A Matrix Form of Multi-Organizational Hybridity in a Cooperative-Union Venture
ISBN: 978-1-83867-990-3, eISBN: 978-1-83867-989-7
Publication date: 24 March 2021
Abstract
We explore a case example of hybridity between a large worker-owned cooperative and a union through three lenses: organizational forms, multiple institutional logics, and organizational identity. We delineate three types of organizational hybridity: (1) stretching an existing organizational form; (2) creating a new organizational form; and (3) and retaining multiple discrete organizational forms in a common venture. The cooperative–union hybrid shares members from the two contributing organizations, and so can be classified as a matrix sub-form of multi-organizational hybridity. This study describes how the coop-union hybrid manages the multiple logics and identities retained from both contributing organizations. It considers the hazards of combining these logics and identities, and offers some suggestions on how to avoid potential difficulties. Finally, given the complexity and inefficiencies of the matrix form, we explore whether matrix hybridity is a transitional or permanent form in this particular instance of a cooperative–union venture.
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments
We would like to acknowledge the generosity of Cooperative Home Care Associates and 1199SEIU in assisting us to identify interviewees and in providing space for those interviews. Special thanks to Adria Powell, president and CEO of CHCA, and Keith Joseph, vice president of 1199SEIU, for their graciousness. Additionally, we would like to thank Katherine Chen and Victor Chen for their indomitable support and assistance over the multiple versions of this paper, and to Sanjay Pinto for our conceptual exchanges.
Citation
Mandiberg, J.M. and Kim, S.M. (2021), "A Matrix Form of Multi-Organizational Hybridity in a Cooperative-Union Venture", Chen, K.K. and Chen, V.T. (Ed.) Organizational Imaginaries: Tempering Capitalism and Tending to Communities through Cooperatives and Collectivist Democracy (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 72), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 141-162. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20210000072006
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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