Leanne Cutcher and Melissa Kerr | The Shifting Meaning of Mutuality and Co-operativeness in the Credit Union Movement from 1959 to 1989 | Labour History, 91

The Shifting Meaning of Mutuality and Co-operativeness in the Credit Union Movement from 1959 to 1989

Leanne Cutcher and Melissa Kerr^*

By studying the way that a peak industry association used its newsletter to interpret change in the broader social, political and economic context for their member organisations, we find how these texts sought to unite an increasingly fragmented group of organisations as well as to reinforce the role and identity of the association. We observe the connections between discourse and the organisational identity of the New South Wales (NSW) Credit Union Association, formerly the NSW Credit Union League. As a peak industry body they represent the interests of a range of credit unions in NSW. This article examines the newsletters of the peak industry association across four key time periods, from the economic and political stability of the late 1950s through to the economic turbulence and changing regulatory environment of the 1980s. Through historically situated discursive analysis, we highlight the connections between the changing social and political context and the shifting meaning of the credit union's core values of co-operation and mutuality.

Peak industry associations play an important role in communicating the effect of change in the external environment to their member organisations. The information they disseminate about broader social, economic and political change also offers member organisations a set of discourses and practices which aims to help them adjust to the changes they face. Examining the discourse of a peak industry association can inform us about change in the broader industry environment, and also about the way organisational identity is maintained and reshaped over time. In the article we show that in crafting the newsletters the peak industry association was involved in formulating, reinforcing and reshaping their own organisational identity and that of the credit union movement broadly.

We highlight the role of discourse in promoting shared understandings that can offer organisations a 'degree of collective consistency, coherence and continuity'.¹ In particular, we seek to highlight the way that organisational discourses serve to educate or enrich organisational identity. By situating the analysis of the discourse within a broader historical context, we chart the interplay between change in the social and political environment and changing discourses within organisations. In doing so, we seek to make a contribution to our understanding of the importance of examining shifts in organisational discourse over time (in this case three decades), in order to understand the way that organisational identity is involved in an ongoing process of reconstruction.²

At a broader level we seek to build a bridge between the empirical concerns of business historians and the methodological and theoretical insights offered by organisational studies scholars. Rowlinson and Hassard have chastised British business historians for cutting themselves off from 'reflexive, interpretive, hermeneutic or subjective approaches' and argue that this has resulted in business historians privileging 'strategy and structure' over 'beliefs and symbols'.³ This article is an attempt to offer a way forward by drawing on the work of scholars influenced by what has been called the 'linguistic turn' in the social sciences. This term is used to describe the increasing recognition by social scientists of 'the force with which language shapes the course and meanings of human affairs'.⁴ In organisational studies, the recent turn to language has led to a concern with the issues of communication and sense making in organisations.⁵ We aim to show how business historians can gain insights, and a greater degree of reflexivity, by studying history through the lens of discourse. At the same time, we also suggest that organisational studies scholars could benefit from 'historicizing their data'.⁶ We argue that the coupling of a concern for the role of discourse in the social construction of meaning and the insights offered by historians into the importance of temporal dimensions of organisations will provide valuable insights into the way that organisational identity is constructed and maintained.

Our article is presented in four main sections. First, we provide a case for adopting both a historical and discursive approach to the study of organisations. At the end of this section we provide an account of our methods, emphasising the reflexivity required when starting from the premise that language is socially constructed and socially constructs. Second, we provide a brief overview of the history of the credit union movement worldwide, and the development of the movement in Australia. Third, we set out our findings across four key periods of change: the late 1950s and early 1960s; the mid-1960s to early 1970s; the mid-1970s and early 1980s; and, finally, the mid- to late 1980s. The data presented in these four sections highlights the importance of situating discursive analysis historically. Finally, we provide an analysis of the connections between the broader social and political context, and the construction of meaning and identity in the credit union movement.

The Role of History and Discourse in Shaping Organisational Identity

We begin from the understanding that the identities of organisations are better described as being in states of transition rather than as fixed and stable entities. This recognition of the transitory state of organisational identity requires us to adopt an approach that recognises that organisational identity is constructed over time.⁷ The work of organisational identity construction is ongoing and this is why an historical analysis of organisations is crucial to understanding how, during turbulent times, organisational identity becomes destabilised. While there is a tendency to see the current context as offering organisations a more turbulent environment than ever before, an historical perspective can show how each decade has brought its own challenges, as well as how organisations have responded to these shifts, and what this has meant for organisational identity. We can understand how organisations have responded to change in their external environment and the impact of these changes on organisational identity by studying the discourses used to interpret and communicate these changes.

Organisations themselves are 'narrative spaces, where discourse is, if not hegemonic and constituting, at least constitutive of what organizations stand for'.⁸ Individuals in organisations will draw on a range of 'available discourses' in order to sustain a preferred identity during times of change.⁹ This idea of 'available discourses' points to a formulation of discourse as what can be said (and done). As Morgan and Sturdy explain:

What can be said (and done) is then, the basis of 'social action' rather than 'discourse'. In turn, what can be said can only be understood by examining the underlying structure and how this constrains and empowers actors in differential ways. Through the development of particular discourses, actors are able to reflect on and modify their practices. The modification of practices can reinforce or undermine the structures out of which they emerge.¹⁰

An historical, discursive analysis of organisational change is one way of helping us interpret this ongoing interplay between changing discourses and structures. Such an approach will ensure that the relationship between identity formulation and historically specific general changes are acknowledged. This is a relationship that has been either ignored or inadequately addressed by those writing about organisations from a range of perspectives. In order to understand the constructive effects of discourse, both historians and organisational studies scholars need to be mindful of locating discourses historically. As Hardy points out, discourses do not occur in a vacuum and it is important that discourse is located historically 'by studying the larger context and how it shapes and is shaped by discursive activity'.¹¹ Our aim is to learn from the tensions found in the interplay between discourse and the historical context.

We are mindful then of the fact that our research not only studies a socially constructed narrative but itself constructs a narrative. This concern with reflexivity is a natural outcome of an approach that is concerned with the constructive effects of language. By both explicitly stating that 'language constructs, rather than simply reveals a reality' and 'by grounding our research in historical processes' we aim to enhance our reflexivity.¹² As a first step in this reflexive approach we need to acknowledge the limitations of our project. The research for this article, whilst recognising that there are a range of discursive activities, including the production, distribution and consumption of texts that occur simultaneously and sequentially in organisations, will focus on one discursive practice. We have conducted a thematic analysis of the newsletters disseminated to credit union managers and members by a peak credit union association. The newsletters were aimed at a particular audience and analysing the discourse in the newsletters allows us to understand the way that the meaning behind the core credit union principles of co-operation and mutuality shifted over time. While recognising the limitations of analysis that focuses on just one side of a dialogue, we argue that the limitations of this approach are also overcome in part by the longitudinal focus of the analysis. This highlights the methodological benefits of an historical approach to discourse analysis. We have examined the newsletters of the NSW Credit Union League (later known as the NSW Credit Union Association) from June 1959 to December 1989. The newsletters were drawn from the Australian Credit Union Archive. While archives form an important part of an organisation's memory, we are mindful that they too are influenced by the subjectivity of archivists and that the memory they hold is socially constructed.¹³

We employed the techniques of a discourse-historical method in the analysis of the newsletters. Discourse-historical method is an approach that focuses on systematically integrating background information in the analysis and interpretation of texts. Our analysis involved searching for patterns of similarity and variation in the newsletters and linking this with contextual information. This approach allowed us to explore the discursive resources deployed in the construction of peak industry association identity and the relationship with the wider social and political context.¹⁴

Credit Unions: A History of Co-operativeness

The history of the wider co-operative movement and credit unions in particular is told through a discourse threaded through with romantic and religious images. Lewis, a business historian, has chosen to tell the early history of the credit union movement in Australia as a tale of liberal reform and decries any hint that the motivations of the original founders of the co-operative movement were based on any 'burning notion of social transformation'. Lewis' tale begins with a portrayal of Hermann Schulze-Delitzch, the original founder of credit co-operatives, as a liberal responding to the hardship experienced by urban labourers and tradespeople during a severe winter of 1846. Schulze-Delitzch's co-operatives were the precursors of the European people's banks. Friedrick Raiffeisen, a German burgomaster, adapted Schulze-Delitzch's ideas to the needs of his rural constituents and in 1854 established an independent farmer-based credit association, called the Heddesdorf Society. As Lewis explains, Raiffeisen developed the notion of

limitless liability, achievable through a bond of association, whereby a person's trusted standing in the community and the knowledge co-operators had of each other acted as security in seeking loans from a community pool of funds.

By the end of the 1880s, societies founded on Schulze-Delitzch and Raiffeisen principles had spread throughout Europe.¹⁵

Across the Atlantic, in Canada, Alphonse Desjardins, a parliamentary reporter inspired by the Papal Encyclical Rerum Novarum (1891), developed his own philosophy for credit unions. The first Canadian financial co-operative was opened in 1901 at Levis, near Quebec, and by 1914 there were 150 co-operative banks in Canada. Credit unions developed on Desjardins' model were founded in Massachusetts in the United States about the same time. It is around the intersection of these liberal and Christian ideals that the philosophy of the credit union is developed, a philosophy that emphasises 'co-operation around a set of unifying principles and common identity'.¹⁶

Perhaps in keeping with a particular pragmatic Australian identity, the motivation of the early credit union pioneers in Australia is told as simply a way to make personal credit available to ordinary working people. During this time the personal credit market was dominated by loan sharks and hire-purchase finance companies, who often charged interest rates in excess of 80 per cent. In a bid to regulate this burgeoning market the NSW Government enacted the 1941 New South Wales Small Loans Facilities Act. Lewis argues that this legislation provided the impetus for development of credit unions in New South Wales. Due to war-time restrictions, however, it was not until the close of World War II that the credit union movement began to emerge. Lewis reports that the first registered credit union in Australia, the Home Owner's Co-operative Credit Society Ltd, was established in May 1945 and was sponsored by an existing building society to provide personal loans to its members. In the following decade, approximately 30 building-society-sponsored credit unions were formed. Friendly societies also sponsored the early formation of credit unions, establishing four Friendly society credit unions by 1946. Within the literature there has been considerable debate about what constitutes a 'true' co-operative credit union. Australian writer Lo dismisses these early credit co-operatives as not 'true' credit unions, arguing that these bodies were merely the off-spring of the parent body, because staff and administrative support were provided by the parent body. According to Lo, Universal Credit Union was the first 'true' credit union in New South Wales. Universal Credit Union was established in October 1946 by Kevin Yates, who had previously spent time in Canada, the United States and Britain studying the co-operative movement and meeting with co-operative leaders. On return to Australia he actively promoted the development of this movement in Australia, and it is for these reasons that Yates is commonly referred to as the 'founding father' of credit unions in Australia. Unlike the earlier credit co-operatives, Universal's bond was to its members drawn from the Catholics of the archdiocese of Sydney. Its objectives were to develop credit unions within the parishes and ultimately the whole community. By the early 1950s a parallel protestant credit union movement had also evolved with the establishment of the Anglican Credit Union movement. Keith Young played a pivotal role in the formation of the Anglican Credit Union movement, and became a stalwart in the formation of the peak association.¹⁷

