Round Hole, Square Peg? Sustaining Dual Social And Commercial Goals In A Cooperative Bank

Bacq, Sophie; Battilana, Julie; Bovais, Hélène

doi:10.5465/ambpp.2018.10236abstract

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…(Besharov, 2014;Chandler, 2014;Glynn, 2000) often perceived as conflicting (Château Terrisse, 2012) and even competing (Poldner et al, 2017). Besides cognitive tensions (Ashforth & Reingen, 2014;Bovais, 2014;Foreman & Whetten, 2002), this can generate emotional stress (Ashforth, Rogers, Pratt & Pradies, 2014;Bacq et al, 2018). Moreover, organizational members may encounter issues speaking different languages (Dean & McMullen, 2007), such as favoring one kind of discourse over another or getting stuck in between discourses (Poldner et al, 2017).…”

Section: Challenges Facing Social Enterprisesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, the promotion system, based on ability, further rewarded the managers' for such commitment. A candidate for promotion commented, "I have seen many brilliant people fail because they did not embrace our values enough" (Bacq et al, 2018).…”

Section: Socializing Organizational Membersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…External growth is not, however, risk-free for hybrid organizations, because such acquisitions increase the danger of drifting away from their social mission. This raises the question of whether an organization can maintain its hybrid nature after acquiring a traditional for-profit company and, if so, how (Bacq et al, 2018).…”

Section: Interorganizational Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cracking the organizational challenge of pursuing joint social and financial goals: Social enterprise as a laboratory to understand hybrid organizing

Battilana¹

2018

M@n@gement

Self Cite

111

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While in recent decades the social and business sectors have evolved on fairly separate tracks, today companies are increasingly expected to generate social value in addition to profit. As a result, they also increasingly face the distinct challenge of pursuing social and financial goals at the same time. Social enterprises have a great deal of experience dealing with this challenge, as hybrid organizations that combine aspects of typical businesses (undertaking commercial activity) and not-for-profit organizations (pursuing a social mission). In this essay, I discuss my research, as well as that of others, on social enterprises, with the objective of tracing my perspective on the current state of knowledge regarding social enterprises and their capacity to pursue joint social and financial goals over time. I start by discussing how exposure to diverse organizational contexts and gender affect the founding of social enterprises, before presenting the distinct tensions of hybrid organizing and how social enterprises overcome them. In doing so, I suggest that we consider these challenges in terms of internal and external pressures related to both identity and resources. Building on existing research, I then identify four pillars that seem to play a critical role in enabling organizations to pursue joint social and financial goals over time-specifically, how organizations set goals, structure activities, select members and socialize those members. In my own research, I see that these four pillars both shape and are shaped by the culture of the organization. While they might configure these organizational elements differently, I observed that the organizations able to pursue both social and financial goals over time seem to share a commonality: they maintain a hybrid organizational culture that holds and balances tensions between creating social and economic value. In conclusion, I discuss areas for future research on the joint pursuit of financial and social goals in organizations.

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Section: Challenges Facing Social Enterprisesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Socializing Organizational Membersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Interorganizational Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cracking the organizational challenge of pursuing joint social and financial goals: Social enterprise as a laboratory to understand hybrid organizing

Battilana¹

2018

M@n@gement

Self Cite

111

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“…The “degeneration” hypothesis posits that, over time, many cooperatives tend to succumb to the pressures of the neoliberal, capitalist systems in which they are embedded (Storey, Basterretxea, & Salaman, 2014). For example, cooperatives face pressure to internationalize, replace worker-members with non-member workers, and concentrate power in the hands of a managerial elite, which can erode cooperative and social values (Bacq, Battilana, & Bovais, 2022; Bretos & Errasti, 2017; Flecha & Ngai, 2014). At the same time, scholars have also studied the potential for cooperatives to “regenerate,” reinstituting cooperative values and democratic practices (Flecha & Ngai, 2014; Storey et al, 2014).…”

Section: A Reality That Already Exists: Possibilities For More Democr...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Democratizing Work: Redistributing power in organizations for a democratic and sustainable future

Battilana¹,

Yen

Ferreras

et al. 2022

Organization Theory

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Environmental destruction and social inequalities are increasingly urgent challenges. How can corporations, which have played a key role in creating and reproducing these problems, be part of the solution? In this paper, we advance that a shift to more democratic forms of organizing within corporations may be an important part of this transition. We first review scholarship on the disempowerment of workers. We then make the case for democratizing organizations, arguing that workers need to participate in firm decision-making so they can protect their rights and interests. We further suggest that democratic organizing practices may enable corporations to successfully pursue social and environmental objectives alongside financial ones, which is also important for addressing societal challenges. We then propose a research agenda for studying the democratization of organizations and its implications. In doing so, we highlight how organization scholars can build on prior research on democratic forms of organizing and draw from extant social science research outside of mainstream management scholarship. We conclude by calling for research that will document, and help us better understand, what it takes to develop democratic and sustainable organizations and societies.

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Ownership and Mission Drift in Alternative Enterprises: The Case of a Social Banking Network

Spicer¹,

Lee-Chuvala²

2021

Research in the Sociology of Organizations

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Round Hole, Square Peg? Sustaining Dual Social And Commercial Goals In A Cooperative Bank

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Cracking the organizational challenge of pursuing joint social and financial goals: Social enterprise as a laboratory to understand hybrid organizing

Cracking the organizational challenge of pursuing joint social and financial goals: Social enterprise as a laboratory to understand hybrid organizing

Democratizing Work: Redistributing power in organizations for a democratic and sustainable future

Ownership and Mission Drift in Alternative Enterprises: The Case of a Social Banking Network

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