Co-operative
A co-operative refers the autonomous association of individuals joined voluntary to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs as well as ambitions with the help of joined and democratically controlled organization. The co-operatives in not only developed, but also in developing countries increase the income and employment opportunities for its members. According to United Nations’ Secretary General Kofi Annan, the movement of the cooperative is the biggest organized segment of civil society that plays key role in fulfilling the human needs. These organizations offer facilities like health, housing and banking. In addition, they are involved in promoting education and gender equality, protecting environment and rights of the workers. In turn, they help people to live healthy lives in hundreds of countries (United Nations 1).
The Midcounties Co-operative Society is the biggest independent co-operative society in the United Kingdom. The co-operative operates different businesses like food, travel, healthcare, funeral, childcare, energy, post offices and flexible benefits. The vision statement of the co-operative is to endeavor to be a successful consumer co-operative by working to develop a better and fairer world. In addition, it attempts to increase the lives of its colleagues, members, customers and the communities it serve (The Midcounties Co-operative 3).
Seven Principles of Co-operative
Co-operative principles have emerged over time as Rochdale principles developed the co-operative principles and included the factors related to social, political and business issues. The most significant set of co-operative seven principles are developed by the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) in 1995 (Zeuli and Cropp 49). The principles focus on the fairness, justice, mutual self-help, democracy and unity (Parker et al. 71).
Voluntary and Open Membership
One of the principles is the voluntary and open membership. This principle is related to the fact that co-operatives are the voluntary organizations that are open to the individuals. Accordingly, the individuals are able to use the services and accept the duties of membership without the gender, social, racial, political and religious discrimination (Zeuli and Cropp 49). The Midcounties Co-operative Society has been shortlisted for the award of the Co-operative of the Year by the magazine Co-operative News. The co-operative has been nominated because it focuses on the principle of voluntary and open membership. The organization is open to all members and offers voluntary membership. In turn, the individuals are able to use the services provided by the organization like food, travel, healthcare, funeral, and childcare, etc. The individuals are willing to accept the duties in turn of membership without any type of discrimination. In addition, the organization is open, honest and fair in relation to the services with everyone, who is offered membership (The Midcounties Co-operative 3). In 2014, the organization provided the support of worth 342,000 pounds to local communities by volunteering with the help of colleagues. It provided about 24,000 volunteer hours to colleagues (The Midcounties Co-operative 18). It identifies that the nomination of the organization is fair as its values are aligned to the principle of voluntary and open membership.
Democratic Member Control
Second principle of co-operative is the democratic member control. This principle stated that co-operative should be democratic and controlled by the members, who participate in the setting of the policies and making effective decisions. All individuals as the representatives are accountable to the membership. Moreover, they have same level of voting rights (Zeuli and Cropp 49). The organization i.e. the Midcounties Co-operative Society implements the principle of democratic member control as it ensures that the views of the members reflect in a way the society is run. Moreover, the Board of Directors of the organization includes the members elected by the other members in relation to the roles linked to democracy. Moreover, the Board facilitates the direction the society takes. The democratic structure of the organization can be understood by the fact that the members are needed to be agreed to the rules and changes in rules (The Midcounties Co-operative 3). It can also be ascertained by the fact that in 2014, 48, 244 members voted in the organization’s Board and Membership Strategy Committee elections. The turnout of eligible members was 10.6%. Moreover, 754 members attended the AGM and 424 attended the Meetings of Half Yearly (The Midcounties Co-operative 18).
Member Economic Participation
Third co-operative principle is the member economic participation. This principle stated that members donate on equal basis to and democratically control the capital of the organization. The members get limited compensation and they assign surplus for the purposes of developing the co-operatives, providing the benefits to members in percentage of transactions with the co-operative and providing support to activities permitted by the membership (Zeuli and Cropp 49). The Midcounties Co-operative Society implements the principle of member economic contribution. The example of this is that the trade with the members by the organization has increased as it represents 45% of the total sales (The Midcounties Co-operative 20). It indicates the fair nomination of the organization by the magazine Co-operative News.
