Egan, T P (1993) Home restoration cooperative: A case study of a small construction craft skill worker participative cooperative. PhD thesis, University of Kentucky, USA.
Abstract
Most work done in the United States takes place within the context of bureaucratic structures. Even when work takes place within a craft administration, rather than bureaucratic administration context, the work is still subject to a hierarchy of authority where inequalities of skill, tools and capital are used to maintain stratification within each craft skill. The construction industry is no exception. Home Restoration Cooperative is a small organization devoted to cooperative decision making and work within the context of restoration of single family dwellings in a poor area of a mid-sized mid-western city in the United States. The organization has been in existence since the spring of 1984. The members have always been unequal in level and number of craft skills knowledge, tool ownership and economic resources. Inequalities of resources are not used to perpetuate intra-craft stratification, but rather are seen and used as group resources. This is accomplished by the rotation of types of work, the teaching of the less skilled by those more skilled, by more financially advantaged members providing financial resources for less advantaged members, and, by the consensus decision making apparatus and processes within the organization. Home Restoration Cooperative is thus different from both bureaucratic and craft administration of work. Further, though this cooperative is like some "pathfinder" cooperatives discussed in the literature, it has distinct characteristics which set it apart from this category as well. Home Restoration Cooperative seems to embody both cooperative collective principles, as well as, individualistic private profit orientations. The organization is interesting in that it contains certain internal contradictions and tensions that result from this ambiguous relationship with the larger society and culture that is neither a full acceptance of the social environment, nor a wholescale rejection of that environment either. This case study attempts to position Home Restoration Cooperative within the context of this ambiguity. This may shed "light" on both the literature having bearing on this organization, as well as, the unique characteristics of this organization that may lead us to better understand additional possible categories of craft skill cooperative organizations.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Hougland, J |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | United States; case study; craft skills; culture; decision making; dwellings; ownership; skills; teaching |
| Index terms: | stratification, restoration, decision-making, profit, society, United States, craft skill, construction industry, ownership, inequality, case study |
| Subjects: | communities and social development, social justice, Geography, economic analysis, industry analysis, decision analysis, sociology, management, renovation and retrofit, economics, data collection methods |
| Topics: | Stakeholder Management, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Organizational Design, Human Resources, Risk Management, Engineering Principles, Geographical Context, Ethics |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here