Non-government organisations and the dialectics of state and civil society

This paper is concerned with envisioning the development of non-government organisations (NGOs) in Australia over the next 200 years. It begins with a discussion of a hypothetical NGO, providing vignettes of its activities in 2104 and 2204, and sketching out contextual factors that might influence NGO development. This discussion is followed by an outline of the methodology upon which the projections indicated in the hypothetical case-study are based. Three methodological approaches are used. The first approach begins from an analysis of current contextual trajectories, and projects the role of NGOs within these trajectories. The second approach postulates that the changes that will occur will be affected by the reflexive nature of social change, involving continual reflection and action. The third methodological approach draws on this notion of reflexivity, but emphasises that social change is not only a reflexive process, it is also a dialectical one. The dialectical approach rests on the premise that change occurs through a process of the accumulation of contradictions, challenge and resolution. Using these methodological approaches the paper proceeds to identify three factors which will influence the Australian NGO sector in the next 200 years. These factors are the shifting relations between the state and civil society, including the rise of the neo-authoritarian state in the 21st century; the ways in which least advantaged people are dealt with and, finally, the idea of risk society. While it is more difficult to identify the contextual and NGO trajectories into the 22nd and 23rd centuries, the paper postulates a more utopian vision for NGOs in Australia in 200 years time, where the category of people who had been previously marginalised disappears, and the major roles of NGOs are to ensure cultural diversity and develop civil labour.

Location, location, location: exploring the importance of place for arts organisations

Many arts managers and marketers are looking intently at the importance of high-speed communication and other technologies for the creation of virtual places. These places in cyberspace can only be accessed via a computer terminal and high-speed telecommunications tools. This paper asserts that there is still much for managers and marketers to learn about the importance of physical spaces for the arts. We use a model of place and apply it to three Australian arts organisations located in heritage buildings. One organisation failed, the other changed ownership, the third moved location. The findings demonstrate the importance of place and of strategy in determining place. We note the tension between the strategy, the venue, the objects, and the essential task and call for further analysis of place(s) for the arts.

The application of non-profit marketing in the international higher education sector

This study considers the impact of the university service and learning environments (which we define as non educational factors) on student satisfaction among international postgraduate students from Asia studying in Australian universities. It is based on the expectations/perceptions paradigm and analyses the relationship between key variables and overall satisfaction of student groups in respect of their service and learning environments. The aim of this paper is to consider the importance of non-educational factors in international postgraduate university students, in particular, with regard to information and communication, infrastructure, and university recognition. The data used in this study is derived from a mail survey conducted among international postgraduate students from China, India, Indonesia and Thailand studying in five universities in Victoria. Structural Equation Modelling was used to understand the relationship between the constructs in this study. The results indicate that noneducation related factors are very important to international postgraduate students and they are predictors of overall satisfaction.

Strategic HRM in for-profit and non-profit organizations in a knowledge-intensive industry

This article examines the adoption of strategic Human Resource Management (HRM) by for-profit and non-profit knowledge-intensive health services (HS) organizations in the Australian context. Survey data collected from senior executives are used to test the relationships between a strategic HRM model and firm performance. Path analysis found that for HS firms, irrespective of whether for-profit or non-profit, adopting strategic HRM could increase organizational performance. Strategic HRM could be achieved through the cultivation of an external orientation to customers' demands and a commitment to employees. Building an external orientation with internal structural dimensions such as commitment to employees, allows HS organizations to develop a strategic HRM approach with human capital-enhancing HRM practices. Public and non-profit organizations in the HS industry facing or undergoing health sector reform need to be aware of both of these orientations in order to adopt strategic HRM and improve their performance.

A model of cause-related marketing for profit-driven and non-profit organizations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe a model of cause-related marketing (CRM) for both profit-driven (PD) and non-profit (NP) organizations.
Design/methodology/approach – The model consists of two parallel internal and external organizational processes – one representing the process of a NP organization and the other a PD organization. They are interlinked as the outcome of a CRM-partnership is dependent upon their mutual efforts.
Findings – The authors argue that it is essential to remember that a CRM-partnership is a challenge and risk for both the PD and NP organizations that may harm their reputation and position in the marketplace and/or society. CRM has benefits as well as downsides that should not be underestimated nor neglected.
Research limitations/implications – Will the involvement of the PD or NP organizations in the resultant partnership be perceived as commercialism, altruism or a combination of both, in the marketplace and society? A focus on both processes opens up opportunities for further research.
Practical implications – A contribution is that the CRM-model may be used as a guide for both PD and NP organizations in order to reveal whether a CRM-partnership is appropriate for them with a potential partner or not. It may also indicate whether the motives are based upon commercial reasons or altruistic reasons or a combination of both.
Originality/value – The model enables these organizations to think through the process prior to engaging in CRM.

A psychological contract perspective to the link between non-profit organizations' management practices and volunteer sustainability

This study applies the concept of the psychological contract to the relationship between management practices and volunteers. Formalization of the voluntary sector is impacting on volunteers’ experiences and may breach the psychological contract from the volunteers’ perspective. This mixed method study interviewed 67 volunteers and volunteer coordinators/administrators, and collected mail survey information from 152 volunteer organizations. The transactional management practices of keeping formal records and not paying volunteers out of pocket expenses are negatively associated with volunteer recruitment and retention. Alternatively, publicly recognizing volunteers through a volunteer newsletter supports volunteers’ relational expectations and is positively linked to adequate volunteer numbers. Our findings have important implications for the human resource development practices of non-profit organizations in dealing with their volunteers: they suggest that the relational expectations of volunteers are an important aspect of the psychological contract, which could be used by organizations as a framework for developing management practices that fit the volunteer ethos of trust and networks.

