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The Relational Production of Workplace Equality: The Case of Worker-Recuperated Businesses in Argentina

Katherine Sobering | August, 2019

Work organizations are commonly studied as sites that produce and reproduce inequality. But we know much less about how organizations promote equality. This article examines efforts to broaden access to power, opportunity, and resources in Hotel Bauen, a worker-recuperated business that was converted from a privately-owned company into a worker-run cooperative. Drawing on extensive ethnographic … Read More

Producing and Reducing Gender Inequality in a Worker-Recovered Cooperative

Katherine Sobering | January, 2016

Decades of feminist scholarship documents the persistence of gender inequality in work organizations. Yet few studies explicitly examine gender inequality in collectivist organizations like worker cooperatives. This article draws on the “theory of gendered organizations” to consider how gender operates in a worker-recovered cooperative in contemporary Argentina. Based on ethnographic and archival research in Hotel … Read More

Case Studies: Business Conversions to Worker Cooperatives: Insights and Readiness Factors for Owners and Employees

Alison Lingane, Shannon Rieger | April, 2015

How does a business go about transitioning —“converting”— to a worker-owned cooperative? This report provides illustrations with case studies of businesses that have converted and highlights key lessons from those companies’ experiences. The report categorizes conversions into four types: Type I: Owner sells to existing employees with the intention of remaining with the company; Type … Read More

Wunnerful, Wunnerful! The Lawrence Welk ESOP 

Martin Staubus | December, 2013

In 1964, the famous television bandleader Lawrence Welk went for a drive in the country north of San Diego, Calif. planning to invest in a grove of orange trees. Instead he bought a motel and a nine-hole golf course. One of the keys to their business success has been their philosophy of treating their employees like family… 

Starbucks Coffee Company 

Alison Stanley, Paul A. Argenti | January, 2002

This case traces the origins of Starbucks and its rapid growth through joint partnerships and diversified products, and its rapid expansion of retail cafes. A profile of Starbuck’s financial contributions to community development and literacy projects, and its efforts to promote progressive workplace conditions is presented. Despite this, criticisms of pushing out local businesses, homogenization … Read More