By early 1956 approximately 80 credit unions were operating in New South Wales, comprising of employee credit unions, building society and friendly society credit unions, and parish and community credit unions. Lewis' detailed account of this period sets out how Yates and Young sought to end the fractious nature of the credit union movement and advocated for a peak body organisation that linked credit unions, regardless of bond, and promoted the development of a credit union movement. While initial response to this vision was lukewarm, by September 1956 a peak body had emerged. In 1958 the Anglican Credit Union movement voluntarily disbanded to join with Universal, and other like-minded societies to form the NSW Savings and Small Loans Co-operative Societies Association. In 1958, following the official adoption of the term 'credit union' by the NSW Credit Union Association, the peak body was renamed the NSW Credit Union League (the League) with a membership of 12 credit unions.¹⁸

Despite the array of credit unions that became members of the League and their varying interests, they were all said to share the traditional ideals of mutuality and co-operation. The central tenet of mutuality is that those people served by credit unions are not customers, but, rather, owner-members of their credit union. Credit union membership is underpinned by the core value of co-operation between members to provide socially responsible financial services to all citizens. The following discussion will detail how the League played a vital role in rearticulating these ideals in order to unite a fragmented group of organisations, and reaffirm its own role and identity as a peak industry association.

From our analysis of the League's newsletters we have found connections between shifts in the social fabric and ongoing reinterpretation of the credit union movement's traditional ideals. We have identified how the League's discourse changed over time and how the traditional notions of 'mutuality' and 'co-operation' were reinterpreted and adapted in the face of a changing economic, political and social environment. Four distinct phases were identified: the late 1950s and early 1960s, which was a strong period of economic growth and prosperity in Australia; the mid-1960s and early 1970s, a period of ongoing economic prosperity accompanied by significant social change; the mid-1970s and early 1980s, which saw a dramatic shift in economic conditions, and, within the financial services sector, an increasing influence of a discourse of competition; and, the mid- to late 1980s, when this discourse of competition led to significant structural change that occurred as a result of deregulation of the sector.

The Late 1950s and Early 1960s: Co-operation Worldwide

The League emerged in the mid-1950s in a time of unparalleled economic prosperity and expansion in Australia. During this period economic growth reached unprecedented levels with gross national product averaging 4–5 per cent per year. A crucial factor underlying much of the post-war economic growth was the continued expansion and modernisation of Australian industry. Government policies of full employment, tariff protection and mass immigration also greatly encouraged economic growth.¹⁹

In the League's formative years, the stability in the external environment facilitated its ability to focus on: developing a credit-union movement in Australia; promoting traditional notions of mutuality and co-operation; and helping ordinary people. In seeking to achieve these objectives the League relied on its official publication Credit Union News, which was sent on a monthly basis to managers and directors of the member credit unions. The early editions of Credit Union News were fairly unsophisticated and succinct, running for just one page and focusing on a key article per issue. These early newsletters emphasised the notion that credit unions were involved in an international social democratic movement which was striving to achieve global economic democracy. Credit union managers and directors were encouraged to see their role as being part of a broad social economic movement. This is reflected in the following excerpt from an article published in June 1959 under the title 'How to be a good Credit Union Director': 'Your guides are the ideals which Credit Unions have followed for more than a century. Your only reward is the deep satisfaction that comes from helping other people'.²⁰

Throughout this period, the meaning of 'co-operation' was constructed in the discourse in two ways. First, the newsletter helped to reinforce and promote the traditional meaning of mutuality as co-operation between individual members of credit unions. This was in line with the very earliest principles of the credit union movement, which drew on the idea that the path to economic security for all relied on individuals co-operating with one another. Second, the newsletters used the notion of mutuality to emphasise the importance of co-operation between the League and its member credit unions. The League used a discourse of mutuality and co-operation to justify the need for a peak body. In this way the League drew on and reshaped the meanings of mutuality and co-operation as a way of formulating its own identity. In the following excerpts we can see how the League tied its role in with the overall principles of the credit union movement:

Your League is devoted to the promotion, protection, development and extension of each individual's economic security through the credit union movement.
Plans are also in hand for the Co-operative Registry to inform most large commercial undertakings of the credit union ideal of service. The interest being created is most welcome and it is the League's desire to grasp every opportunity to extend the credit union idea.²¹

Towards the end of the 1950s and early 1960s most of the articles in the newsletters focused on the close ties between the League and the state, and in many ways this relationship served a dual purpose. First, the strength of this relationship served to allay member's fears about the emerging talk of regulation of the financial sector and, second, it also served to justify and reaffirm the League's role in achieving the movement's objectives. Articles regularly appeared in the newsletters highlighting the League's success in persuading the Australian Labor Party (ALP) Government in New South Wales to both protect and develop the credit union movement. For example, in April 1960, the Credit Union News heralded the passing of the Co-operation (Amendment) Act 1960 which held two important amendments: '(a) the provision that small loan societies shall in future be known as credit unions, (b) protection of the term "credit union"'.²² The newsletters stressed the important role played by the League in lobbying for the introduction of this legislation. The newsletter also emphasised the League's influential relationship with the NSW Minister of Co-operative Societies, the Hon. A. Landa MLA.

