Defining Cooperation

Cooperation (from Latin com-"with" + operari-"to work" = "work done together") happens when:

• there is trust among the persons who work, so that they enable each other tasks and performance and share a sense of belonging to a collective "working entity";
• there is a consensus among co-workers about the objectives of the work and the accepted working mode.

Any kind of social life requires some form of co-operation. In the economic field cooperation requires some form of institutionalized partnership. The institution that organizes a group of co-workers in a structured working entity is called an "organization". Organizational structures are different and can be bigger or smaller, more participatory or more hierarchical: but they all require the construction and preservation of a collective identity where work is shared in a team spirit and organized in line with a team leadership.
 

Team work

There is a correspondence between the cooperation done by the individuals who are colleagues within an an organization and the cooperation done among partners organizations associated for the achievement of the objectives of a development programor project.

The basic assumption of this manual is that the best managerial style for a development aid organization is of designing and managing itself and its culture in such a way as to make itself :

• a projectized organization;
• a learning organization
• an employee empowering organization.

and that these three features are subsidiary in achieving effectiveness of activities as well as generating a healthy communication climate and a strong team spirit that motivates internal and external stakeholders in cooperating towards the achievement of cooperation objectives.

[edit]See also

 Development Issues ⇒ What is the relationship between "Global" and "Local" agendas and responsibilities?
 

 in other sections of this handbook

• Defining Aid

 on Wikipedia
 

• Development aid

[edit]Testimonials

See the Testimonials listed in . This issue is dealt with in the ⇒ Documentary
 

[edit]External links

• Rheingold.com, The Cooperation Project: Objectives, Accomplishments, and Proposals. Howard Rheingold's project with Institute for the Future.
• Etra.cc, Cooperation platform for transport research (scientific)
• Imprology.com, The Far Games, a list of games using theatrical improvisation to encourage collaboration and distributed leadership.