Research Republic

This provocation paper was produced for the Good Work Commission, and argues that there is no fundamental connection between ownership structures and good work outcomes. Instead, ownership must be accompanied with changes to decision-making. It therefore considers evidence of the effects of different forms of employee ownership on corporate performance, both directly and as a result of more inclusive decision-making. It then goes on to compare Anglo-American and European forms of corporate ownership, and examines ideas of mutualism currently receiving much interest for public service provision. Having looked at the effects of ownership in and on the workplace, in this way, it emphasises that ownership changes must prompt a 'constitutional moment' – in which owners articulate the purposes of their organisation – to support good work.