The organizational structure of work found in a cooperative of women: la organización del trabajo de una cooperativa popular

Abstract

The volume of work done in small workshops by women of the Rocinha, a shantytown in Rio de Janeiro, has grown in the last twenty-five years to the point of becoming a cooperative, COOPA-ROCA. Therefore this study sought to identify issues relevant to structuring of their work as well as performance of COOPA-ROCA. It was disclosed that the intermediation of the cooperative with important partners was centralized in one person, individual cooperative attitude is not recognized, craftswomen have not internalized the meaning of ownership and remain ignorant about financial performance. They avoid strategy-oriented meetings, however social activities are important. After understanding relations between the main activities in the cooperative value chain, this study also presented a basic outline for a management system