In 1963 the Credit Union News was renamed the League News and the scope of the newsletter broadened. Rather than focusing on one issue in detail, League News now covered a range of topics, in particular the achievements of the international credit union movement. In the October 1963 League News five articles appeared all of which heralded the work of credit unions in other countries, including South America and Japan.²³

During the late 1950s and early 1960s the League drew on a discourse of mutuality and co-operation to convince member credit unions that it was best placed to serve the interests of individual credit unions and to ensure the continuance of the credit union movement. The newsletters were written with credit union managers and directors as the audience, and similarities and parallels were drawn between the roles of these individuals and the League's role in maintaining the social democratic ideals of the credit union movement. This early reshaping of the meaning of mutuality to mean co-operation not only amongst individual credit union members but also between the credit unions and the League allowed the League to stress the importance of their role in ensuring the collectivity of the movement. The League highlighted the importance of its role by emphasising its influence with the state and reminding the readers of its newsletters that they were all part of an international movement committed to broader social ideals. This concept of co-operation as collectivity reflected the broader discourses of post-war Australia, where the road to recovery was seen as a collective response.

The Mid-1960s and Early 1970s: Co-operation Through Collectivity

In 1966 the League's newsletter was renamed the Credit Union Endeavour and underwent significant transformation. In the first edition of the Endeavour, the editors set out the aim of the newsletters, 'to inform, educate and, it is hoped, entertain its readers, the leaders of the credit union movement'.²⁴ The name for the publication was specifically chosen to align the development of the NSW credit union movement with the development of Australia. The editors of the newsletter argued that, 'we do not enjoy economic democracy to the degree we should. The credit union movement is the tool whereby we can all strive to achieve this right'.²⁵ In 1967 the readership of the Credit Union Endeavour was extended to individual members of credit unions.²⁶

In the broader social context we see the beginnings of the dismantling of Australia's protectionist policies. At this time there was much talk about the threat of competition from the potential entry of foreign banks into the Australian market. The League faced its own competition from the emergence of rival peak credit union bodies. It is not surprising then that the League's discourse was constructed in order to counter competition in the wider environment and the competition they faced directly.²⁷ Despite the status of credit unions as not-for-profit organisations, credit union managers and members were encouraged to 'embrace' the new competitive environment and find ways of working within it:

Today there is no room for complacency in any credit union. Advancements in the financial world are too rapid; members' needs too varied, competition for savings and loans too keen for our directors and committee members to rest on their past performances. A successful credit union today could be a stagnant one tomorrow if credit union officials do not stay alert to the changing conditions around us.²⁸

In working to overcome the threat of competition from other financial services institutions and the threat of competition the League faced from other peak industry associations, the newsletters drew on a discourse of 'collectivity' more commonly associated with left-wing political groups. In August — September 1966, a Credit Union Endeavour article by the President of the League sought to remind members of the importance of solidarity and their role in the international credit union movement. He concluded his narrative with the mantra, 'United we stand: divided we fall'.²⁹ In the same edition the Vice-President of the Australian Federation of Credit Unions reiterated these notions of solidarity and claimed that the success of the development of Credit Union movement required 'Unity, Majority and Futurity'.³⁰

In line with the League's role as a social movement there was also evidence that the League sought to politically mobilise its membership following the election of the Askin Liberal Government in 1965. Since its inception the League had received considerable support from a NSW Labor Government; however, under Premier Askin the League faced new challenges. The introduction of a state tax on cheque deposits for credit unions in 1968 led to an outcry by the League. The newsletter's narrative throughout this period was dominated by criticism of the Askin Government.³¹

The League's quest to sway political opinions was also evident in the federal sphere of politics. In March 1970 the newsletter claimed that the federal Liberal Coalition Government 'sees all the co-operative movements in terms of "creeping socialism" and has made it plain that its principle commitment is to the banks'.³² Furthermore, in June 1970, in reaction to the hostile NSW Askin Government, the newsletter implored its membership to mobilise their resources and voting power to achieve their aims under the headline 'Credit Unions must use their political and economic strength'.³³ By November 1972, the newsletter narrators firmly supported the aspirations of the federal ALP, under then Opposition Leader Gough Whitlam; they followed Whitlam's commitment to abolish this state tax. In doing so the League firmly encouraged its membership to push for political change at the upcoming election.³⁴

During the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s there were shifts and fractures in the identity of the credit union movement. We found evidence in the newsletters of a number of competing discourses. While traditional notions of mutuality and co-operation continued to appear, such as 'helping hands in many lands',³⁵ we also saw the influence of a discourse of competition and the shift from a broader social economic agenda to a focus on meeting the economic needs of individual credit unions' members through political activity. We noted that during this time the discourse centred on notions of solidarity normally associated with social reformist groups.

