I can’t provide a generic answer but in my experience, there were two mechanisms. First, people are hired partly based on their political values and through word of mouth, which limits ways for bad actors to join. In the same vein, the pay is below market-rates, which reinforces the phenomenon of ideological homogeneity. Second, decisions are made through consensus using formalized methods. Frequent meetings that are prepared in advance following a set of rules, disagreements that are discussed using techniques that minimize the subjective dimension of it and are solution-oriented, elections without a candidate (in French: “élection sans candidat”), etc.
but what happens when its not in the interest of the business to make consensus based decisions? like what you described can quickly devolve into "how do we get everybody to keep their responsibilities unchanged and still make payroll?" vs "how do I delegate responsibilities and adjust payroll to resources that generate revenues vs expenses"?
I just have a hardtime believing this could work. Corporations reflect militant hierarchy for a reason because effective decisions often cannot be made through consensus or utilitarian drivers. Corporations thrive when they are lead by profit incentives of executives who are beholden to profit incentives of liquidity/capital lenders.
You simply do not see a "collective" trade publicly.
In the UK for example, we have the John Lewis Partnership (10.5billion GBP revenue), Co-operative group (11billion GBP revenue), and many in the 50+ million revenue bracket like Suma Wholefoods.
We've also had many major public or private corporations rescued from collapse by worker co-operatives that were able to maneuver out of problems that the centralised organisation could not. See for example Meriden and National Express.
Also, many people's financial services are provided by building societies and other co-operatives. Many of the largest banks have been these kinds of organisations at least once. HSBC for example.
That's just in the UK - it would be astonishing if there weren't many more examples disproving your conjecture from every other country.
The business are the owners. And, unless they are woefully mislead or incapable, the owners will vote what is in their best interest. If the best thing for the business is NOT to grow, because a majority are happy with the current state, then the business shouldn't grow, especially if that would require sacrificing the desires of some of the workers.
This is identical to how privately owned companies are often run, especially family owned small businesses, which can be extremely successful.
Profit is at best a proxy for success, it is not a goal in itself.
It works though, and typically when these cooperatives grow large enough they easily outcompete the privately owned businesses where the profits are siphoned out to people who contributed nothing and who have no knowledge or clue about the actual business. In cooperatives the owners actually know what is happening on the ground because they work in the company, and the profits don't flow out of the business.
