A Study in Attitudes Shaping Cooperative Leadership

Sanja Zivkovic, Darren Hudson, Phillip Johnson and John Park

No 229588, 2016 Annual Meeting, February 6-9, 2016, San Antonio, Texas from Southern Agricultural Economics Association

Abstract: Cooperatives are a unique type of business because of linked and close roles performed by three main groups of stakeholders: members-owners, directors and managers. Cooperatives differ from other corporations because the producers-members-owners and directors who control the cooperative are composed of the same set of people, thus the members of the board are shareholders themselves. This special dynamic creates a unique situation in terms of the relationship between the board of directors, which exerts ownership control, and the manager who exerts managerial control. Success of a cooperative mainly depends on good board - manager relationships. This study focused on an evaluation of the relationship between the board of directors and managers. Data were gathered through a survey to the general managers and the chairmen of agricultural cooperatives in Texas. The coordinated responses of the board chairmen and managers from the same cooperatives were analyzed. This study examined variables such as organizational commitment, loyalty, teamwork, strategy, and communication between the board and managers. Furthermore, the study observed the differences in perceptions of priorities of certain matters. In addition, characteristics that directors and managers valued the most about each other were reported. The findings indicated that managers behaved as stewards and good players in a cooperative game as they reported high fulfillment and commitment to their cooperatives. In addition, both managers and chairmen reported a high level of satisfaction with their relationship. However, they both required more communication with each other.

Keywords: Agribusiness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 45
Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:saea16:229588

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.229588

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