Identification of executive and managerial barriers in the activity of forestry cooperatives in Guilan Province

Forestry Cooperatives are the only formal institutions in establishing participatory forestry management in Iran. Forest Restoration and Utilization Cooperatives established for forest management in the Caspian forests during 1980 and 1990 decades. These institutions have faced various issues recently, which lead to failure and dissolution. However, there is not enough analysis in these situations yet. The present study aimed to analyze the problems and obstacles and describe the most important factors on the executive and managerial components of the Narvan, Lil, and Amir-Almomenin Forestry Cooperatives of Restoration and Harvesting, located in the Guilan province. The methodology of the research is Strauss-Corbin based Grounded theory. 28 informants from managing directors, board of directors, Forests, Range and Watershed Organization and Rural Cooperative Organization experts were interviewed based on theoretical sampling. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data. The results showed management maladministration, inefficient management, poor training and weaknesses in the knowledge of cooperative managers are the main managerial barriers. In addition, poor implementation, lack of proper infrastructures, equipment and resources, management weaknesses in implementation, and weaknesses in providing training and empowerment of staff are the main drivers of executive obstacles. According to the findings, it can be concluded that the status of cooperatives is beyond the internal issues and members level. As shown in this study, there are many problems in the managerial and executive levels of forestry cooperatives that primarily must be solved in high level decision making among government organizations and then problems in the member level of cooperatives be assessed.