Asociatividad, liderazgo y visión organizacional. Una mirada desde la perspectiva de los asociados en organizaciones de recicladores

This research aimed to understand those aspects that correspond to the social constructions in the organizational reality of the associations of professional recyclers, understood as the people who are involved in the activities of recovery, sorting, collection, and transportation of solid waste, to finally incorporate them into a new productive cycle. Given the associative nature of these organizations, their sustainability depends on the capacity of their members to find meaning in their associativity, exercise leadership and share a long-term vision. The work is spatially located in the city of Tunja and has a synchronic logic insofar as the phenomenon is observed at a given moment, without interest in the evolution over a period of time. It is assumed from the identification of the existing organizations in the city and the sensitization of their directors and associates about the research exercise, obtaining the willingness of three associations, which represent 60% of the formalized community of recyclers in the territory. The methodology used to approach the object of study is qualitative, with a phenomenological approach, seeking under inductive reasoning to unveil the representations of waste pickers about the raison d’être of the associative organization, the role of associates and the images of the future for their organizations. The data collection techniques were in-depth interviews, focus groups and participant observations, all of which were applied in the context of participatory workshops conducted with the recyclers over a period of five months, with meetings every 15 days. The results indicate that there is no construction of meaning among waste pickers about what it means to be an associate; they share the representation that they are subordinate to the legal representative. In relation to leadership, there is no hint of it being exercised; waste pickers do not take initiative in any organizational matter; their role is limited to obeying orders. The organizational vision, in turn, lacks a shared meaning for the base of associates, who are understood to be the strategic governing body of the organization.