Loss of Communal Sustainability: The Kibbutz Shift from High-Trust to Low-Trust Culture (original) (raw)
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Socoiological Inquiry 71(1): 13-38., 2001
A study of four kibbutzim substantiates that there has been a gross misapprehension by the customary research approach of the role played by their federative structure and job rotation of managers in the decline of their high trust, democratic culture and managerial creativity. Trust is an alternative to coercion and creates distinct organizational forms which are viable for the long term only with such creativity. Creativity has succeeded where and when high moral powerholders backed innovative managers whose problem-solving enhanced trust in leadership and engendered an egalitarian, high trust culture. However, growth of federative organizations (FOs) and Michels' Iron Law continuity of top leaders engendered conservatism and oligarchy. Moreover, though FOs enhanced the early success of kibbutzim, Rotation at their lower ranks exacerbated the oligarchy problem and FOs tendency to imitate capitalist firms’ low trust, hierarchic culture. However, the above did not prevent creativity of new managers in some kibbutzim and other kibbutzim imitating such creatives until a Hirschmanian negative selection in promotion of radical, high moral creatives caused lower moral conservatives and/or outside society imitators to succeed the high moral old guard at top echelons, and the vanishing of backing for innovators in the hitherto creatively managed kibbutzim. Without this creativity, imitation of capitalist firms proliferated from FOs into kibbutzim; self-servant management, which dominated FOs for decades became dominant among inside kibbutz officers, mutual trust with them eroded, the underpinning of their unique culture was compromised, and will be soon lost unless high moral creativity is renewed. Substantiating empirical connection between trust, high moral leadership, and managerial creativity, this new explanation for kibbutz decline pinpoints the crux of the sustainability of communal democratic culture in the linkage of power to high moral leadership, by keeping in power trusted high moral leaders and early replacement of self-servant conservatives and/or imitators of hierarchic cultures. A preliminary idea for achieving that aim, predicated on managers continuation of in office being conditional on periodic test of members trust and managers succession when that trust did not grow enough from previous test, is herein presented.
What is the connection between leaders' morality and the output performance of organizations? Can their morality explain, through trust, continuity and change of organizational cultures? Is periodic rotation of managers the right solution for the distrust caused by self-serving conservatism due to Michels' " Iron Law of Oligarchy " ? An anthropological study of kibbutzim (plural of kibbutz), whose innovative and adaptive cultures declined recently, found that past success was dependent on high-moral servant leaders who backed democracy and promoted high-trust cultures that engendered innovation by creative officers in some kibbutzim, which others imitated. However, conservatism of continuous leaders as heads of low-trust kibbutz federative organizations, which were ignored by customary kibbutz research, engendered oligarchization which rotation enhanced rather than prevented. However, creativity deteriorated only after decades of growing oligarchy, with the vanishing of the high-moral old guard. Thus, the crux of democratic communal culture sustainability is pinpointed in the superiority of trusted, high-moral leaders. A preliminary idea for achieving that aim, predicated on officers' continuation in office being conditional on periodic tests of trust, is herein presented.
Retaining Creativity in Large Co-Operatives by Timely Democratic Succession of Leaders
Journal of Co-operative Studies 43(3): 29-40, 2010
Maintaining co-operative principles in large successful co-operatives requires creativity engendered by high-moral trusted innovative leaders who avoid capitalist practices. However, if such leaders are not replaced within 10-16 years, they usually enter a conservative dysfunction phase, suppress creativity, concealing and camouflaging introduction of capitalist practices by various excuses and covert abuse of power, becoming irreplaceable oligarchs. Because no true solution has been devised for this problem as yet, while confusing trust and leadership literatures have helped failures to cope with it, new ideas for timely democratic succession are offered based on anthropological and historical studies of kibbutzim and inter-kibbutz co-operatives.
Management, Leadership and Organizational Change in a Kibbutz Factory
2014
In the wake of organizational difficulties and economic losses in an Israeli kibbutz factory, the management hired externally for a general manager to oversee changes. The newly appointed manager wanted to shape the organization according to his vision and capitalist norms. This paper will examine the effects of the manager’s transitional style on social capital, in terms of trust and norms, and the effects on organizational culture in the factory. The study was conducted using qualitative research methods through interviews with 30 informants and analysis of documents from the kibbutz factory. The findings show that the manager’s transformational leadership style caused cultural change in the kibbutz factory—from a collectivist culture into a far more capitalistic one. Today, the factory is managed along purely business lines with minimum obligations toward individuals. To achieve this, the new manager reshaped the organization by adopting an innovative and transparent approach, an...
