Assignment Code: BWEE-006/012/AST-01/TMA/2020-21

Course Code: BWEE-006

Assignment Name: Organization and Leadership

Year: 2021-2022

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

Marks = 100

Note: All questions are compulsory. Each question carries equal marks.

Q1) Discuss the concept of Self-Help Group. (10)

Ans) As a development strategy, self-help promotion aims to capitalise on the rural poor's inherent ability to help themselves. Until now, the rural poor's ability to help themselves has been underestimated and so underutilised. There were no attempts to boost the rural poor's ability to help themselves. The self-help group (SHG) serves as the proper people's institution for its members, providing them with the space and support they need to take meaningful steps toward greater life control. The essence of a SHG is that it creates the groundwork for self-sufficiency by establishing an organisation capable of continuing to develop and empower its members.

The development of self-help groups is considered as critical to the empowerment process since it produces:

1. Confidence and mutual support for the poor, particularly women, who are working for social change; a platform where the poor may critically analyse their conditions and adopt collective methods to overcome their challenges;

2. A framework for creating awareness, fostering confidence, disseminating information, and providing services, and fostering self-reliance and communal action, as well as a vehicle for promoting economic activity.

Savings and credit are proposed as the SHGs' foundation because they constitute a realistic illustration of the SHGs' concept of self-help and self-reliance. It necessitates women's active participation and commitment. It provides a concrete activity through which the poor can begin the process of empowerment by allowing them to exercise control and engage in decision-making for the first time, often for the first time in their lives. It also meets a short-term, practical need of women for a safe place to save, as well as providing a facility to fulfil women's first demands for crisis loans, leading to the provision of credit for productive reasons later on, and freeing them from exploitation by moneylenders.

Savings is utilised as a starting point since research has revealed that the poor have specific objectives, primarily to own some asset for which they are willing to save. To foster the thrifty habit, an emphasis is made on regular saves from necessities rather than surplus. It is widely believed that the practise of thrift, which leads to savings and, if possibilities exist, investment, is a major role in establishing and maintaining a person's drive for advancement. While a facilitator is required to provide initial external assistance in the form of professional guidance to kick-start the self-help process, this should not be done in a welfarist or paternalistic manner that encourages dependency, but rather in a spirit that encourages people to help themselves. The need of focusing on participatory procedures is critical in this regard.

SHGs contribute to women's empowerment when participatory approaches are fostered in group functioning. The facilitator's orientation is critical in this situation. As a result, rather than being "directed" or "pressed" from the outside, the decision to collect savings must go through an awareness-raising process and analysis by the beneficiaries. Savings and credit have the potential to empower rural women through self-help, provided that facilitators encourage group members to participate in saving, managing the group fund, and disbursing loans.

Q2) Discuss the various aspects of financial management of SHGs. (10).

Ans) Various aspects of financial management of SHGs are:

Financial Implications of the Self Help Group

The members of the self-help group have a significant financial and social influence. The majority of the group's activities will be directly related to the members' financial well-being. SHGs in Maharashtra, for example, examine the following income-generating activities:

1. Production and distribution of food items such as papad, kurdai, wafers, pickles, tamarind, and cocum juice.

2. Cleaning and packing of supermarket products such as cereals, pulses, and other similar items.

3. Making and selling wood-based handmade products harvested from the forest

4. Creating a cooperative organisation and/or a chit fund from the ground up

5. Establishing a cooperative grocery store

6. Creating labour societies in order to provide services to people in adjacent towns and cities.

All of these activities will increase the revenue of the group's members. This money will eventually help to raise the members' living standards.

Direct and Indirect Financial and Social Benefits

Direct beneficiaries are people who are actively involved in the activities as active members of the group. They profit directly from collective activity, such as increased revenues or loans for production and consumption. The indirect advantages are just as important and should be taken into consideration.

Members of the family are indirectly benefited, as the term "indirect financial benefits" implies. As the family's income rises, the family purchases and consumes the bare minimum of food. Malnutrition is on the decline. This is an example of earnings being diverted from production to consumption. If medical assistance is required for family members, it is feasible to get better medical care. It is possible to send children to school. These advantages for the family have nothing to do with group activities.

Certain decisions can be made by a member of a group with the support of the other members of the group. Individually, such decisions are tough to make. A lady, for example, might wish to educate her daughter. Her peers would back her decision and assist her in breaking down the barriers to sending girls to school. At the same time, this move will cause a shift in the village's mindset. As a result, the community will benefit from increased school attendance and a more educated girl child and teen population. Benefits like these are critical for women's growth. Another example is women mobilising in their villages to fight booze dealers.

