coops, α=0.82 28. Community, α=0.84

29. Environment, α=0.85

30. External relations, α=0.56

Reliability of scales in the management perspective, the interpretation of the highlighted scales should be performed with special caution.

CO-OPERATIVE VALUES

1. Self-help, α=0.70 2. Self-responsibility, α=0.49

3. Democracy, α=0.81 4. Equality, α=0.64 5. Equity, α=0.80

6. Solidarity, α=0.70 7. Honesty, α=0.74

8. Openness, α=0.72 9. Social responsibility, α=0.87 10. Caring for others, α=0.62

Reliability of scales in the Co-op Values perspective, the interpretation of the highlighted scale should be performed with special caution.

CO-OPERATIVE PRINCIPLES ICA AND MONDRAGON

1. Voluntary and open membership, α=0,68 2. Democratic member control, α=0.76

3. Member economic participation, α=0,77 4. Autonomy and independence, α=0.47

5. Education, training and information, α=0.80 6. Co-operation among Co-operatives, α=0.83

7. Concern for community, α=0.84 8. Concern for the environment. α=0.85

9. Participatory management, α=0.76 10. Labour control, α=0.66

11. Payment solidarity, α=0.79 12. Social transformation, α=0.79

Reliability of scales in the Co-op Principles perspective, the interpretation of the highlighted scale should be performed with special caution.

STEP 3. PCA - AS ID THERE WERE NO MODEL

• We selected 60 co-operative specific questions with with distributions close to normal distribution.

• We substituted the missing data with mean values.

• We tested the sampling adequacy and sphericity to find out if our analysis was possible.Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of sampling adequacy = 0.89 Bartlett’s Test of sphericity Approx chi-square = 3577.41 (p< 0.000)

• We performed Varimax Rotation

In the last step of the analysis we looked at the data as if we had not had any models. We wanted to see what components would be created if mere

mathematical correlations were allowed to construct a new model for us.

WE ARRIVED AT12 NEW COMPONENTS WHICH TRANSCEND THE MANAGEMENT AND CO-

OPERATIVE PERSPECTIVES , WE CALLED THEM CO-OPERATIVE UNIVERSALS

1. Human dignity, α=0.89 2. Transcooperation, α=0.82 (Co-operation among co-operatives)

3. Community, α=0.80 4. Development, α=0.79

5. Fairness, α=0.82 6. Transformation, α=0.75

7. Engagement, α=0.70 8. Security, α=0.59

9. Responsibility, α=0.73 10. Citizenship, α=0.64

11. CoopLiteracy, α=0.63 12. Co-operative Lifestyle, α=0.68

THE MOST IMPORTANT, FIRST COMPONENT SEEMS TO REFLECT THE ESSENCE OF CO-OPERATIVES. IT IS COMPOSED OF THE QUESTIONS BELOW:

67. Experienced employees assist in the professional development of their junior colleagues. 87. People in our co-op respect each other's opinions. 23. My supervisor consults me about the tasks entrusted to me. 165. My contribution to discussions is respected. 42. I have the opportunity to influence which tasks I will perform. 56. Members and employees are more important than capital to our management. 13. When making decisions my co-workers and supervisors take my welfare into account. 3. I am willing to participate in the evaluation of my coworkers' work. 16. The effort of individuals is honestly appraised. 37. I trust people in our co-op. 118. Different points of view are welcomed by my coworkers

THE 12 FIGURES BELOW SHOW THE DIFFERENCE OF THE RESULTS OF THE EIGHT CO-OPS ON THE TWELVE CO-OP UNIVERSALS. AS WE CAN SEE THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR

CO-OPERATION AS THE CO-OPS DIFFER IN THEIR STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES.

• Offering the tool to other co-ops (Consumer Co-ops, Credit Unions, Co-op Banks)

• Training of Co-op Developers in using the tool.

• Shortening the tool (introducing general and more detailed diagnosis)

• Substituting the 30 Management scales with 12 Co-op Universals.

• Defining co-operative literacy and its development.

• Focussing on the importance of lifestyles.

POSSIBLE FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

www.coopindex.coop www.stocki.org

Peter Hough!peter.cwcf@xcountry.tv

Ryszard Stocki!ryszard@stocki.org

Authors:

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