Cultural Change in A Kibbutz Factory: From Democratic to More Autocratic Management Style
2015
In recent years, kibbutz factories have undergone organizational decline. The specific kibbutz factory that is the subject of this case study is an example of that general phenomenon. This is in notable opposition to recent organizational development theory, which has suggested a shift toward more democratic and flatter structures than in the past. The current article describes a reversal of these cultural changes in one kibbutz factory: starting with a democratic and egalitarian culture and structure, developing into a more formal and layered structure. This research offers hypotheses about other kibbutz factories, which have been undergoing similar internal changes during the last two decades. The main research question was: How did the transformation of the plant affect its organizational culture? The research used qualitative methods: constructing an organizational biography based on demographic interviews and document analysis. The findings present a three-stage cultural transf...
The kibbutz for organizational behavior
Research in Organizational Behavior, 2000
2 "Of the successful communes that are not cemented by loyalty to a ruling God, the Israeli kibbutz is perhaps the most influential and long-lived." (Tiger and Shepher, 1975, preface).
Counterbalancing the ill effects of hierarchy: The case of the Kibbutz industrial organization
Journal of Social and Biological Structures
Iron law of oligarchy'? Most individuals in industrial societies are members of formal organizations. This is certainly true in regard to their roles as workers, but many are also members of other formal voluntary organizations such as political parties, professional associations, trade unions and community organizations. As members of organizations, individuals encounter one characteristic which seems to be common to all such organizations: the hierarchical structure. All have some division in power and privileges between the leaders and the lead (be the leaders elected, nominated, self-appointed or instated by decree of divine forces). All seem to share what Robert Michels (1949) had labelled as the Iron Law of Oligarchy and which lead him to state, 'Who says organization says oligarchy'. Hierarchies of organizations are characterized by a pyramid shape of structure whereby the higher the level of hierarchy, the fewer the members who occupy this level. Many features that are part of organizational life are highly correlated with the positions individuals hold in this pyramid-shaped hierarchy. For instance: decision making and influence are centralized at the top (e.g. Tannenbaum, 1968); Opportunities for the fulfilment of needs, both material and psychological, are also positively related to the hierarchical level of individuals (e.g. Porter & Lawler, 1965); All rewards are distributed differentially and in favor of members who occupy higher echelons in the hierarchy (e.g. Tannenbaum, 1968). States of well-being and of psychological adjustment are also highly correlated with hierarchical positions (e.g. Inkeles, 1960). The hierarchical structure, which seems to be so universal, is explained as a necessary and useful feature for the effective functioning of organizations. It is thought to ensure division of work within the organization, and it is thought to ensure the mobilization, by way of incentives, of the most qualified individuals to the highest and most important positions (Davis & Moore, 1945). These functional properties, however, also have another face to them. Differential distribution of rewards according to hierarchy is dysfunctional for the members who are in the lowest levels of the hierarchy (and who are the majority), as it brings with it frustration and produces resentment among individuals who are in the lower levels. It also has dysfunctional properties for the organization as a whole, as strict hierarchical non-egalitarian group structures were found (e.g. Bridges, Doyle & Mahan, 1968) to perform less effectively than more egalitarian structures. Other research (e.g. Tannenbaum, 1968) had indicated that steep
Essential High-Moral Trusted Transformational Leadership in Co-Operatives, Problems and a Solution
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
Research on co-operatives and other democratic work organizations (DWOs) rarely alluded to the leadership required to retain egalitarian and democratic principles amid success and growth, missing the tendency of transformational leaders who succeed with these principles and much trust to become dysfunctional self-perpetuators and stop risky innovation that advances DWO principles. This change is concealed by using powers and capitals and it causes distrust and brain-drain up to collapse and/or abandoning of DWO principles. Problematic trust and leadership concepts helped veiling leaders' prime role in these negative events. Their timely succession just as they change course and commence pruning critical thinkers and innovators, before they become irreplaceable, is decisive for DWOs longevity, but no solution has been devised for it. Analysis of such negative events in the kibbutz field helped by studies of DWOs, leadership and trust offers ideas for a solution.
Research on co-operatives and other democratic work organizations (DWOs) rarely alluded to the leadership required to retain egalitarian and democratic principles amid success and growth, missing the tendency of transformational leaders who succeed with these principles and much trust to become dysfunctional self-perpetuators and stop risky innovation that advances DWO principles. This change is concealed by using powers and capitals and it causes distrust and brain-drain up to collapse and/or abandoning of DWO principles. Problematic trust and leadership concepts helped veiling leaders' prime role in these negative events. Their timely succession just as they change course and commence pruning critical thinkers and innovators, before they become irreplaceable, is decisive for DWOs longevity, but no solution has been devised for it. Analysis of such negative events in the kibbutz field helped by studies of DWOs, leadership and trust offers ideas for a solution.