Analysing organizational performance in village co-operatives

01.03.1992
This article attempts to explain levels of organizational performance in Indian village co-operatives using insights from some thirty recent case studies. It suggests that underperformance in co-operatives can be traced to failures in one or more of the five interacting sub-systems that a co-operative is composed of as a human organization: namely, governing structure, operating system, critical linkages, patronage system and the micro-environment.The article then argues that while isolated examples may be found of co-operatives which are successful because of their managers or their particular context for sources of large-scale improvements in the general performance of co-operatives, we would have to look to major improvements in the design of co-operative systems and the macro-environment within which they operate. Finally, the article lists a set of design principles emerging from the framework evolved in the paper.The basic fieldwork underlying this paper was undertaken by the authors and students of the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA). The authors acknowledge the support provided by IRMA for undertaking this field research.