The Future of Industry and Labor Chair of Mines-Paris PSL is pleased to invite you to the third session of the seminar Autonomy and Responsibility in Organizations.

Autonomy in a SCOP, the ARDELAINE case

By Béatrice and Gérard Barras

(founders of Ardelaine)

Only on Zoom
 
Registration is mandatory via the following link: https://forms.gle/iCbGrMxX2umYz2z49
 
If you have any questions, please contact: chaire-fit2@mines-paristech.fr

 

Presentation of the session:

A spinning mill of wools in ruins, fleeces that are thrown away, a valley with no future, what to do? In 1975 a group of 7 people with no knowledge on the subject, took up the challenge and created the SCOP Ardelaine. Today, this company transforms the wools of 200 breeders (65T/year) and has about sixty employees (2.7 M turnover). The cooperative has developed as a self-taught business, launching a new project every ten years, new trades: a wool industry that is as integrated as possible from the shearing of sheep to the direct sale of finished products, then a museum that has brought 20,000 people a year to its site, then a bookstore café, a restaurant, a food processing laboratory...thus becoming a multifunctional, short-circuit "territory cooperative" with stakeholders. 12 professions, versatility, no commercial specialization, seasonality, flexible mobility in a complex organization chart. A common work at the service of the development of people and this territory for 40 years.

Gérard and Béatrice Barras are among the founders and developers of this adventure. Béatrice has written two books that tell the story of Ardelaine: "Moutons rebelles", published by REPAS 2014, and "Une cité aux mains fertiles", published by REPAS 2019 (Prix du livre sur l'économie sociale et solidaire 2020), which tells the story of her clothing workshop located in a sensitive urban area. The SCOP was also the subject of a case study written by Elisabeth Bourguinat and available on the ARO platform.

Presentation of the seminar:

The Future Chair of Industry and Labor of Mines - Paris Sciences et Lettres organizes a monthly seminar on the rise of autonomy in organizations. The objective of this seminar is to discuss concrete experiences of setting up an organization that favors employee autonomy by analyzing the difficulties encountered, the impact on operational performance and employee satisfaction, the construction of "words to say it" ... During the first year, we will focus on companies where different national or professional traditions coexist and on the support of middle management.