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Participation
Participation has meant many things to many people. The motives, resources
and processes for participation vary, and often contribute to the success or
failure of any participation exercise.
The following article, by Johnston Birchall and Richard
Simmons will provide an overview of the issues, and will introduce the key
elements concerned, in involving users, members and broader stakeholder groups
in the governance of your organisation.
Johnston Birchall
Johnston Birchall is a Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at Stirling
University and Senior Associate of the New Economics Foundation. He specialises
in the study of mutual and co‑operative businesses, and in member participation
and governance of public service delivery agencies. He has a research programme
developing a 'mutual incentives' theory of what motivates people to participate
in a variety of settings (mainly ESRC-funded, with Richard Simmons). Some
relevant publications are Mutual Trend: how to run rail and water in the public
interest (New Economics Foundation, 2002), and Rediscovering the Co‑operative
Advantage: Poverty reduction through self-help (ILO, 2003).
Richard Simmons Richard Simmons is a Research Fellow in the Department of Applied Social
Science at Stirling University. A senior manager in the UK public and social
enterprise sectors for the previous decade, he has recently spent four years
managing several large-scale research projects, including studies entitled 'A
Theoretical Model of What Motivates Public Service Users to Participate', 'The
Participation of Members in the Governance of Mutual Businesses', and 'Creating
And Supporting Stakeholder Members in Social Enterprises'. His first
single-authored book - on new leisure trusts in local government - was published
in May 2003.
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