Structure and Characteristic of Democratic Control in Agricultural Cooperatives

In agricultural cooperatives, each member has three characters of an owner, a user, and a management person. But today, the character of the member as a management person is weak. In oeder for agricultural cooperatives to develop stably, a management sustem based on active participation of the members must be built up. This paper takes up the Hadanoshi Agricultural Cooperative (abbreviated to JA Hadano in the following) as a case. In JA Hadano, direct democracy is aimed for and each member's activity is performed actively. The purpose of this paper is considering the reform direction of JA management through a case analysis.
The conclusions are as follows.
Firstly, the basic direction of management reform was clarified. The consciousness “JA cannot be reformed” is deeply ingrained in the members with broadening of JA, diversification of its members, etc. We pointed out that the educational activity as OJT was important for changing such consciousness.
Secondly, the characteristic of the organizational management in JA Hadano was clarified. In this JA, direct democracy, such as adoption of a system of general meeting, the discussion meeting in spring and autumn, is aimed at. As the result, the organizational climate, such as “speaking”, “listening”, are formed. We point out that democratic control is practiced under these organizational climates in JA Hadano.
Thirdly, the characteristic of the organizational management in the strawberry sectional meeting was clarified. In this sectional meeting, a sustem is built to give its members wide management responsibility. And the member is not dependent on the employee thoufhtlessly. We pointed out that this sectional meeting is managed by member's condominium under the strong awareness of member as a management person.

農業協同組合における組合員は，所有者であり，利用者であり，運営者である，という三位一体的性格を持つ．しかし今日，運営者としての性格は弱い．農協の安定的な発展には，組合員の主体的な参画に基づいた，運営体制の確立が不可欠である．そこで本論では，直接民主主義を追求している秦野市農業協同組合を事例としてとりあげ，農協運営の改革方向について考察した．結論は，以下の通りである．第一に，運営改革の基本方向を明らかにした．農協の広域化，組合員の多様化などを背景として，「農協を変えることはできない」という意識が，組合員には深く刻まれている．その意識を変えるためには，OJTとしての教育活動が重要なことを指摘した．第二に，事例農協における組織運営の特質を明らかにした．事例農協では，総会方式の採用，春と秋の座談会など，直接民主主義が追求されている．その結果，組合員の「発言」する風土，役職員の「聴く」風土などに支えられ，民主的管理が実践されていることを明らかにした．第三に，事例農協のいちご部における組織運営の特質を明らかにした．事例部会では，運営責任を部員に広く持たせる体制が構築され，また，農協理事の経験者が所属している．それらの結果，部員の運営者としての強い自覚の下，共同統治によって運営されていることを明らかにした．