The Mid-1970s to Early 1980s: Co-operation through Amalgamation

By the mid-1970s the impact of the financial crisis that had swept through global markets in the early 1970s had begun to be felt by the League. The sharp rise in oil prices in 1971 precipitated an international monetary crisis which led to an economic recession. These rises coupled with a shift to flexible exchange rates, and simultaneous high levels of inflation and unemployment led the League to reposition itself within the market-place. In a period of such dramatic change the League faced many challenges. For both the League and the credit unions themselves survival became paramount. Competition was occurring not only in the financial markets, but amongst the credit unions themselves for increased membership. During this time we witnessed significant shifts in the meaning behind the core credit union values of mutuality and co-operation.³⁶

In an effort to remain relevant to its membership in a period of uncertainty, the League underwent a number of changes. At the 24th Annual General Meeting of the League in 1980 it was decided to rename the League, the Credit Union Association of New South Wales, its original name from the 1950s. In explaining the need for change the newsletter authors wrote:

while we need to have respect and affection for the past we live in a changing environment and the new name was just another part of our efforts to ensure that we are able to carry out our brief from the membership.³⁷

In tandem with this action the new Credit Union Association of New South Wales's newsletter returned to its original name the Credit Union News. These changes reflected the narrowing scope from broader social issues as a part of an international movement to more localised concern for the individual credit unions and their members.

Calls to end the fractured nature of the movement were another common theme throughout the newsletters of this period. While the emergence of four peak industry associations during the 1960s had caused some concern, these concerns became amplified in this period of economic instability and regulatory uncertainty, as the credit unions themselves were involved in bitter infighting. As credit unions were seeking to ensure their survival, much of their discourse was couched in terms of 'amalgamate or be annihilated'.³⁸ In pursuing their aims the peak body association sought support from both the international peak body association, the Credit Union National Association (CUNA), and the NSW Labor Government. In the February 1981 edition of the Credit Union News, an article by the CUNA President appeared, claiming that amalgamation was the answer in those tough economic times.³⁹ In a December 1981 article, titled 'Minister Calls for End to Fragmentation', the NSW Minister of Co-operative Societies, the Hon. Mr Sheahan, claimed 'that one of the major problems of the movement was the absence of a single authoritative voice, backed up by the resources of the industry'.⁴⁰ A warning was given that if the infighting amongst credit unions did not dissipate many credit unions would cease to exist. By November 1982 the NSW Credit Union Association had achieved some success as three out of the four peak bodies had amalgamated.⁴¹

The NSW Labor Government, which had been so influential previously, was again called upon to assist and protect the credit union movement against the impending regulatory changes. The issue of impending deregulation and its effects on the credit union movement was regularly discussed throughout the 1970s. Again the NSW Credit Union Association campaigned for the NSW state government. In the Credit Union News in April 1982 under the title 'Deregulation: State Government Must Act Now' they wrote:

Our worst fears have been confirmed. The Federal Government is deregulating the banking sector for political deals. Meanwhile state-regulated finance intermediaries, credit unions; building societies are being left stranded.⁴²

The newsletter implored the state government to reduce the regulation on these credit unions so they will be able to compete effectively and 'help ordinary people'.⁴³

During this period there was a distinct change in the philosophical underpinnings of the movement. Broader social democratic concerns were reframed within an economic rationalist discourse, and we found no trace of the social democratic discourse that had been the hallmark of the earlier narratives. Within this discourse, 'co-operation' was no longer constructed between members for mutual gain; instead, co-operation was constructed as co-operation amongst credit unions. It was argued that survival of individual credit unions was a key concern and this sense of co-operation was the way forward for the credit union movement. The emphasis in the newsletters shifted to notions of professionalism, leadership and innovation.

We also noted the increasing influence of marketing and human resource management discourse within the newsletters. In September 1981 the Association outlined a strategic advertising campaign. It sought to ensure that the credit union movement was differentiated in the marketplace by adopting a uniform appearance, including the use of a common colour and logo scheme.⁴⁴ In the following month the peak body association announced the appointment of an advertising agency.⁴⁵ At this time, a banner appeared across the front page of every issue stating 'Marketing Motivates Members! Make the 1980's the Decade of Credit Union Co-operative Mass Marketing!'⁴⁶ By 1984 the Association had created teaching kits that were sent to all schools to educate students on the credit union's ability to help them manage their money.⁴⁷ At the same time the newsletters began to promote human resource management practices as a way of increasing competitiveness. For example, in January/February 1984 the newsletter announced 'that routine training has been replaced by Human Resource Development'.⁴⁸

During this period the peak union body faced considerable economic uncertainty with increased competition and a fragmented credit union movement. In reacting to these significant changes the Association's identity underwent a dramatic transformation. In this tumultuous period the Association replaced its broad social agenda with managerialist ideals centred on discourses and practices drawn from their for-profit competitors. These discourses grounded in economic rationalist ideals prioritised the needs of its individual members.

The Mid- to Late 1980s: Co-operation as Customer Service

The mid- to late 1980s represented perhaps the most challenging period for the credit union movement and its association in New South Wales. In 1985 the Campbell Report recommended deregulation of the financial services sector. The aim of this deregulation was to create a level playing field for all financial service providers. The credit union movement now faced an increasingly competitive environment with the entry of foreign financial institutions.

