Growth and resilience of pioneering nonprofit human service organizations: a cross-case analysis of organizational histories

Knowledge of organizational history is important for recognizing patterns in effective management and understanding how organizations respond to internal and external challenges. This cross-case analysis of 12 histories of pioneering nonprofit human service organizations contributes an important longitudinal perspective on organizational history, complementing the cross-sectional case studies that dominate the existing research on nonprofit organizations. The literature on organizational growth, including lifecycle models and growth management, is reviewed, along with the literature on organizational resilience. Based on analysis of the 12 organizational histories, a conceptual model is presented that synthesizes key factors in the areas of leadership, internal operations, and external relations that influence organizational growth and resilience to enable nonprofit organizations to survive and thrive over time. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal examples from the organizational histories illustrate the conceptual map. The paper concludes with a discussion of directions for future research on nonprofit organizational history.     

Self-evaluation of assessment programs: a cross-case analysis

The goal of this article is to contribute to the validation of a self-evaluation method, which can be used by schools to evaluate the quality of their Competence Assessment Program (CAP). The outcomes of the self-evaluations of two schools are systematically compared: a novice school with little experience in competence-based education and assessment, and an innovative school with extensive experience. The self-evaluation was based on 12 quality criteria for CAPs, including both validity and reliability, and criteria stressing the importance of the formative function of assessment, such as meaningfulness and educational consequences. In each school, teachers, management and examination board participated. Results show that the two schools use different approaches to assure assessment quality. The innovative school seems to be more aware of its own strengths and weaknesses, to have a more positive attitude towards teachers, students, and educational innovations, and to explicitly involve stakeholders (i.e., teachers, students, and the work field) in their assessments. This school also had a more explicit vision of the goal of competence-based education and could design its assessments in accordance with these goals.     

Collectivism and reporting of organizational wrongdoing in public organizations: the case of county administration in Kenya

This paper explores dimensions of collectivism to explain patterns of reporting organizational wrongdoing in public organizations. The findings herein illustrate that responses to wrongdoing in public organizations in developing countries like Kenya are more rationalized or interpreted within communitarian or supported by parochial social ideologies, which tend to override instrumental accountability norms and structures. Accordingly, responses towards organizational wrongdoing are more informed by the logic of appropriateness, as potential and actual complainants prefer informal channels for addressing organizational wrongdoing over formal reporting mechanisms. These findings present important insights for designing accountability mechanisms or anti-corruption strategies in public organizations. With a focus on unfamiliar settings to the literature on ethical culture, the paper rides on its in-depth analysis while contributing to the current research on organizational behavior and decision-making.     

How flat organizations filter: organizational gatekeeping in a networked environment

The development of affordable Internet-based tools and platforms has led to major transformations in organizational dynamics. One key change is the shift of agency from center to ends and the consequent emergence of decentralized (networked) organizations. Focusing on the realm of collective action, we suggest that organizational configurations constructed around participants with greater agency induce organizations to promote new filtering tactics to sort out members who are valuable to the group. Drawing on Signaling Theory, we analyze the filtering behavior that organizations develop in their attempt to cope effectively with a type of tension characteristic of the digital era: The impetus to uphold egalitarian ideals on the one hand and the need to sort out desired participants on the other. Previous studies have explained how boundary work actually works in bureaucratic settings with fairly clear boundaries. This study focused instead on how new patterns of collective participation emerge, and how novel practices related to filtering are distributed in decentralized organizations. The study makes two points with theoretical implications. First, it explains an organization's decision to conduct filtering measures – a decision that on the face of it is counterintuitive since organizations operating in a digital environment can tolerate the enclosure of ‘free riders’. The second point relates to filtering practices. It shows that the emergence of new forms of participation, practices and norm, due to the development of networked media, encourages creativity in the development of specific filtering tactics, with activists considering new tactics for achieving their goals.     

