Strategic Management in Nonprofits
Type
habilitation project
Start Date
December 1, 2006
End Date
December 1, 2008
Status
completed
Keywords
Strategic Management
Nonprofit-Management
Description
The work at hand has given me the opportunity to experience and analyze change management in practice. I gained some insight into this issue in the Swiss Raiffeisen Group, a successful and exceptional enterprise in the Swiss banking sector. The insight into this complex enterprise made clear to me how effective such managerial practices, which I had rarely found in books until now, could be. These observations were challenging for me, because I could apply none of my previously learned management concepts and instruments to these practices. At first I found it difficult not only to analyze or interpret these management procedures, but even describing them posed a challenge. However, I was convinced of the effectiveness of these procedures in change processes.
Question
The question that plagued me for three years was to understand which management practices are effective in the change process of a highly decentralized enterprise. The extremely decentralized structure of the Raiffeisen Group and its legal form - it is a cooperative banking network - bore distinct parallels to NPOs. Thus another question arose: What can the NPO managers of the Raiffeisen Group learn about the effective management of change processes?
Question
The question that plagued me for three years was to understand which management practices are effective in the change process of a highly decentralized enterprise. The extremely decentralized structure of the Raiffeisen Group and its legal form - it is a cooperative banking network - bore distinct parallels to NPOs. Thus another question arose: What can the NPO managers of the Raiffeisen Group learn about the effective management of change processes?
Leader contributor(s)
Jaeger, Urs
Funder
Topic(s)
This study is based on process philosophy. A change management concept is outlined with the process paradigm. On the one hand
this can be linked to the current research on NPO management. On the other hand
it differs from the traditional western strategy concepts and has more in common with the Asian understanding of strategy (see Sun Tzu 1988). According to Clausewitz (2004
95ff.)
strategy
in the West
is generally equated with a plan. Dieser
Method(s)
I was given the opportunity to get a brief insight into the challenging day-to-day work of the management of a Swiss hospital. Thomas Hugentobler led me through the complex work of a manager
who effectively deals with the doctors
nursing staff
patients
political parties
local population and several other stake holders. The experiences gathered there are also reflected in this study
for which I would like to thank Thomas Hugentobler.
Books are expressions of real-life histories. This is no different. Its creation accompanied me for three years and opened up new horizons for me. During this time
Books are expressions of real-life histories. This is no different. Its creation accompanied me for three years and opened up new horizons for me. During this time
the training of my mind was always in the foreground. From the beginning
I had to struggle for a language in which I could express what I had experienced and lived through
things that had matured earlier. It was only towards the end that the question gained momentum: how can I narrate this story so that it appears comprehensible
both to scientists as well as to practitioners. A struggle that will probably never end.
Range
Institute/School
Range (De)
Institut/School
Division(s)
Eprints ID
49425
results