We noted the rise of an enterprise discourse within the newsletters of this period. At the heart of this enterprise discourse was the sovereign customer whose character played a vital role in the reconstruction of a wide range of public and not-for-profit institutions along market lines. While the idea of customer sovereignty was based on the largely flawed, neo-liberal concept of free markets, it was a powerful discourse that shifted government policy towards 'fiscal responsibility and a generally heightened reliance on the market as allocator and distributor of resources'.⁴⁹

The use of the word 'customer', rather than 'member', in the newsletters represented a significant break with the traditional ethos of the credit union movement. In an article titled 'Service: Credit Unions Showing the Way!' the '10 Golden Rules of Customer Service' were outlined. We found that the terms 'member' and 'customer' were used interchangeably and emphasis was placed on issues such as cross-selling, professionalism and training. Furthering the use of a discourse of enterprise, the Association constructed its member credit unions as 'customers' of the consultancy services they now offered.⁵⁰

Against this backdrop, the Association continued its aggressive campaign to end the fracturing of the credit union movement. Survival, it was argued, lay in the consolidation of the credit union movement. By October 1985 the Association had achieved its objectives with the final amalgamation of peak bodies, thus the NSW Credit Union Association was now able to represent all NSW credit unions.⁵¹

During this period it is clear that the Association and the credit union movement faced two significant challenges: competition in the market place and a lack of unified vision. There was considerable debate in the newsletters about how they should differentiate themselves from other financial institutions in the market. It was argued that if they continued to mimic the behaviour of their competitors the credit union movement would ultimately fail. In light of these debates, by late 1986 there was a renewed interest in the traditional social agenda of the credit union movement. A return to these values was not promoted as a return to a concern with social democratic outcomes for all, but as a possible point of differentiation from their competitors.

Analysis of the newsletters in this period demonstrates that the Association was caught between trying to remain competitive while, at the same time, trying to balance their social objectives. While the terms 'co-operation' and 'mutuality' continued to be used, they were now underpinned by the concept of an 'individual customer' rather than a 'collective membership'.⁵²

Conclusion

It is not only historians and academics that write narratives and tell stories. This article shows how a peak industry body told their members stories about the changes the Credit Union Movement faced from wider political and regulatory changes to the financial services sector. The stories the peak credit union body told to their members are not 'unlike stories parents tell to children to maintain a familial narrative'.⁵³ Just as familial stories identify who belongs to the family and establishes the beliefs and values that define that family, in the same way the stories the peak industry body told its members sought to define who belonged to the movement and what they believed in.

Through a discourse of mutuality and co-operation they were seeking to bring stability and cohesion to an increasingly fragmented movement. At various stages in their history we can see how the leaders of the credit union movement drew on the co-operative tradition to 'give meaning to the boundary between the firm and the troubled world outside'.⁵⁴ That boundary was constituted as the philosophy of mutuality. However, as we have shown, the meanings behind mutuality were being continuously reinterpreted by the newsletters' narrators. As Boje points out 'words are polysemous: that is they have multiple meanings'.⁵⁵ This analysis identifies how the peak body's discourse changed over time and how the traditional notions of 'mutuality' and 'co-operation' were reinterpreted and adapted in the face of a changing economic and social environment. Our analysis shows that language carries 'historically established meanings and distinctions that tend to create a certain version of the social world',⁵⁶ and that these meanings can shift and change over time. These shifts in meaning over time are outlined in Table 1.

Table 1
Shifting Meanings of Mutuality and Co-operation in the NSW Credit Unions 1959–89

Time Period	Broader Context	Newsletter Name and Audience	Identity of League	League's Mission and Goal	Shifting Meaning of Mutuality and Co-operation
Late 1950s to early 1960s	Post war boom Rise of collective movements. Influence of international credit union movement.	Credit Union News then League News. Managers and Directors of credit unions.	Part of international social democratic movement.	Global economic democracy.	Mutuality — co-operation between individual credit union members. Co-operation internationally.
Mid 1960s to early 1970s	Social change Dismantling of protectionist policy. Entry of foreign banks.	Credit Union Endeavour Individual members of credit unions.	National political organisation with overseas ties.	National economic democracy.	Mutuality — co-operation amongst credit union members only. Collective co-operation.
The mid 1970s to early 1980s	High inflation and unemployment. Rise of a discourse of competition.	Credit Union News	Professional Association (change name to Credit Union Association).	Unity of credit unions Survival of league.	Mutuality — co-operation amongst credit unions. Individual co-operation.
The mid to late 1980s	De-regulation of the financial services sector. Rise of a discourse of enterprise.	Credit Union News	Fragmented identity. Professional social democratic organisation.	Differentiation through co-operation. Economic rationalist ideals.	Mutuality — lack of a coherent narrative. Return to original principles within a discourse of enterprise. Co-operation for good of organisations.

We have shown how the meaning behind 'mutuality' and 'co-operation' changed through four key periods. During the 1950s and early 1960s, a period in which the underlying philosophy of the credit union movement was one of social democracy, mutuality was constructed as co-operation between everyone or, to use the credit union parlance of the time, 'for ordinary man'. During the mid-1960s to early 1970s, we saw the philosophy of the credit union shift from a broader social democratic ideal to a narrower concern with economic democracy, and the meaning of mutuality shift to co-operation amongst credit union members. It was during this time that the League sought to build on its relationship with the state and was engaged in political lobbying. Throughout the mid-1970s and early 1980s, the credit union philosophy was re-articulated as supporting individual rights and the meaning of mutuality shifted to that of co-operation amongst credit unions as organisations, not individual members of the credit unions co-operating together. Also during this period we noted how the newsletter authors encouraged credit unions to adopt the discourses and practices of their for-profit counterparts, in particular marketing and human resource management discourses. In the final phase, the mid- to late 1980s, it is hard to find a sense of an underlying vision. During this time the peak body appears to be torn between the traditional ideals of the credit union movement and the influence of a powerful discourse of enterprise both within and beyond the organisation. It was during this time that the League appeared to realise that 'organisations need a coherent narrative',⁵⁷ and returned to a discourse that emphasised the original principles of the credit union movement. Given the multiplicity of meanings that have surrounded the ideals of co-operation and mutuality over the four periods we have studied, it would be naïve of us to suggest that this was a return to the same meanings held by the original founders of the credit union movement. Behind the rhetoric, these shifts in meaning reflect broad shifts in the identity of credit unions from a social democratic movement to individual organisations concerned with economic rationalist ideals of self-reliance and survival.

We also need to be mindful of the fact that 'identity-constitutive stories told about organisations also impinge on the social identities of their participants'.⁵⁸ The narrators of the newsletters were simultaneously engaged in the construction of their own identities in order to justify the role of the peak association. This was important because during the early years of the movement, they faced threat from other peak industry associations, and in the later years, governments moved to create a 'level playing field' for all deposit-taking institutions threatening the existence of the peak association as well.

Overall our paper seeks to contribute to a newly emerging dialogue between business historians and organisational study theorists. The discipline of organisational studies has been influenced by what has been called, 'a linguistic turn',⁵⁹ and at the same time, we have heard calls for 'a historical turn'⁶⁰ in the study of organisations. The findings outlined in this paper highlight the insights that can be gained by conducting research through the lenses of both history and discourse. In the paper we aim to show that historical and discursive analysis need to go hand in hand and that by studying the larger context and how it shapes and is shaped by discursive activity, discourse becomes three dimensional as the discourse is located historically.⁶¹ For these reasons we argue for a greater dialogue between business historians and organisational theorists.

Leanne Cutcher is the Sesqui Lecturer in Strategic Management in the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Sydney. Her primary research interests are in the areas of strategic management, customer service, identity and gender. In 2005 her thesis on the Australian banking industry won the Inaugural Emerald Outstanding Thesis Award. She has published articles in management, human resource management and industrial relations journals.
<l.cutcher@econ.usyd.edu.au>

Melissa Kerr is a PhD candidate in the discipline of Work and Organisational Studies at the University of Sydney. Her thesis is a historical examination of the state's role in managing unemployment through labour market institutions. Her research interests include labour management practices in non-union firms, company unions and Australian labour history generally.
<mkerr@mail.usyd.edu.au>

Endnotes

^* We wish to thank the two anonymous referees for their helpful feedback.

^1. Michael Humphreys and Andrew Brown, 'Narratives of Organizational Identity and Identification: A Case Study of Hegemony and Resistance', Organization Studies, vol. 23, no. 3, 2002, pp. 421–77.

^2. Anne Kitchell, Erin Hannan and Willett Kempton, 'Identity Through Stories: Story Structure and Function in Two Environmental Groups', Human Organization, vol. 59, no. 1, 2000, p. 96.

^3. Michael Rowlinson and John Hassard, 'The Invention of Corporate Culture: A History of the Histories of Cadbury', Human Relations, vol. 46, no. 3, March 1993, p. 300.

^4. Tojo Thatchenkery, 'Mining for Meaning: Reading Organizations using Hermeneutic Philosophy', in Robert Westwood and Stephen Lindstead (eds), The Language of Organization, Sage Publications, London, 2001, p. 114.

^5. Robert Chia and Ian King, 'The Language of Organization Theory', in Robert Westwood and Stephen Lindstead (eds), The Language of Organization, Sage Publications, London, 2001, p. 312.

^6. Glenn Morgan and Andrew Sturdy, Beyond Organizational Change: Structure, Discourse and Power in UK Financial Services, Macmillan Press, London, 2000, p. 268.

^7. A.D. Brown and K. Starkey, 'Organisational Identity and Learning: a Psychodynamic Perspective', Academy of Management Review, vol. 25, no. 1, 2000, pp. 102–20.

^8. Yannis Gabriel, Myths, Stories and Organizations: Premodern Narratives of Our Time, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2004, p. 72.

^9. Stefan Sveningsson and Matts Alvesson, 'Managing Managerial Identities: Organizational Fragmentation, Discourse and Identity Struggle', Human Relations, vol. 56, no. 10, 2003, p. 1,163.

^10. Morgan and Sturdy, Beyond Organizational Change, p. 33.

^11. Cynthia Hardy, 'Researching Organizational Discourse', International Studies of Management and Organization, vol. 31, no. 3, Fall 2001, p. 28.

^12. Hardy, 'Researching Organizational Discourse', p. 32; Jaber Gubrium and James Holstein, 'At the Border of Narrative and Ethnography', Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, vol. 28, no. 5, 1999, p. 561.

^13. Hardy, 'Researching Organizational Discourse', p. 27; Humphreys and Brown, 'Narratives of Organizational Identity and Identification', p. 422; Rowlinson and Hassard, 'The Invention of Corporate Culture', p. 302.

^14. Susan Ainsworth, The Discursive Construction of Older Worker Identity, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Melbourne, 2003, p. 111.

