Conflict Management of Cooperative Organizations in Contemporary Iran: A Review Analysis

Emergence of conflicts-of-interests and of disputes in organizations, especially within and among work team systems, is inevitable. Cooperatives are self-governing organizations with democratic characters aimed at meeting the members’ needs and promoting social equity. Yet, internal organizational conflicts arise as conflicts-of-interests develop. Such conflicts can cause serious damages to the parties involved as well as harm the reputation of cooperatives as social and economic entities that tend to pursue social justice and fair distribution of income in society. This paper addresses conflict management in contemporary cooperative organizations. It is based on a preliminary research performed on factors causing conflicts in various types of cooperatives in Iran by analyzing 253 complaints made in 224 housing, consumer, transportation, producer procurement, and credit cooperatives within the central province of Tehran. It also offers some suggestions to improve conflict management within cooperative organizations.

Davoud MojtahedEmail: Email: