DIRECTING DEMOCRACY: THE CASE OF THE JOHN LEWIS PARTNERSHIP Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Leicester by Abigail Cathcart BA (Hons) (Newcastle), MSc (Dist) (Northumbria) School of Management University of Leicester September 2009 Contents ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................... 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................... 2 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 3 BACKGROUND AND RESEARCH GAP .............................................................................. 4 CHAPTER OUTLINE ......................................................................................................... 7 CHAPTER 2: TOWARDS ORGANISATIONAL DEMOCRACY ................................................ 11 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 11 INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY, PARTICIPATION AND EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT ............. 12 THE AIMS OF ORGANISATIONAL DEMOCRACY ............................................................ 29 POWER ......................................................................................................................... 39 CONCLUSIONS .............................................................................................................. 49 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................... 56 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 56 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MY RESEARCH STRATEGY: EPISTEMOLOGICAL AND ONTOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS................................................................................ 57 METHODS ..................................................................................................................... 68 ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION OF THE DATA ............................................................. 78 ETHICS AND LIMITATIONS ........................................................................................... 83 CONCLUSION................................................................................................................ 86 STYLE GUIDE ................................................................................................................. 87 CHAPTER 4: THE STRUCTURE OF THE JOHN LEWIS PARTNERSHIP AND THE FOUNDER’S LEGACY ............................................................................................................................. 88 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 88 THE EARLY DAYS: JOHN LEWIS (1836-1928) ................................................................ 90 JOHN SPEDAN LEWIS (1885-1963) ............................................................................... 93 EARLY INFLUENCES ON JOHN SPEDAN LEWIS ............................................................. 96 THE BEGINNINGS OF PARTNERSHIP: THE PROCESS AND OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE . 103 THE PRINCIPLES AND OBJECTIVES OF THE JOHN LEWIS PARTNERSHIP .................... 106 THE PARTNERSHIP’S CONSTITUTION AND STRUCTURE ............................................ 124 RESEARCH ON THE JOHN LEWIS PARTNERSHIP ......................................................... 133 CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................. 136 CHAPTER 5: ALTERNATIVE ACCOUNTS OF ORGANISATIONAL DEMOCRACY ................ 138 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 138 WORKPLACE PARTNERSHIP ....................................................................................... 141 EMPLOYEE-OWNED ENTERPRISES ............................................................................. 143 CO-OPERATIVES ......................................................................................................... 158 CHAPTER 6: DEMOCRATIC STRUCTURES AT THE JOHN LEWIS PARTNERSHIP ............. 176 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 176 BRANCH LEVEL DEMOCRACY: THE CASE OF THE NORTHERN BRANCH ..................... 177 DIVISIONAL LEVEL DEMOCRACY: THE JOHN LEWIS DIVISIONAL COUNCIL ................ 190 PARTNERSHIP WIDE DEMOCRACY: THE JOHN LEWIS PARTNERSHIP COUNCIL......... 200 CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................. 209 CHAPTER 7: THE DEMOCRACY PROJECT ........................................................................ 210 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 210 THE PARTNER OPINION SURVEY ................................................................................ 211 THE LAUNCH OF THE DEMOCRACY PROJECT ............................................................ 214 THE NORTHERN BRANCH DEMOCRACY TRIAL ........................................................... 222 THE PARTNERSHIP’S EVALUATION OF THE DEMOCRACY TRIALS .............................. 232 CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................. 236 CHAPTER 8: DIRECTING DEMOCRACY AND PARADOXES OF PARTICIPATION ............... 237 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 237 DIRECTING DEMOCRACY............................................................................................ 238 PARADOX AND CONTRADICTIONS ............................................................................. 260 DIFFERENCE AND CONFORMITY ................................................................................ 273 CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................. 278 CHAPTER 9: CONCLUSIONS AND REFLECTIONS ............................................................. 281 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 281 KEY CONTRIBUTIONS ................................................................................................. 282 LIMITATIONS AND REFLECTIONS ............................................................................... 291 POSTSCRIPT: AN UPDATE ON THE DEMOCRACY TRIAL ............................................. 296 CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................. 298 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................... 299 APPENDIX A: CODING KEYS ........................................................................................... 329 KEY TO TRANSCRIPTS OF TAPED INTERVIEWS ........................................................... 329 KEY TO FIELD-NOTES .................................................................................................. 330 KEY TO OFFICIAL PARTNERSHIP DOCUMENTS ........................................................... 331 1 ABSTRACT Directing Democracy: The Case of the John Lewis Partnership Abigail Cathcart The John Lewis Partnership was founded in 1929 as an “experiment in industrial democracy” (Lewis, 1948). This thesis explores the meaning of democracy in the Partnership and examines the wider implications of the case. It argues that democracy in work should be viewed as something which is intrinsically valuable because of its connection to furthering justice, equality, freedom and the rights and interests of all workers. The thesis makes three main contributions. Firstly, the production of a historically situated exploration of democratic participation in the John Lewis Partnership – the largest co-owned business in the UK. Secondly, an analysis of power relations in the organisation and an examination of the ways in which disciplinary power and regimes of truth both constrain democratic practice and offer the potential for resistance and challenge. Thirdly, the thesis challenges critics of the Partnership who have dismissed it as a form of “pseudo democracy” (Pateman, 1970: 73) and “suffocatingly paternalistic” (Ramsay, 1980: 52). Despite the constant threat of degeneration and dilution of the value framework laid down by the founder, the Partnership’s continued commitment to democratic participation provides an important contribution to our understanding of co- ownership and democratically organised forms of work. The analysis shows that management have attempted to direct and define democracy in a highly constrained way, assigning it an instrumental purpose, and privileging the ‘business case’ for democratic engagement. However, the study emphasises that the meaning of democracy is heavily contested and fraught with contradictions and paradoxes. This creates a space in which understandings of equality, solidarity and democracy are debated by the 69,000 employees who are co-owners of the business. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the six and a half years it has taken me to complete my thesis I have changed careers, had a child, and moved to a different continent. The fact