And we believe the reluctance to use the services of the Springfield, 

 Mass, J Bank for Cooperatives stems in part from an aversion to comply- 

 ing with the sound cooperative and business principles espoused by the 

 Bank. 



5 . There is a need for commitment by boards of directors to the busi - 

 ness principle of permitting hired management the initiative and freedom 

 to exercise the how of carrying out a manager's duties with the directors , 

 confining their efforts to policy matters and the evaluation of a 

 hired manager's performance in carrying out policies » 



But the deficiency is not completely the fault of the boards. Rather, 

 in our opinion, it lies in some degree in the lack of leadership abil- 

 ity, the lack of vigor, the lack of initiative, ambition and imag- 

 ination in many of the managers to provide policy direction and care- 

 fully analyzed programs couched in terms that a typical board member 

 understands: to wit--how a proposal will benefit his and other 

 members ' pocketbooks . 



For the most part, the association managers, by failing to provide 

 well-researched, forward-looking proposals to their boards for 

 consideration, place their boards in a position to react negatively. 

 Thus, the directors are preoccupied with worrying about last month's 

 telephone bill (too much), the cost of labor (too high), and other 

 operating matters that should be the exclusive concern of the hired 

 manager. 



60 There is a need for commitment to encourage more complete under - 

 standing by members of the objectives of the cooperatives and the 

 operating policies and procedures adopted to achieve these objectives . 

 Some of the organizations have good information that could be quite 

 illuminating to present and potential members -- fairly good operat- 

 ing results and trends, for example. Except for the annual meeting, 

 however, none of the associations use a public relations approach to 

 provide such information. It's as though the less the members know, 

 the better off everybody will be. Thus members feel little if any 

 responsibility to participate in the management of the cooperatives. 



7 . There is a need for commitment to take an aggressive competitive 

 stance with respect to supply sales and other related services . In 

 some areas, members buy their supplies from brokers for fear that, 

 otherwise, the brokers will pass them by when it comes time to move 

 their produce. 



