Co-operative entreprises - Essay Example

Different Expectations One of the common and the most disastrous problems of working in a co-operative is that different members may come together in the team having different expectations. I will present here the simple example of doing an assignment together. Some group members may be satisfied with nothing but an A whereas others may settle with just a passing grade. Different expectations can lead to different attitude, work ethics and priorities (Barton, 2011). Thus it is very important in a co-operative to have a common goal and shared values.

Each member should identify with that goal. It may even be necessary to scale down the expectations of some of the members and scale up the expectations of others in order to arrive at a goal which is expectable to all the members. Lack of Communication A co-operative is formed when one member cannot fulfil all the roles himself. Thus a co-operative entails division of work. Some members may be made in charge of marketing, others will have to handle the finance and some others are tasked to handle operations of the co-operative.

The biggest challenge here is the lack of communication among members responsible for different tasks. A marketing guy may make a very ambitious sales plan but may not be aware that there are no finances to support his plan. Lack of communication causes numerous problems but is relatively easy to handle. The problem can be handled b having regular meetings with different group members (Nilsson & Ollila, 2013). These meetings might seem like a drag but they help everyone to come up to speed and also remain misunderstanding that may crop up.

Regular communications among different teams is the most important means of solving problems in a co-operative working environment and ensure positive interdependence among the team members. Ego/Personality clashes In my personal experience of working on a co-operative project ego clash is the biggest challenge which is very difficult to solve. The operational and logistic problems can be solved easily if all team members put their minds to it but ego clashes not only demoralize other team members but may even ruin the whole project (Cooperatives UK, 1965).

These clashes may not be even related to the project that we are undertaking but members may have brought them in to the team from their past history. The best way to avoid these clashes is to ensure that each member of the co-operative is allowed to speak his or her mind. No one should be given more weight age as compared to others. However this does not usually happens and team members end up taking sides which is disastrous for the co-operative. I have personally seen that secret voting on topics of contention is a good way to prevent these clashes and help the group move forward.

Cultural Differences Each one of us has a different way of working even if we have the same goals. Some members of the group like to work alone, some like to work under pressure whereas others like to plan ahead. I call these problems as cultural differences among the members of the team. These differences