Do co-ops speak the managerial lingua franca? An analysis of the managerial discourse of Mondragon cooperatives

• The role of the managerial discourse in the degeneration in cooperatives is analyzed.
• The specific case of the Mondragon cooperative experience is analyzed.
• A content analysis of the organizational information of 70 Mondragon cooperatives is carried out.
• A mainstream managerial discourse is identified in most of the member-cooperatives.
• Implications for managers, worker-member-owners and for other stakeholders are discussed.

A trend toward conventional managerialism has been identified in cooperative organizations, and it has been suggested that this is a symptom of the phenomenon of degeneration in cooperatives. Although managerial discourse is at the heart of the dominant managerialism, not much attention has been given to this trend. To fill this gap in the literature, the present study analyzes the managerial discourse of the organizations grouped within the Mondragon cooperative experience, based on a content and discourse analysis of the organizational information published by the Corporation and its 70 member-cooperatives. A mainstream popular managerial discourse is identified in the majority of the member-cooperatives, a discourse disconnected from the discourse of the Corporation. In the latter the basic cooperative values and principles are more strongly emphasized. Implications for managers, workers-members-owners and other stakeholders are discussed.