Followers of the Robert Owen Group’s website will have
noticed that the Members’ Council has posted a paper on member engagement for
wider discussion and feedback. We do encourage all our members to read this
paper and engage in the feedback – we need your thoughts and views on what is a
challenging area for all co-operatives.
The Members’ Council at their recent meeting discussed at
length the concept of loyalty as it is related to engaged members and this is
reflected in the discussion paper. Loyalty is a tricky concept and particularly
relevant in the contemporary world where the traditional bonds of loyalty are
visibly changing and weakening. Loyalty is usually seen as a virtue, albeit a
problematic one. It tends to be constituted by perseverance in an association
to which a person has become intrinsically committed. It is found in
friendships where loyalty is integral and many other relationships and associations
seek to encourage it as an aspect of affiliation or membership. Our families
expect it, organisations often demand it and countries do what they can to
foster it. Two of the key issues in any discussion on loyalty concerns its
status as a virtue and, if that status is granted, the limits which should be
placed on loyalty.
As a working definition, loyalty can be seen as a practical
disposition to persist in an intrinsically valued associational attachment. The
strong feelings and devotion often associated with loyalty have led some to believe
that loyalty is primarily a feeling or sentiment with an expression in actions.
The test of loyalty is in a sense a measure of the resultant conduct rather
than an intensity of feeling. It is primarily a glue which bonds the individual
to the people or the organisation with a perseverance which others can feel.
The loyal member of a co-operative organisation such as the Robert Owen group
stays with and remains committed even when it is disadvantageous or costly to
carrying on so doing. Our Robert Owen Group Members’ Council discussion paper
on member engagement advances the notion that a sense of ownership of a
co-operative is an emotional response.
Although we are inclined to speak of loyalty as though it
were a free floating practical concept it is also common to associate loyalty
with certain natural or conventional groupings. In fact our loyalty tends to be
expressed in loyalties. In other words one that tends to be tied to
conventional associations such as friendships, families, organisations, professions,
countries, religions, trade unions, sports teams and so on. Our loyalties are
closely bound to those we call ‘ours’. Thus my loyalties are to my friends, my
co-operative, my butcher’s shop, my school, my family, my country , not yours
unless yours are also mine. Accordingly the fate or well-being of the objects
of loyalty become bound up with my own. We feel shame or pride in their actions
and we will take risks or carry burdens for them.
The primary subjects of loyalty tend to be individual persons,
but loyalty is not restricted to these. Mutuality is a feature of many
loyalties, and it is often an expectation of the loyal individual that the
collective to which the individual is loyal will also be loyal in return. In
short loyalty becomes a necessary two way road. Thus our members of the Robert
Owen Group must see clear benefits in co-operative membership and be clear that
members are also loyal to one another on both an individual and on a collective
basis. Remember the CLARST pillars of a healthy co-operative:
- Loyalty
- Co-operation
- Altruism
- Reciprocity
- Solidarity
- Trust.
For a co-operative organisation with a largely school based
membership this mutuality of purpose will be challenging to achieve in the
current competitive climate in the public services.
However, it is not the part of loyalty to be compliant or
servile, though loyalty may be corrupted into such. In any bonds of loyalty
within a co-operative structure there must be openness to corrective criticism
on the part of both the co-operative and the member. This qualification is
essential if we are to uphold our common value of democracy. What must happen
is that the opposition stays within bounds that are compatible with the
well-being or best interests or continued business health of the co-operative.
Generally speaking a loyal membership will not advocate rebellion or revolution
for such actions would endanger the whole structure. However, Co-operatives
must not become essentially conservative bodies hell bent on maintaining the
status quo. They must be capable of evolution, reform and change which is
member owned and driven. It is informed member loyalty which will allow the
co-operative to grow and develop as it survives within a turbulent world.
The Robert Owen Group was created some twenty one years ago
by our pioneer Headteachers who knew and understood the potential of a member
owned co-operative held together by bonds of loyalty. We are now at a cross
roads where far too many of the new custodians of our schools, colleges and
community groups do not understand the true nature and value of co-operative loyalty.
Together we must work hard to re-create this mutual bonding. The Members’
Council discussion paper is the start. Please engage with it.
Go to http://www.robertowen.org/about-us/member-engagement-strategy.html to read the paper and take part in the consultation.