How transformational leadership positively impacts organizational citizenship behavior in successful Chinese social work service organizations

Social work service organizations (SWSOs) have developed quickly, and there were nearly 8,000 of such organizations throughout China in the end of 2017. However, this rapid growth has brought both great opportunities and challenges. Globally, leadership has received increasing attention in the social work profession in the 21st century. Among different types of leadership, transformational leadership has been identified as a key issue in bringing more innovation and motivating employees' organizational citizenship behavior to overcome such challenges. Therefore, this study aimed to focus on social workers from the 170 applicants of the “Top 100 Social Work Service Organizations of 2017” which could be seen as the more successful SWSOs in China to examine how transformational leadership impacts organizational citizenship behavior by considering two mechanisms, workplace social capital and professional autonomy, in different areas throughout China. A two‐step process analysis was employed. First, a structural equation model was theoretically built, and it examined the direct and indirect relationships among all four latent variables, considering two mediation effects. Second, multiple group (high social work developed area group versus low social work developed area group) analyses tested the moderation effect. This study confirmed the key role of transformational leadership in the success of SWSOs and found workplace social capital as a full mediator and professional autonomy as a partial mediator in the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behavior. These findings may shed light on the further development of SWSOs from the perspective of enhancing social workers' organizational citizenship behavior.     

Accounting and the celebration of rationality in human service delivery organizations

Emerging perspectives of control in human service delivery organizations are facilitated by rational accountability formulations whose tenets and assumptions remain basically unquestioned in organizational and accounting literature. This paper critiques the underpinnings of rational accountability formulations and their appropriateness for human service delivery organizations. In turn, a non-rational metaphor of the role of management accounting information is proposed which recognizes uncertainty for what it is rather than assuming the very certainties that cannot be found in the delivery of human services.     

Founders' syndrome in women's nonprofit organizations: Implications for practice and organizational life

This qualitative study examines the impact of “founders' syndrome” in ten feminist nonprofit organizations, giving attention to the ways in which original members and organizers (founders) retain control and set the agenda of these organizations beyond their official terms of office. In these community‐based organizations, founders' syndrome provides stability, but it also affects the ability of younger members to contribute and influence organizational direction. Implications for practice are drawn from the study's results.     

Terms of engagement: Facebook and Twitter use among nonprofit human service organizations

This study uses Lovejoy and Saxton's (2012) hierarchy of engagement to analyze how nonprofit human service organizations use Facebook and Twitter to engage stakeholders. Their framework has not been applied to this nonprofit subgroup, and most previous scholarship on this topic focuses on just one platform. We also contribute by drawing on organizational theory to better understand variation in the modes of engagement organizations emphasize. Based on our analysis, we add new subcategories to the hierarchy of engagement. In addition, we find that compared to other nonprofit subgroups examined in previous research, the organizations in our sample placed a greater emphasis on using social media messages to ask stakeholders to take action. We report only modest variations in how organizations were using Facebook and Twitter. Finally, according to our results, resource dependence and stewardship theories help explain the modes of engagement organizations prioritize.     

How human resource outsourcing affects organizational learning in the knowledge economy

Adaptability and knowledge management, key elements of organizational learn-ing, are critical to organizational success as a result of a fundamental shift towards a knowledge economy. HR outsourcing and the growth in contingent work can result in a significant loss in learning capital through a breakdown in the psychological contract. We explore how to preserve HR's strategic role in facilitating organizational learning in the new outsourcing and offshoring con-text. The problem is compounded if outsourcing is introduced for cost control rather than strategic refocusing reasons. We suggest that managers can posi-tively influence the relationship between outsourcing and organizational learn-ing through internal marketing tactics and enriched psychological contracts. A previous version of this paper was presented at the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada (ASAC) Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada, June 2005.     

Interpersonal leader responses to secondary trauma in nonprofit human service organizations

Secondary trauma is concerned with the intrapersonal affective responses an individual can experience during or subsequent to an interaction(s) with another person who recounts his or her personal stories of abuse, trauma, or disempowerment. Secondary trauma can engender a host of detrimental intrapersonal effects on nonprofit staff who express empathy toward clients experiencing primary trauma. I explore the interpersonal‐level responses to secondary trauma‐affected staff available to the leaders of nonprofit human service organizations. These secondary trauma‐sensitive leader behaviors, I theorize, will reduce the prevalence of secondary trauma in nonprofit organizations and generate follower engagement.     

