“Ethics is not a concession, but an essential condition for the long-term success of cooperatives.”
The Innovation Factories at GICS 2025 put participants at the heart of the action, connecting them directly with experts in real time through Mur Web. With features such as Q&A, polls, quizzes, word clouds, and live statistics, Mur Web boosts engagement and transforms each Innovation Factory into a dynamic laboratory of ideas where concrete strategies emerge instantly.
We spoke with Michel Séguin, who holds a PhD in philosophy and a master’s degree in economics, and is a full professor in the Department of Human Resources and Organization at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). He is co-director of the Chaire Guy-Bernier in cooperative studies. After more than twelve years with the Desjardins Movement, he currently sits on the board of the Caisse Desjardins du Centre-est de Montréal and chairs the Ethics Committee of Desjardins Financial Security.
GICS: In your view, what are today the most effective strategies for establishing a culture of accountability within cooperatives?
Michel Seguin: The most effective strategy for establishing a culture of accountability within cooperatives rests on the clear and sustained commitment of both management and the board of directors. Their buy-in is critical to making accountability a genuine lever for success, rather than a secondary concern constantly overshadowed by other operational priorities.
A structured approach involves treating ethical misconduct as business risks in their own right and integrating them directly into the organization’s overall risk register. This makes it possible to analyze them using the same criteria as other categories of risks: assessing the potential consequences for the organization and the likelihood of occurrence.
By doing so, ethical risks appear on the same level as financial, operational, or strategic risks. Risks deemed significant, or even critical, then receive the attention they deserve. Management and the board of directors are obliged to define and implement suitable mitigation measures in order to reduce residual risk to an acceptable level.
This integration into governance processes transforms ethics and accountability into unavoidable strategic issues, helping to build an organizational culture that is durable, credible, and aligned with cooperative values.
GICS: What are the main obstacles you see when it comes to strengthening accountability at all levels of the organization?
MS: One of the main obstacles to strengthening accountability in cooperative organizations lies in the very perception of ethics. Too often, it is seen as a sacrifice or an altruistic gesture, rather than as a strategic lever. From this perspective, dedicating resources to accountability is perceived as an additional cost, which slows down its concrete integration into organizational priorities.
As long as management and boards of directors fail to recognize that ethics is not a concession but an essential condition for long-term success, it will remain confined to the level of rhetoric. Yet ethics is a key factor of credibility and trust, indispensable for mobilizing and maintaining the collaboration of a wide network of stakeholders — members, employees, clients, and communities.
In other words, the real obstacle lies in the lack of awareness of the strategic value of ethics. Only by demonstrating its role in the sustainability and competitiveness of cooperatives will it be possible to move beyond the logic of sacrifice and embed accountability into strategy and day-to-day management practices.
GICS: What concrete outcomes do you hope participants will take away from this Innovation Factory and implement in their own cooperatives?
MS: The concrete outcomes expected from the Innovation Factory are that participants will fully recognize the strategic dimension of ethics for the success and sustainability of their cooperatives. Ethics should not be seen as an abstract or merely normative end, but as an essential means of strengthening organizational viability and long-term collaboration, as well as serving as a foundation for the cohesion of any community.
The goal, therefore, is to move from principled discourse to genuine managerial integration. This requires leaders to translate their commitments into concrete practices by implementing appropriate management mechanisms. A pragmatic and effective approach consists of integrating ethical risks into the organization’s global risk register.
By adopting this approach, cooperatives will be able to assess these risks based on their probability and impact, on the same footing as financial, operational, or strategic risks. This process will promote the implementation of concrete mitigation measures and, as a result, ensure lasting alignment between cooperative values and organizational performance.