Advantages of Financing SHGs for Banks

1. Increase small-borrower coverage in a timely manner; lower transaction costs: (The bank's task of evaluating individual credit needs, sanctioning, supervising, and monitoring is largely externalised.) ;

2. Ensure higher-quality lending and financing based on need;

3. Reduce the period between loan application and actual sanction/disbursement;

4. Provide social security and social collateral: Peer pressure encourages payments and discourages misuse.

5. Aid in the organisation of disadvantaged people in forms and manner that they can comprehend and use;

6. Allow many social development activities to be carried out at the same time;

7. Include expanding the loan portfolio to fulfil the different requirements of the poor, or giving loans for a variety of purposes;

8. Provides a portion of the credit cycle's job items, such as credit needs assessment, appraisal, disbursal, supervision, and repayment, as well as transaction cost reduction.

9. Improved recovery leads to a better and broader target group coverage.

Q3) Describe the role of group promoter in the meetings of SHGs. (10)

Ans) The frequency with which the groups meet is determined by the convenience of the participants and the group promoter. At the very least, once a month. It would be preferable if the groups met every two weeks or perhaps once a week. The timing of the meeting is decided by the groups. Many women's groups gather late at night after they've finished their work. Because the village's current conditions may not be suitable to meetings at night, some of the women's organisations meet in the morning or afternoon.

In most cases, group meetings are held in the open. The meeting's common subjects of discussion are savings collecting, member loan requests, the group's financial situation, and other socioeconomic issues that affect them personally or collectively. The group meetings normally last between one and two hours. To guarantee transparency, savings should be collected at the meeting. All decisions should be made at meetings, and members should sign the records of those choices before leaving the meeting location. Before they go, the leaders should account for the money and tally the records.

Initially, the group promoter attends all of the group meetings. The promoters are not required to attend all meetings once the group leaders have learned to lead the group. By three years, the groups should be self-sufficient. At this point, the promoter has the option to leave the group entirely. She only needs to come to the group if there is an issue or if the group requests her advice.

Group promoters must function as facilitators, allowing groups to define their own rules. They must assist the groups in the development of systems and procedures. Groups do not always know how to frame effective organisational norms. Promoters of a group can present instances of good rules framed by other organisations. Furthermore, before a rule is formed, groups should be encouraged to consider each issue.

Role of Group Promoter in the Meeting

The women should feel as if they have gotten something out of the meetings. They should not feel as if their time has been squandered or that their opinions have been ignored. The group promoter should assist the group leaders in holding effective meetings. The following recommendations could be beneficial.

1. The gatherings should have a broad discussion agenda. If more critical issues need to be tackled, the agenda should be flexible enough to adjust.

2. Meetings should serve as a forum for exchanging information and engaging in group activities. The groups should be taught how to talk about village issues that concern them. In addition to savings and credit, important programmes such as health, sanitation, nutrition, and smokeless chula might be explored. All members should be given the opportunity to engage in discussions and be encouraged to make decisions.

Q4) Define conflict and identify its stages with suitable examples. (10)

Ans) Conflict is defined as the dissatisfaction one feels with another person or group as a result of their differing needs, desires, attitudes, expectations, and experiences. The "battle between incompatible and competing needs, wishes, views, and interests of people" has been defined as conflict. Conflict has traditionally been viewed as evil and should be avoided at all costs. As a result, there is a propensity to repress and overlook conflict at times. Conflict, according to popular belief, is a natural occurrence that is unavoidable and inherent in any society. It isn't always a terrible thing. It energises the body, clears the vision, aids in problem solving, and serves as a stimulant. As a result, today's perspective on conflict is that it may be beneficial to individuals, communities, and organisations.

Stages of Conflict

Conflict can be divided into four stages. Let's take a look at each one individually.

Stage 1: Distinctions:

Differences emerge as a result of differing points of view and opinions. Discussion will be healthy and productive at this point if it is met with tolerance.

Stage 2: Tensions:

Promises may be violated at this point, people's actions may not match their words, and people begin to criticise and regard their opponents as enemies.

Stage 3: Disputes:

Neither side is willing to acknowledge to making mistakes. If either side appears to be losing face in the eyes of their opponents, they become adamant about doing all they can to defeat them. Extreme positions are being taken.

Stage 4: Hostilities:

People begin to believe that their viewpoints are correct. Opponents are made fun of.

