Administrative knowledge in venezuelan cooperatives: An exploratory study

Abstract

This article presents the results of an exploratory study carried out by the author in relation to the administrative knowledge handled by Venezuelan cooperatives, and during which research published between 2005 and 2016 was reviewed and analyzed in order to: a) Identify the administrative knowledge studied in that period and, b) know the appreciation of the researchers regarding the level of mastery of this knowledge in this type of companies. The results reflect that the most studied administrative knowledge was decision making, organizational culture, work organization, leadership and training, management philosophy, cooperative principles, organizational structure, planning, budgeting, management, financial administration, performance evaluation and human resources management; while the least studied were those related to change management, problem solving, communication, team work, motivation and incentives for the work team, coordination, quality control, marketing, marketing, division of labor, task completion, monitoring and control of tasks and strategic alliances. In general, a low level or absence of administrative knowledge is reported in this type of companies.