DEVELOPMENT OR CONVERGENCE - CHANGE AND STABILITY IN A COMMON OWNERSHIP FIRM OVER 3 DECADES - 1960-89

The life history of work cooperatives in capitalist societies offers a fruitful field for examining the factors which may influence their de velopment as distinctive alternatives to prevailing work cultures or t heir tendencies to revert to prevailing norms. The case study presente d in this article explores change and stability in a long-established British common ownership firm, comparing data from studies in 1960 and 1989. Evolution from paternalist to managerialist leadership is analy sed using an action approach. A force-field perspective is employed to examine the interaction of pressures for development, convergence and the maintenance of the status quo, and to explain the equilibrium whi ch has resulted.