نشریه تعاون و کشاورزی
سال بیست و دوم شماره 8 (زمستان 1390)

Cooperatives play a great part in production, income, employment generation, providing for basic needs and fair distribution of facilities. The current paper studies the extent to which agricultural cooperatives (production and farming coops) have been able to generate employment. Data were obtained through 196 questionnaires using random two-loyer sampling in 1389 (2010). Lojit econometric method was employed for mathematical analysis. Results indicate that variables of membership, loans paid, age and family size have positive effect in cattle farming cooperatives compared with extensional activities which turn out to be negative. Also, it was learnt that in production cooperatives, variables of paid loans and input sales hold negative effect on employment whereas purchasing agricultural products, family size and age have shown positive effect on the employment generation. In conclusion, suggestions have been provided such as developing agricultural coops, low-interest loans, and revising extensional courses

Civil organizational behavior is a new concept in management which has many influences on individual and organizational levels. As a result, it is highly important to know about the concept. The current research is an attempt to understand the civil organizational behavior in the cooperatives of the industrial sector in Sanandaj province and its relation with the characteristic traits of the cooperative members as a means for the promotion of civil organizational behavior. For this purpose, 100 board members of the cooperatives active in industrial sector in Sanandaj province were selected as the sample through random stratified method in 1389 (2010). It is an applied research and falls in descriptive correlational type. Questionnaire was the data collection method. The results show that there is a significant correlation between characteristic traits of the subjects and aspects of civil organizational behavior in cooperatives. Also, it was found out that civil organizational behavior is bold in handicraft and woodcraft cooperatives. Meanwhile, poor signs of civil organizational behavior are seen in garment production, melamine and plastic cooperatives.

Cooperatives are entities mainly characterized by collective planning and decision-making. Their success secret lies in member's participation in management. This is even more eye-catching in rural cooperatives in view of their more dependence on their member's demands and roles. The present research, being a descriptive-inferential one, is an endeavor to examine the level of member participation and its relation to rural cooperatives of Isfahan Township in 1389 (2010) using regression analysis. The township has 26 rural cooperative societies (3 inactive thereof) which are struggling with participation crisis. They, therefore, have been included entirely as the statistical population. Data were secured from all rural cooperative managers (managing directors and board members) who mounted to 138 people as well as from 260 members who were sampled through random systematic method. Data collection tool included two types of questionnaire for members and managers. The validity of the questionnaires was established by experts and their reliability was decided by Cronbach's alpha (over 0.85) through SPSS software on a number of 30 people. Results indicate poor level of member participation in rural cooperatives. Correlation coefficient shows significant correlation between member participation and achievement which means member participation is quite determinant in the achievement of the cooperatives.

The research aims at examining the effect of two commonplace educational methods (workshop and theoretical classes) and their execution (in-sourcing and out-sourcing) on employee empowerment and its relation with demographical traits of these employees in 1390 (2011). The search, using pre-test/post-test experimental technique, falls in quasi-experimental category. Questionnaire is the data collection tools which was designed by Spritzer and Mishra (1992) and further expanded later on by Spritzer (1995) according to Thomas and Velthose empowerment. Cochran formula and multi-stage method were used for sampling volume and sampling respectively. The research revealed that kinds of education can improve the employee empowerment but not to the same extent. Outsourced workshop method turned out to be of high effect in comparison with in-sourced traditional classes which are of low effectiveness. Also, it was learnt that not sex and age but the level of education and years of employment can be relevant to empowerment caused by education. In other words, the lower the education and years of employment, the more educational effectiveness in employee empowerment.

Rural and agricultural development is a multi-dimensional process which aims at enhancing life changes and rural community welfare through increased agricultural efficiency, amended land ownership, social mobility and promoting participation models to make transformations in mental as well as social structures of the rural dwellers. Therefore, agricultural production cooperatives seem to be highly instrumental in this regard. The current paper aims to examine the role of agricultural production cooperatives in improving life chances and welfare of members: A case study of Farsan and Kouhrang Townships in 1389 (2010). The research is of descriptive-analytic nature. The statistical population consists in 18 production cooperative societies 11 of which in Kouhrang and 7 in Farsan. All the 126 members of these cooperatives were fully included instead of sampling. The results show through the wilcokson statistical analysis that the formation of the abovementioned cooperatives helps significantly with employment, sedimentation of rural population and improvement of welfare indexes of coop members.

The current paper an extraction of a vast fieldwork aimed at identification of factors involved in the performance of industrial cooperatives in Boushehr Province and their ranking at two stages using two types of questionnaire in 1389 – 90 (2010-11). At first, through documentary studies, a set of factors involved in the performance of the cooperatives were identified. Then they were moulded into a questionnaire on a likert scale basis and were exposed to some of the industrial cooperatives of the province for expert viewing. At the next stage, the adjusted factors were further improved by cooperative officers through a GAHP questionnaire which produced a ranking of these cooperatives. The results indicate that environmental, organizational factors respectively are the most decisive ones, and in terms of ranking, heavy collaterals claimed in return for facilities; improper market for products and disproportionate relation between repayment of the installments and the cooperative's income were identified as the most effective issues dominating the industrial cooperatives of Boushehr Province.