Functionality of Conflict

Conflicts can be useful in the following ways:

1. People can express their emotions and overcome negative feelings by engaging in conflict. Individuals can form productive work partnerships.

2. Collaboration and creative problem solving may emerge as a result of conflict.

3. When a conflict between two groups is faced and resolved, it fosters mutuality, cooperation, and understanding among the group members.

4. Conflicting situations frequently result in new rules, regulations, processes, conventions, and adjustments.

5. Conflict can also be used to balance power between two opposing parties.

When conflict is allowed to spiral out of control, it tends to devolve into destructive behaviour, resulting in a disbanded organisation. As a result, it appears that there is an optimal degree of conflict that is beneficial to the development of creativity, healthy problem resolution, and group productivity.

If some members of a group do not attend group meetings on a regular basis, for example, other members may question them. To address this problem, the organisation could create new norms or insist on adherence to existing ones. As a result, all members will begin to attend meetings, and the group's performance will improve.

Q5) What are the essential feature of work organization in group formation? (10)

Ans) The essential feature of work organization in group formation are as follows:

1. They usually comprise of 15-20 impoverished women who live in the same neighbourhood.

2. SHGs provide for the members' financial and social needs.

3. SHG members contribute a portion of their tiny savings to the group.

4. The savings are used to meet the members' credit needs.

5. The transactions of collecting funds, providing loans, and collecting repayments take place at regular meetings.

6. The little savings are largely used to cover the small consumption and emergency demands of members during the early phases.

7. The clubs gradually interact with local banks and other institutions to meet the members' growing credit demands.

8. As the groups mature, they begin to participate in important community activities as well as programmes run by other government agencies.

The facilitator is the one in charge of group development, nurturing, and monitoring. The facilitator is in charge of locating the community where the project may be implemented, organising the project's eligible poor women, supporting group formation, assisting the group in stabilising its activities, and arranging connections with banks and other outside organisations.

The following are the essential principles to remember when forming SHGs:

1. The women in the group should all live in the same area and be of the same ethnicity. Caste, employment, farm size, and/or income level homogeneity are all examples of homogeneity.

2. Members should put money aside first and then use it for credit.

3. SHGs should meet on a regular basis.

4. They should keep track of their finances.

5. Members should elect and swap group leaders on a regular basis.

6. In the operation of the group, there should be transparency and participative decision-making.

7. Interest rates on savings and credit should be set at market rates.

8. Small loans with short repayment durations should be used at first.

9. Group liability and peer pressure will be used to replace traditional bank security for loans.

10. The SHG should examine its needs, prioritise them, and devise a strategy to meet them.

Q6) Discuss the characteristics of SHGs in the context of group identity and cohesion. (10)

Ans) The characteristics of SHGs in the context of group identity and cohesion are:

1. The members retain ownership of the SHGs. The group exists because its members find value in it in terms of assisting them in resolving their difficulties through collective efforts.

2. Affinity as a foundation for bringing people together. A group that can be sustained and cohesive requires a common underlying bond on which trust may be formed. Thus, prior to any external involvement, the foundation of a self-help organisation exists since the members are tied by a shared bond such as caste, blood, community, place of origin, and so on. The facilitators (whether from a non-governmental organisation, a bank, or the government) must have the necessary experience to recognise these natural groupings or affinity groups. As a result, it is critical that the groups form naturally and by the women's own volition.

3. The group's existence is based on mutual assistance. The group's existence is based on mutual aid and growth toward self-sufficiency, rather than passively absorbing rewards.

4. SHGs provide a platform for communal learning that rural people find more "friendly" and, as a result, more effective than the traditional individual method.

5. The SHGs create a democratic culture and give members with opportunity to learn mutually respectful behaviour norms.

6. The SHGs develop a "entrepreneurial" culture in which each member recognises that while she requires the group's assistance to achieve her goals, the group, in turn, requires her full support.

7. SHGs provide a solid foundation for discourse and programme collaboration with other institutions such as government departments, co-operatives, financial institutions, and panchayat institutions. If the groups are working properly, they will have the credibility and power to ensure that they are involved in selecting, planning, budgeting, and implementing programmes for the empowerment of women, with a particular focus on the disadvantaged.

8. The SHGs provide individual members with the support they need to exercise control over the pace, timing, size, and schedules of loans and programmes; to broaden the pattern of asset provision to include a package that helps the individual cover risk rather than providing a single asset; and to assess the individual member's management capacity, which may fall short of what a "viable" investment package requires for optimum returns.

