24 BULLETIN 1414, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 



MANAGEMENT 



The failure of cooperative associations is ascribed to poor manage- 

 ment in approximately half of the cases reported to the United 

 States Department of Agriculture. The term management rightly 

 should include the supervisory activities of the board of directors. 

 Too often it is interpreted to mean only the functions of the general 

 manager and his chief assistants. 



The general manager, of course, is the key man. He is directly 

 responsible for all branches of the business, whether it is large or 

 small. Essentially, he must have the experience and ability neces- 

 sary to carry on the business of the association. He should have suf- 

 ficient vision to see the possibilities of new methods and practices, 

 and, at the same time, be sufficiently cautious to proceed only when 

 experiments have shown that the new methods are right. The his- 

 tory of cooperation is filled with costly failures of apparently prom- 

 ising schemes in handling or distributing fruits and vegetables into 

 which associations were led by the enthusiasm of inexperienced man- 

 agers. The manager, therefore, as a matter of course, should be 

 a competent business man. 



Furthermore, he should understand the growers' point of view 

 and be sympathetic towards cooperative marketing. It should be 

 unnecessary to mention this qualification, but many associations are 

 run by men who do not understand the principles of cooperation and 

 whose understanding of the growers' problems is limited. Under a 

 manager of this kind there is a drift toward the methods of private 

 business and a tendency to operate the association as a profit-making 

 organization rather than for service. The growers lose the contact 

 with marketing problems which is necessary to adjust their produc- 

 tion practices properly and which should be one of the chief benefits 

 of cooperation. The manager's position calls for tactful and sym- 

 pathetic cooperation with his members. 



Managers with the necessary ability and experience are not easily 

 found. Cooperatives must expect to pay what the services they 

 obtain are worth and will find that efficient service, adequately paid, 

 is the most economical in the long run. Work with growing coopera- 

 tives often requires not only ordinary qualifications of fitness, but 

 the added quality of resourcefulness in order to meet and solve new 

 situations. If these qualities are not adequately remunerated, the 

 association will suffer the loss of well-trained employees. On the 

 other hand, some organizations have paid large salaries to employees 

 without inquiring fully into their qualifications. Adequate or large 

 salaries do not necessarily guarantee efficient management. 



The manager's duties include supervision and coordination of the 

 work of the several departments. In small organizations, the 

 manager and the few assistants often do all the work involved. The 

 general manager of larger organizations, however, has under him 

 managers of such separate departments as organization, sales, ad- 

 vertising, finance, and accounting, all of which are concerned with 

 the administration of the business. As the business grows, the 

 manager must delegate more and more responsibility to others. His 

 duties then become more involved and require greater executive 

 ability. 



