The Community Company

The Community Company is a business model which was developed in the 1970s. It was distinguished from more conventional business models of the time by its lack of a rigid corporate boundary (facilitating the easy involvement of people at their chosen level) and its internal gift economy which was distinct from its exchanges with the external monetary economy. As an alternative to a hierarchical, top-down control system, it practiced what was called emergent decision-making, which required that those involved with the implementation of a decision should be involved in making the decision. The model rests on research into human personality carried out at the Centre for Human Communication.

The model was first publicly presented by Kevin Kingsland in his 1977 paper to the 1st European Conference of the Association for Humanistic Psychology, University College London entitled You can tell a man by the company he creates. It was updated in the Kingsland K. and Kingsland V. paper presented in 1996 to 2nd ALPS Euroconference, University of Bologna entitled The Enacted Company.

It was suggested that the Community Company satisfied the need for a more inclusive and sustainable way of working than was to be found in traditional business models. Many elements of the Community Company model can be seen in recent developments such as the social enterprise model and social business ventures such as the Grameen Bank with its system of self-help groups.

A paper presented to The City University Business School (Masters Programme 1982) identified the following attributes of a Community Company:

Imployment. The community company does not have a hard boundary with people either employed or not employed. Rather, it has a fuzzy boundary with people becoming more or less involved through their own volitions. Involvement in day to day work changes over time as people move through different phases or episodes of life. This allows people to adjust their involvement through times of parenting, illness or concerns beyond the company for example.

Role evolution. Roles evolve continuously as individuals develop their capabilities and needs change in the company. Individual development is enhanced by and necessary for the development of the community company. The community company values individual development and supports it, allowing people to develop healthily even if it leads to the individual wishing to move away from the company. In this case, the individual is supported.

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