9. The group also offers a cost-effective credit delivery system, as transaction costs for both banks and borrowers fall dramatically.

   
   

Q7) Explain the cooperative principles and rights with examples (10)

Ans) According to FAO, the seven cooperative principles includes:

Voluntary and Open Membership

Cooperatives are non-profit, open-to-all organisations that aim to maximise member engagement in their services while also ensuring that members have a clear awareness of their roles in cooperative development, regardless of gender, social, racial, political, or religious discrimination. It means that people should not be forced to join a cooperative. Instead, their engagement as active and responsible members should be founded on a clear awareness of and support for the ideals that cooperatives stand for. The ICA Women's Committee has worked tirelessly to ensure that gender is included on the list and that the organization's objectives for cooperative companies are clearly stated.

Democratic Member Control

Cooperatives are democratic organisations governed by its members, who actively engage in policymaking and decision-making. The men and women who serve as elected representatives must answer to the rest of the members. Members of main cooperatives have equal voting rights (one member, one vote). Cooperatives at different levels are likewise democratically constituted. If a 1,000-member cooperative and a 25-member cooperative both have one vote in the activities of their cooperative distributor, the 25 members of the smaller cooperative have a stronger proportional voice than the 1,000 members. As a result, the concept explicitly addresses the requirement for distinct voting methods at the distributor level in order for democratic voting to take place.

Economic Participation of Members

Members contribute evenly to the cooperative's capital and have democratic control over it. As a condition of participation, they frequently earn little or no compensation on capital. Members use surplus funds to grow their cooperatives, benefit members in proportion to their transactions with the cooperative, and support other activities approved by the membership. There is an underlying expectation that a percentage of the cooperative's capital should be owned collectively by all members in order to maintain the cooperative's community-centered ethos and the concept that strength derives from pooling resources to engage in mutual self-help.

Autonomy and Independence

Cooperatives are self-help organisations run by their members for the benefit of their members. If they sign into agreements with other organisations, including governments, or raise funds from other sources, they do so on terms that assure democratic control and cooperative autonomy for their members. There are numerous examples of cooperative development that have been effective. However, the overall track record is at best mixed. Even though the goal was to create self-sufficient member-controlled businesses, the cooperative ventures needed government backing to get started.

Education, Training, and Information

Members, elected representatives, managers, and employees of cooperatives receive education and training. This implies they can effectively contribute to the growth of their cooperative. They also educate the general public, particularly opinion leaders, about the nature of cooperation and its benefits. If people do not understand cooperative enterprise, such active participation will not arise. Surprisingly, much of the writing and debate that went into developing this notion was focused on environmental protection as well as long-term development.

Cooperation among Cooperatives

Cooperatives work together through local, national, regional, and worldwide organisations to best serve their members and strengthen the cooperative movement.

Concern for Cooperatives

Cooperatives use policies adopted by its members to strive for the long-term development of their communities. This new principle, which is based on the principles of social responsibility and caring for others, articulates the joint desire in making contributions to a better society as a whole. Cooperative members are effectively declaring that we can fulfil our needs and the needs of others better than they are currently being served by seizing ownership of sectors of the economy. Because the work is shared, cooperative members recognise that providing for one member means providing for all.

Q8) Discuss the role of federation in women’s cooperatives? Discuss by giving examples. (10)

Ans) The Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) is a women's labour union in the informal economy. These are ladies who don't have a job or a stable employer-employee relationship. SEWA members work in marketplaces, in their own houses, in other people's fields, in forests, on river banks, and in the desert. They are not salaried factory and office workers; instead, they are paid a daily wage or are self-employed. Since its registration as a trade union in 1972, SEWA has been actively organising women workers for the past twenty-nine years.

The Federation represents the cooperatives' and their members' interests and concerns to state policymakers. Women's empowerment is important to SEWA, and cooperatives play a role in this. Economic strength promotes autonomy, whereas shared knowledge among members boosts individual abilities.

SEWA's two main goals are to organise women for full-time household jobs and self-sufficiency. Full employment is defined as labour that provides women and their families with job stability, income security, food security, and social security, at the very least in areas such as health care, child care, insurance, and shelter. Workers' negotiating strength improves as a result of full employment and self-sufficiency. They not only gain economic independence, but they also gain control over their decision-making, all areas of their economic activity, and, in fact, their entire life.

