Béland, Claude
(2000).
Ethics, spirituality and the cooperative movement in the banking industry,
in T.C. Pauchant and Associates, Ethics and spirituality at work.
Under revision in the U.S.
In this chapter, Claude Beland, president of a very important financial
institution, presents a philosophy and an organizational design that favors
ethics and spirituality.
President of the Desjardins movement that employs more than 43 000 people
and manages assets of more than 70 billion dollars, he describes the spirit
of the cooperative movement as a societal project, retraces the history
of the Desjardins Movement through its founder Alphonse Desjardins, gives
a brief summary of the recent changes that go against the cooperative
movement's values, and presents specific examples of how his institution
had to adapt to the reality of the economic market . In conclusion, Mr.
Beland identifies the reasons why he thinks the cooperative movement is
the way of the future in a world "in search for meaning" and
pleads for the development in society of a real education in democracy,
responsibility and solidarity so as to humanize society and the economy.
An example of an Evolutionary Organization, as described by Ian I. Mitroff
(chapter 2), the Desjardins Movement succeeded in ensconcing Christian
values in the cooperative movement and prospered in an industry governed
by other values. These two victories have brought forth numerous critiques:
Some say that it's not as capitalist as it should be and lacks efficiency
and profitability. Others accuse it of selling its soul and interacting
far too much with the capitalist world . But, as Claude Beland explains
in a recent book, the Desjardins movement preserved its cooperative spirit
. Still today, important decisions are taken by 14 000 people following
the age long principle one person, one vote, and Desjardins was one of
the rare financial institutions that opposed Canadian bank mergers. To
be part of a dominant world while offering an alternative is the managerial
paradox discussed by Claude Beland in this chapter.
