Good Governance, Values And Leadership Through Cooperatives

Good Governance, Values And Leadership Through Cooperatives

GOVERNANCE AND GOOD GOVERNANCE

Governance is the process of decision making and the process by which decisions are implemented. But good governance needs to go an extra step. Or should we say eight steps? Good governance has eight major characteristics. It is participatory, consensus oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive and follows the rule of law. It assures that corruption is minimized, the views of minorities are taken into account and that the voices of the most vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making. It is also responsive to the present and future needs of society.

Direct or indirect (through legitimate intermediate institutions or representatives) informed and organized participation by both men and women is a key cornerstone of good governance. Good governance requires fair legal frameworks that are enforced impartially. Transparency in good governance implies that decisions taken and their enforcement are done in a manner that follows rules and regulations. Good governance demands that all stakeholders should be served with a purpose within a reasonable time frame. It needs mediation of the various interests in a society to reach a broad consensus on what is in the best interest of the whole community. All the members should feel included in the mainstream of society. Effective and efficient use of resources – operative, economic or human and being accountable for the same to the public and institutional stakeholders is a must. Good governance is an ideal which is difficult to achieve in its totality. However, to ensure sustainable human development, actions must be taken to work towards this ideal with the aim of making it a reality.

 GOOD GOVERNANCE VALUES AND LEADERSHIP IN COOPERATIVES

It is a fact that the success of a cooperative will depend on the governance as well as the leadership. Effective leadership contributes to systematic and good governance by bringing on board varied stakeholders to participate and fulfil the needs and expectations of members. The vision, mission and goals of an organization fix the framework, around which the leaders guide the organization in direction of its goals. A cooperative is a value based organization as well as an enterprise. In other words the cooperative values are the soul of an organization. Honesty, caring for others, openness, democracy, equability, equity, solidarity and social responsibility are the powerful tools for building up a good community.

Autonomy, transparency, accountability, democracy and rule of law are the values or main pillars of good governance. The key point of good governance is that all the members are engaged in decision making. In cooperatives members elect their board of directors and decisions are taken by the board under able leadership of the president and vice president elected from amongst them. As an enterprise cooperatives need to ensure good governance to enhance their credit-ability as well as to succeed in the competitive economy.

 RESPONSIBILITIES IN COOPERATIVE GOVERNANCE

Cooperative governance is about striking a fine balance between the process of making the decisions and the process of implementing the decisions. While abiding by the good governance principals the leadership driving the governance should take care of members need and monitor the same. Cooperative governance and leadership attract, motivate and retain members and make them contribute their best. Creating a secure and prosperous operating environment for improving performance is a necessity. In cooperative governance responsibility and power of each stakeholder is defined. The elected leadership drives the cooperative and ensures formation of policy to be driven by both member-lead philosophy and business results. A balance between economic performance and social responsibility needs to be maintained. The board of directors follow a code of conduct and promote and protect the interest of the cooperative.

 EFFECTIVE COOPERATIVE LEADERSHIP AND NYCS

The leadership in a cooperative is autonomous and independent but member driven. The Cooperative leaders should have thorough knowledge about business dimension, future vision and business acumen. They should monitor and direct cooperative towards its objectives through transparent decision making. They need to be responsive to social and member’s needs and should be ready to adopt and adapt to new market practices and technological innovation. Openness for ideas and sensitive to suggestions is expected for effectively driving the cooperative vehicle.

NYCS celebrated the 63rd All India Cooperative Week between 14th to 20th November. The date of 20th November had a theme dedicated to the topic Good governance, values and leadership through cooperatives.

NYCS is proud to have all the essential factors of able leadership, deeply rooted cooperative values and the active intention of good governance right in place. We want to thank the president Shri. Rajesh Pande, vice president Shri. V. Muraleedharan and the managing director, Shri. Prakash Sahu, under whose collective proficient guidance NYCS sails smoothly in times of challenging tides.