Modas de gestión en el siglo XX y modelo cooperativo: convergencias implícitas hacia una empresa de alto rendimiento

In this study we endeavour to expose the falseness of a certain sense of underlying inferiority in the company model advocated by the social economy. We will do so by describing and analysing certain “recent” management trends whose origins run from the end of the Second World War to the close of the 20th century and which can be grouped into four tendencies. Teamwork training in the ‘forties, self-managed teams in the ‘eighties and the internal marketing in the ‘nineties could be seen as trends that lean towards democracy. We could classify participation in profits and various collective incentive mechanisms (through profits or shares) as tendencies with a slant towards economic participation. Quality circles and total quality management could be considered trends that lie within a tendency towards excellence, in the sense that they require everyone’s involvement. Lastly, we would group trends such as values-based management and corporate social responsibility within a tendency that places particular emphasis on values. Our hypothesis is clear: the business approach represented by the “specific” management model employed in cooperative enterprises entails an implicit convergence of these tendencies and trends due to their particular emphasis on achieving the objectives of social and economic participation. By assuming this convergence, be it only in part, we would have to question the unfounded nature of democracy and participation, and the “competitive disadvantage” of the alternative model and its unacknowledged originality.