Project Materials

THE ROLE OF VOLUNTARY & OPEN MEMBERSHIP IN INCREASING THE EFFICIENCY OF COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES

Chapter one

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study.

Cooperative is a voluntary organisation formed by people who share a common interest in cooperatives. According to ICA (1995), there are some principles that guide the management of cooperative businesses. The first of the seven (7) principles, voluntary and open membership, is the focus of this study.

The principle requires that membership in any cooperative society be available to new intended members with no artificial restrictions, implying that cooperative societies are non-exclusive clubs of a few people or private corporations.

The philosophy behind this principle is that in cooperative societies, members must regard the society’s business activities in the cooperative spirit of solidarity and global brotherhood, rather than the selfish, egocentric mentality of capitalism.

The society must be prepared to welcome new members; it is a form of social service to humanity; new members can enter and enjoy the benefits of the society built up by the old and former members.

According to Chukwu (1990), one advantage of cooperative openness is that the cooperative’s open door policy not only promotes excellent philosophy. It also causes the cooperative movement to extend over the entire nation/world, hence increasing the benefits of membership due to the integration process.

Again, Amahalu (2006) states that voluntary and open membership causes the firm to grow volume by volume. The more people join the cooperative firm, the better the chances of the group meeting its goals in terms of skills, capital volume of production, and sales.

In cooperative practice, voluntary and open membership is not absolute since there is a need for selection; we have “qualified openness” in cooperatives, which means that not everyone who applies has an automatic right to be joined.

Dishonest persons, non-conformists, those whose purpose would be damaging to the goals of the community, or those who will not follow the rules of the society, would certainly be denied admission.