The influence of flexible management practices on the sharing of experiential knowledge in the workplace: a case study of food service helpers

Previous studies have shown that the job knowledge and prudent knowledge of experienced workers constitute a wealth that needs to be shared in workplaces to promote worker integration, job retention and occupational health and safety. It appears, however, that certain management practices undermine this knowledge sharing process. This case study of food service helpers in institutional food service departments is part of a research project aimed at comparing the impact of different work organization methods on knowledge sharing in the workplace on the basis of case studies carried out in several organizations. The results of this case study reveal that by destabilizing and weakening the work teams, flexible management practices create an environment that is not conducive to experiential knowledge sharing.     

How nonprofit human service organizations manage their funding sources: key findings and policy implications

Major findings and policy implications on how nonprofit social service organizations manage their funding relations are summarized. Data from in-depth case studies of six medium-sized social service organizations with distinctive funding profiles yielded findings on the major contingencies associated with controlling fees, the volatility of donations, and the driving force of public funding relationships for funders (public and private), nonprofit managers, and the role of nonprofit organizations.     

Metasystem transitions in human organizations: a route towards global sustainability

Abstract

This article deals with the problem of understanding the relations between viability and sustainability in the context of social metasystem transitions occurring in a global environment. To this aim the subject of Organizational Synergetics is introduced. A refinement of Stafford Beer's viable system model is proposed and the distinction is made between local sustainability and global sustainability, the latter seen as an undecidable property of the global system comprising both the system in focus and its environment. Finally, based on the concept of a viable holonic network, a strategy and a general heuristics for attaining global sustainability are proposed.     

Construction of organizational identity claim and understanding in nonprofits: Evidence from Pakistan's voluntary organizations

There is a substantial research literature on nonprofits identity claim and identity understanding but much less on how these identities are constructed in the first place. This article explores how identity claim and identity understanding are constructed in the nonprofits and reasons for such constructions. Exploratory multiple case study analysis was conducted with two voluntary organizations. The results showed that three factors play a significant role in construction of identity claim; founders, funding, and power of stakeholders. The construction of identity understanding is influenced by the claim and is often in sync until the funding source changes leading to a dissimilar identity understanding. The members, however, showed reluctance to embrace the new identity due to the power of stakeholders and fear of mission drift. The unsynchronized claim and understanding caused confusions among the members as they juggled between adopting the new identity understanding and keeping a dissimilar claim. This confusion hinders the nonprofits growth and they struggle to answer what they want to be in future.     

Codifying explicit and tacit practitioner knowledge in community social pediatrics organizations: Evaluation of the first step of a knowledge transfer strategy

In this article, we the present the evaluation of the first phase of a KT initiative, the codification of the tacit and explicit knowledge of community social pediatrics (CSP) practitioners. As increasing numbers of professionals began working in the CSP field, it became necessary to capture the know-how to make it better understood. This first phase of the initiative took advantage of one of the KM stages, the codifying process that is absent from KT models. The evaluation aim to answer the question: “What is the CSPs practitioners level of familiarity with the codification document, as well as their perceptions of its utility and its contribution to the understanding of the CSP model”. The results, show that most respondents had consulted the codification document and were able to describe in detail parts of it. The results also show that they considered it to be a useful and necessary tool to guide practices and helpful in understanding the model. The results of this evaluation is paving the way for the next steps of the KT initiative.     

Foster care transition services for youth with disabilities: findings from a survey of county service providers

This study explores the transition services available for youth with disabilities in foster care and the collaboration among foster care transition programs with other types of providers. Findings from this survey of independent living coordinators working for child welfare agencies indicate that while youth with disabilities are being served through transition programs and these programs collaborate with other government agencies, there are few services targeted directly toward their needs, little collaboration with community-based agencies, and a need for more information sharing.