Making sense of business intelligence : proposing a socio-technical framework for improved decision making in not-for-profit organisations

The authors of this paper argue that human intuition alone cannot be relied upon for strategic decision making in today’s business environment and that quality data intelligence is an imperative. The proposed project described in this paper is research-in-progress, action design research (ADR), to implement an appropriate information systems (IS) enabling enhanced organisational decision making. ADR is a new research method that draws on action research and design research in an organisational setting. In phase 1 of the project, a sociotechnical ‘sense-making’ approach is used to gather and analyse information and decision needs in a not-for-profit (NFP) association, Connections ACT. In phase 2, requirements are designed and modelled to build a conceptual framework that guides NFPs in improving business performance and reporting capability. Phase 3 is the evaluative stage when the framework is reflected upon and refined, with intervention in the organisation’s processes as a promising outcome.

The relationship between market orientation, brand orientation and perceived benefits in the non-profit sector: a customer-perceived paradigm

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between ‘market orientation’, ‘brand orientation’ and ‘perceived benefits’ in the non-profit sector from the perspective of the customers. Data were collected from a number of church organizations in Australia using a self-administered questionnaire. The tests for construct reliability, validity and research hypotheses were conducted using structural equation modelling. Findings reveal that ‘market orientation’ is significantly associated with both ‘perceived brand orientation’ and ‘perceived benefits’. An alternative model also reveals significant relationship between ‘brand orientation’ and ‘perceived benefits’ through ‘market orientation’ as the mediating variable. The study contributes to the body of literature and provides practical implications for non-profit managers and church leaders alike. An organization that endeavours to build a strong brand and deliver relevant benefits to its members should ensure that it has sufficient understanding of its members and utilizes the various resources of the organization to deliver superior values to its existing and prospective members.

Mental health service delivery : a profile of mental health non-government organisations in south-east Queensland, Australia.

Non-government organisations make a substantial contribution to the provision of mental health services; despite this, there has been little research and evaluation targeted at understanding the role played by these services within the community mental health sector. The aim of the present study was to examine the depth and breadth of services offered by these organisations in south-east Queensland, Australia, across five key aspects of reach and delivery.

Associazioni non profit e linked open data: un esperimento

Le Associazioni Non Profit giocano un ruolo sempre più rilevante nella vita dei cittadini e rappresentano un'importante realtà produttiva del nostro paese; molto spesso però risulta difficile trovare informazioni relative ad eventi, attività o sull'esistenza stessa di queste associazioni. Per venire in contro alle esigenze dei cittadini molte Regioni e Province mettono a disposizione degli elenchi in cui sono raccolte le informazioni relative alle varie organizzazioni che operano sul territorio. Questi elenchi però, presentano spesso grossi problemi, sia per quanto riguarda la correttezza dei dati, sia per i formati utilizzati per la pubblicazione. Questi fattori hanno portato all'idea e alla necessità di realizzare un sistema per raccogliere, sistematizzare e rendere fruibili le informazioni sulle Associazioni Non Profit presenti sul territorio, in modo che questi dati possano essere utilizzati liberamente da chiunque per scopi diversi. Il presente lavoro si pone quindi due obiettivi principali: il primo consiste nell'implementazione di un tool in grado di recuperare le informazioni sulle Associazioni Non Profit sfruttando i loro Siti Web; questo avviene per mezzo dell'utilizzo di tecniche di Web Crawling e Web Scraping. Il secondo obiettivo consiste nel pubblicare le informazioni raccolte, secondo dei modelli che ne permettano un uso libero e non vincolato; per la pubblicazione e la strutturazione dei dati è stato utilizzato un modello basato sui principi dei linked open data.

A New Symbiosis: Municipalities, Private Contractors and Non-Governmental Organisations for the Provision of Local Public Services"

This project considered the second stage of transforming local administration and public service management to reflect democratic forms of government. In Hungary in the second half of the 1990s more and more public functions delegated to local governments have been handed over to the private or civil sectors. This has led to a relative decrease of municipal functions but not of local governments' responsibilities, requiring them to change their orientation and approach to their work so as to be effective in their new roles of managing these processes rather than traditional bureaucratic administration. Horvath analysed the Anglo-Saxon, French and German models of self-government, identifying the differing aspects emphasised in increasing the private sector's role in the provision of public services, and the influence that this process has on the system of public administration. He then highlighted linkages between actors and local governments in Hungary, concluding that the next necessary step is to develop institutional mechanisms, financial incentives and managerial practices to utilise the full potential of this process. Equally important is the need for conscious avoidance of restrictive barriers and unintended consequences, and for local governments to confront the social conflicts that have emerged in parallel with privatisation. A further aspect considered was a widening of the role of functional governance at local level in the field of human services. A number of different special purpose bodies have been set up in Hungary, but the results of their work are unclear and Horvath feels that this institutionalisation of symbiosis is not the right path in Hungary today. He believes that the change from local government to local governance will require the formulation of specific public policy, the relevance of which can be proven by processes supported with actions.