^15. Gary Lewis, People Before Profits: The Credit Union Movement in Australia, Wakefield Press, Sydney, 1996, pp. xx–xxi.

^16. H.R. Crapp and M.T. Skully, Credit Unions for Australians, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1985, p. 13.

^17. Andrew Lo, The Development of the Credit Union Movement in Australia, unpublished MA thesis, School of Economics, University of New South Wales, 1973, pp. 196–98. Debates over what constituted a credit union in Australia are outlined in Lewis, People Before Profits, pp. 12–21.

^18. Ibid., pp. 20–1.

^19. Wright, Development of Australian Management, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 1995, p. 38; E. Boehm, Twentieth Century Economic Development, Longman Cheshire, Melbourne, 1993, p. 166; Government Policies are outlined in R. Catley and B. MacFarlane, Australian Capitalism in Boom and Depression, Alternative Publishing, Sydney, 1983. ch. 4; S. MacIntyre, Winners and Losers: The Pursuit of Social Justice in Australian History, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1985, pp. 79–88.

^20. League News, June 1959, p. 1.

^21. League News, April 1961, pp. 1–2.

^22. League News, April 1960, p. 1.

^23. League News, October 1963, p. 1.

^24. Credit Union Endeavour, vol. 1, no. 1, February-March 1966, p. 1.

^25. Ibid.

^26. Credit Union Endeavour, February-March 1967, p. 1.

^27. Lewis, People before Profits, pp. 86–7; Andrew Lo, The Development of the Credit Union Movement in Australia, pp. 196–98; Catley and MacFarlane, Australian Capitalism in Boom and Depression, ch. 4.

^28. Credit Union Endeavour, October-November 1966, p. 1.

^29. Credit Union Endeavour, August-September 1966, p. 3.

^30. Credit Union Endeavour, August-September 1966, pp. 4–5.

^31. Criticism of the Askin Government, Credit Union Quest, June 1968; Credit Union Quest, March 1970; Credit Union Quest, March 1971; Credit Union Quest, February 1972.

^32. Credit Union Quest, March 1970, p. 1.

^33. Credit Union Quest, June 1970, p. 6.

^34. Credit Union Quest, November 1972, p. 1.

^35. Credit Union Endeavour, June-July 1966, p. 1.

^36. Wright, Development of Australian Management, p. 116; Lewis, People before Profits, p. 87; Catley and MacFarlane, Australian Capitalism in Boom and Depression; B. Dyster and D. Meredith, Australia in the International Economy in the Twentieth Century, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 1990, pp. 268–71; W. Norton and P. Garmston, Australian Economic Statistics, Reserve Bank of Australia, AGPS, Canberra, 1984, p. 92.

^37. Credit Union News, October 1980, p. 1.

^38. Credit Union News, July 1981, p. 3.

^39. Credit Union News, February 1981, p. 1.

^40. Credit Union News, December 1981, p. 1.

^41. Credit Union News, February 1981, p. 3, and November 1982, p. 1.

^42. Credit Union News, April 1982, p. 1.

^43. Credit Union News, April 1982, p. 1.

^44. Credit Union News, September 1981, p. 1.

^45. Credit Union News, October 1981, p. 2.

^46. Credit Union News, October 1981, p. 1.

^47. Credit Union News, January/February 1984, p. 3.

^48. Credit Union News, January/February 1984, p. 4.

^49. Gaby Ramia and Terry Carney, 'Public Management, Organisational Change and Non-Profit Strategy: A Network Perspective', paper delivered in 'Building Effective Networks' Stream at the Academy of Management Conference, Denver, Colorado, 2002, p. 7; Paul du Gay and Graeme Salaman, 'The Cult(ure) of the Customer', Journal of Management Studies, vol. 29, no. 5, 1992, pp. 615–33.

^50. Credit Union News, November/December 1986, p. 4.

^51. Credit Union News, October/November 1985, p. 1.

^52. Credit Union News, November/December 1986, p. 1.

^53. Andrew Brown and Michael Humphreys, 'Nostalgia and Narrativization of Identity: A Turkish Case Study', British Journal of Management, vol. 13, 2002, pp. 141–59.

^54. Rowlinson and Hassard, 'The Invention of Corporate Culture', p. 325.

^55. David Boje, 'Stories of the Storytelling Organization: A Postmodern Analysis of Disney as "Tamara-Land"', Academy of Management Journal, vol. 38, no. 4, 1995, p. 1,007.

^56. Matts Alvesson and Hugh Willmott, Studying Management Critically, Sage, London, 2003, p. 18.

^57. Humphreys and Brown, 'Narratives of Organizational Identity and Identification', p. 423.

^58. Ibid., p. 439.

^59. Robert Westwood and Stephen Linstead, The Language of Organization, Sage Publications, London, 2001.

^60. Charles Booth and Michael Rowlinson, 'Management and Organisational History: Prospects', Management and Organizational History, vol. 1, no. 1, 2005, pp. 5–30.

^61. Hardy, 'Researching Organizational Discourse', p. 28.

Content in the History Cooperative database is intended for personal, noncommercial use only. You may not reproduce, publish, distribute, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, modify, create derivative works from, display, or in any way exploit the History Cooperative database in whole or in part without the written permission of the copyright holder.

The Shifting Meaning of Mutuality and Co-operativeness in the Credit Union Movement from 1959 to 1989