Example:

Gujarat State Mahila SEWA Cooperative Federation

The federation is a state-level organisation that is made up of 84 women's cooperatives. It is the first of its kind, having been registered in 1993. SEWA-sponsored cooperatives took the lead in forming this apex level federation of cooperatives in order to gain training, marketing, capacity-building, and government policy support. The federation's reach and scope of activities have expanded significantly. It is actively aiding producer organisations in their efforts to export their wares. The Federation specifically assisted two district-level organisations, Kutchcraft Association and Banaskantha DWCRA Mahila SEWA Association, in exporting and selling patchwork embroidery to Paris.

A new and crucial enterprise that connects vegetable growers directly with sellers, bypassing predatory middlemen, has also proven to be effective. After much difficulty and pressure from SEWA, the Federation was able to open a shop in Ahmedabad's main vegetable wholesale market. The wholesalers, who were mostly middlemen themselves, were hesitant to let the Federation into their tightly controlled industry. However, the farmers' and sellers' combined strength, as well as the Federation SEWA Bank and SEWA, prevailed. The shop is now open for business, and it is doing well. After eliminating the exploitative middle layer of contractors and intermediaries, both vegetable growers and sellers (vendors) are getting better pricing for their produce.

Now, the federation is working to provide transportation for SEWA's rural producer members to carry their product to the city, where it will be sold to SEWA's retail vegetable sellers. The National Cooperative Union of India has accepted the Federation as a member. Government auditors gave it a "A" for the quality of its services and its management.

Q9) Describe the cooperative -related legislations.(10)

Ans) India now has over 20 state cooperative legislation as well as a federal cooperative statute.

The multi-state cooperative law, enacted in 1984, covers cooperatives that are not limited to a single state and contains 110 provisions.

The following are some of the law's key features:

1. Registration: Within six months, applications for registration and changes must be resolved (Article 9).

2. Article 19 allows the federal government, state governments, the National Cooperative Development Corporation, and any other government-owned or controlled corporation, as well as any government-owned or controlled company, to join a cooperative.

3. Only the Chairperson or Chief Executive of a cooperative can represent it in another cooperative, according to Article 29 (3). Article 33 proposes forming a group of employees' representatives in management.

4. For election to the Board, one must have been a member of the cooperative for at least one year, according to Article 34. Non-members of the General Body are also prohibited from contesting elections under Article 35 (4). Elections in a multi-state cooperative are conducted by an election officer nominated by the Central Government, according to Article 35.

5. No one can be the Chairperson of more than one multistate cooperative, and no one can serve in such position for more than two terms, according to Article 36. (one term, maximum 3 years). In a multi-state cooperative if the government owns more than half of the shares, the Chief Executive must be selected with the permission of the government, according to Article 44.

6. The functions of the Chief Executive, who is also an ex-officio member of the Board, are explicitly detailed in Article 45.

7. The Central Government can provide directions in the public interest or to ensure the implementation of cooperative production and development programmes under Article 47.

8. Under Article 48, the Registrar can supersede the Board and designate an administrator or Board for a term of two years provided certain requirements are met.

9. Article 74 establishes arbitration as a means of resolving disputes. The Government/Central Registrar has sole authority to wind up and appoint a liquidator under Article 77.

10. Article 109 of the act grants the authority to make rules.

Q10) Describe the significance of National Centre for Cooperative Education. (10)

Ans) NCUI's National Centre for Cooperative Education (NCCE) was founded in 1958. The Center's main objectives are to:

1. Assist in the development of cooperative leadership;

2. Provide training for Cooperative Education Instructors and other people involved in cooperative education and training;

3. Programs and faculty development programmes for universities and colleges that deal with cooperation;

4. Assist in the development and dissemination of educational/training methodologies and aids.

To achieve these goals, the NCCE offers the following programmes:

1. Directors of district and higher-level cooperatives can participate in leadership development programmes.

2. Cooperative education and development diploma;

3. Orientation and refresher courses for cooperative education staff and officers of national cooperative federations and organisations;

4. Workshops, seminars, and conferences on a variety of topics related to cooperation and the cooperative movement;

5. Faculty development programme for cooperative training institutes and colleges/institutes that collaborate in teaching;

6. Special training programmes in collaboration with international agencies such as the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), the International Labour Organization (ILO), and international training institutes; and a Computer Appreciation and Application Program for various sectors of the cooperative movement.

Outstation programmes are also arranged/organized by the Centre based on the needs of member organisations. It is located in New Delhi's NCUI complex.