Accountability refers to the ability of an organization or person to follow through, to make sure everyone does what they say they are going to do. A “system of accountability” is a transparent set of policies and practices that enables members of a co-op or group to hold each other accountable for tasks, and behavior. It is important to create systems so that the cooperative is held accountable to both its internal members and external stakeholders. (Drawn from DAWN-Eval-Toolkit)
Creating Internal Accountability
Ecology of Accountability
Creating Accountability within a Democratically Managed Business
Some cooperatives might be organized along the traditional hierarchies found in American businesses. For example, the Board may hire executive managers who hire employee-owners who carry out board decisions under the managers’ supervision. Some worker cooperatives, by contrast, are characterized by minimal hierarchy, perhaps flat or nearly flat pay scales, job rotation, and individuals held accountable not to a single supervisor, but to the whole cooperative.
A flat cooperative may ask the question: in the absence of hierarchy and coercive power, how do we delegate work and hold people accountable? A business founded on democratic workplace principles should spend extra time exploring the ways accountability will adopt in the workplace. If there are loose structures or no structures of command and control, leaders will arise spontaneously. Most cooperatives want to encourage this process. However, without formal structures, these leaders may operate without accountability and in a way that impairs democracy in the workplace.
Accountability - Board of Directors
If you choose to form your business as a cooperative corporation, i.e. under your state’s cooperative corporation statute, you must have a Board of Directors and Officers. The Board of Directors is a group of individuals who serve as the governing body of the cooperative. In this scenario it is important to prevent corrosive “us vs. them” scenarios, the Board should and/or must adopt measures to ensure its accountability to the workers such as
- Regular elections,
- Distribution of meeting minutes
- Solicitation of worker input
- Appointment of workers to special Board committees, etc.
Measures to hold directors accountable to the board:
- Evaluated for meeting attendance
- Participation
- Knowledge of issues affecting the business.
If an individual director or executive officer acts according to her own beliefs on what is best for the cooperative, but not in accordance with the deliberated decision of the Board, how does the Board reclaim its own authority?
Accountability- Officers/Managers
Managers need to be directly accountable to the worker-owners by:
- inviting participation from workers prior to making a decision,
- explaining their decisions,
- providing means for review and evaluation by workers.
Maintaining Accountability to your Community
A cooperative is not only needed to create a system of accountability internally but also explore how you are maintaining accountability to the community you are a part of. The seventh cooperative principle is a concern for your community which means cooperatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies supported by the membership.
Here are a few questions to consider:
- If a cooperative principle includes contributing to the community in which the cooperative operates, how will the cooperative be held accountable to the community?
- Will members of the community be invited to the Board of Directors?
- How will the company monitor its social, economic, and environmental impacts on the community?
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