Autonomy and Independence
The fourth co-operative principle is the autonomy and independence as this principle is linked to the fact that the co-operatives are autonomous and are controlled by the members. In case, the members signed agreements with other organizations like government or they raise capital from outside resources they do so by agreeing on the terms regarding democratic control (Zeuli and Cropp 49). The organization also implements the principle of autonomy and independence. It is due to the fact that the organization is autonomous and is controlled by its members. It provides an insight that the organization is nominated for the award based on fairness and it deserves to be nominated for the award of the Co-operative of the year.
Education, Training and Information
The fifth principle of co-operative is the education, training and information. This principle is associated with the fact that the co-operatives offer education and training to their members along with elected representatives, manager and employees. The organization does so to enable them to contribute to the development of their co-operatives. The co-operatives provide information to general public, especially to young people and opinion leaders regarding nature and benefits of cooperation (Zeuli and Cropp 49). The Midcounties Co-operative Society also practices this principle of co-operative.
The example of this is that the organization is involved in the participation of employees as well as members in training and education. In relation to the principle of education, training and information about 26,500 members have attended member events and activities in 2014 and 2015. Moreover, all the members received the training equal to 103 minutes of training/active member (The Midcounties Co-operative 20). Furthermore, the organization developed the partnership with the Victoria Centre in Lydney and Friday Club to educate older people and to advice in a structured way (The Midcounties Co-operative 14).
Cooperation among Co-operatives
The fifth principle of the co-operative is the cooperation among co-operatives. This principle stated that the co-operatives offer services to their members in an effective manner and reinforce the co-operative movement through working with the local, national, regional and international structures (Zeuli and Cropp 49). It can be ascertained by the fact that at the annual meeting of the organization in 2014, the members permitted the donation of 24,000 pounds to the co-operative party. It also involved the local level support and donations to three local Co-operative Party Councils. In addition, the Phone Co-op is co-operate member of the Society as it had a share of 749,175 pounds in 2015. Moreover, the interest of Phone Co-op was 3,662 pounds. Moreover, it has 250,000 pounds in the Society Share Bond (The Midcounties Co-operative 31).
The Midcounties Society contracted with the Phone Co-op for the services of telecommunication. The services’ value (i.e. VAT) was 1,157, 720 pounds. Moreover, the Phone Co-op bought numerous products and services from the Society. Furthermore, Co-operative Renewables Limited contracted with the Society for the maintenance of the solar photovoltaic installations. The services’ value was 6, 143 pounds (The Midcounties Co-operative 32). It identifies that the organization follows the co-operative principles due to which its nomination for the award is fair.
Concern for Community
The seventh principle of co-operative is the concern for community. It relates to the working of co-operative for the sustainable development of the communities via policies accredited by the members (Zeuli and Cropp 49). The practice of this principle by the Society can be linked to the investment it made in relation to community and co-operative initiatives. The total investment, the organization made in 2013 was 1.5 million pounds. The amount includes the funds given out as grants. In addition, it includes the worth of organization’s volunteering work and the annual investment with respect to co-operative programs. Moreover, the organization works to reduce the energy use as the carbon emissions for 2013 were 2.1 tons per 1 million pounds turnover. The electricity, the organization uses comes from the green sources. Furthermore, the organization runs a campaign on continuous basis regarding increase of recycling and reduction in the amount of waste. During 2013 to 2014, the Society recycled about 83% of waste (The Midcounties Co-operative 21).
Conclusion
It can be concluded from the above discussion that the organization/Society’s nomination for the award of co-operative of the year is right. The main reason is that the organization implements seven principles of co-operative by focusing on open and voluntary membership, education, training and information, democratic member control, member economic participation, autonomy and independence, cooperation among co-operatives, and concern for community.
Work Cited
Parker, Martin, et al. The Routledge companion to alternative organization. USA: Routledge, 2014.
Zeuli, A. Kimberly and Cropp, Robert. Cooperatives: Principles and practices in the 21st century. 2004. Web. 20 Jun. 2016. < http://www.learningstore.uwex.edu/assets/pdfs/A1457.pdf>
The Midcounties Co-operative. Annual Report. 2015. Web. 20 Jun. 2016. < https://www.midcounties.coop/PageFiles/2498/AGM1415.pdf
United Nations. Cooperatives at work. Web. 20 Jun. 2016. < http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/social/cooperatives/documents/CoopsAtWork.pdf>
