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In third world countries the subsistence of millions of persons depends on the work of organizations operating in the non‐profit sector. The purpose of this paper to explore how knowledge management awareness and practices could create more efficient organizations despite their lack of human and financial resources. This paper aims to make a contribution to the knowledge management literature in the non‐profit sector of third world countries. In particular, the main results from an explorative survey of Peruvian non‐profit organizations are analyzed and discussed.

Data was generated from a questionnaire survey of 106 Peruvian organizations operating in the non‐profit sector. Part of the questionnaire was inspired from an existing knowledge management acquisition cycle for non‐profit organizations.

Though only medium to low levels of knowledge management awareness were found in the Peruvian non‐profit sector, implicit knowledge management practices were observed on a large scale independently of the size and category of the non‐profit organizations. Some organizational variables and their negative effects on knowledge management practices are discussed.

A guideline to increase organizational efficiency based on the development of knowledge management awareness is suggested.

This paper is one of the first to explore and present statistical‐based results on knowledge management practices in the non‐profit sector from a third world country.

The Nature of Business Policy Business policy — or general management — is concerned with the following six major functions:

This paper aims to examine the use of benchmarking as a management technique in the Australian non‐profit sector. Benchmarking has great potential benefit for the non‐profit sector, particularly given the reliance of non‐profit enterprises on effectively utilizing human capital; thus it might be expected that they would be enthusiastic about techniques such as benchmarking that can assist them in improving their performance. The non‐profit sector is a large and important part of the economy in the developed world.

To determine the use of benchmarking in the Australian non‐profit sector, the following methods were used: a review of published industry surveys and case studies; interviews with 15 non‐profit sector experts; and a review of more than 50 works on non‐profit management.

Research showed that benchmarking has been little used by non‐profit organizations in Australia to date. This seems to mirror the experience of non‐profits in other countries.

The paper argues that the limited use of benchmarking in the non‐profit sector can be explained by: non‐profit management culture; lack of industry and funder pressure; and a lack of targeted information on benchmarking for the non‐profit sector. Any efforts to increase the use of benchmarking in the sector would need to ensure that these issues are overcome.

A plan of action is suggested for promoting benchmarking to non‐profit organizations.

The paper assesses the use of a standard management technique in the emerging area of non‐profit management. It should be of interest to those researching or managing in the Australian non‐profit sector. The paper may also be of interest to the non‐profit sector or human capital sector in other countries.

Spending cuts, privatization, decentralization and deregulation are undermining the dominant role of the Dutch Government in private non‐profit organizations. Less governmental interference will force non‐profit management to strike a balance between private management and public management. Argues that private non‐profit managers should adjust their managerial attitudes towards other stakeholders. Managers must first serve their own front‐line officers, and these front‐line officers, in turn, must communicate more interactively with their clients about the process of service delivery. However, this process should not be dictated by the client, but by the community of all relevant external and internal stakeholders. In interactions with many different stakeholders of the organization, non‐profit managers should develop and communicate a strategic quality credo.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the results of an explorative empirical study among German non‐profit organisations with respect to the implementation of the balanced scorecard (implementation levels, perspectives, major challenges and obstacles, missing and used performance measures and enabling factors).

Empirical data are generated and the findings are interpreted based on a descriptive approach. The interpretation is linked to normative expectations regarding the design and use of the balanced scorecard in non‐profit organisations.

Most of the non‐profit organisations which have been analysed in this paper are in an early phase of balanced scorecard implementation. The balanced scorecard is often used as a measurement tool and not as a management system. In most cases, participating organisations have an unexpected viewpoint with regard to their attitude towards the balanced scorecard, as they did not sufficiently adapt it to the distinct requirements of non‐profit operations.

The findings are based on a sample of 20 non‐profit organisations in the field of social services. Thus, the results cannot be generalised, and qualitative interviews as well as a longitude study could be helpful in gaining additional insight.

The paper reports on firsthand empirical findings in an area which has not been extensively researched. Relevant non‐profit literature has so far been dominated by how‐to‐do approaches and normative concepts.

In the present times, volunteers constitute a critical element of the human resources (HR) of non-profit organizations. All over the world, non-profit organizations work in complex environments, which are why non-profit organizations are facing increasing pressures to adopt contemporary HR management practices, not just in terms of their paid employees, but also with respect to managing their volunteers. It is frequently believed that volunteers are central to the functioning of non-profit organizations. Volunteers perform their responsibilities for the non-profit organization only because they care about its beneficiaries; however, a vital part is played by HR in facilitating their involvement, dedication and efficiency. Previously, non-profit organizations concentrated on developing and executing their objectives for the future; however, they are now starting to accept the significance of adopting a more professional approach regarding managing the volunteers so as to accomplish those objectives. In this regard, the purpose of the chapter is to: (1) analyze the factors that encourage volunteering in non-profit organizations; (2) offer theoretical anchoring through which it can be comprehended how HR practices draw, involve and sustain volunteers; (3) describe the HR practices that are most appropriate for volunteers and (4) offer the pathway for subsequent research regarding how HR and volunteering are related to each other.

This paper aims to examine five key strategic management concepts: industrial organisation (I/O), resource‐based view (RBV), knowledge‐based view (KBV), balanced scorecard (BSC) and intellectual capital (IC) within the non‐profit context and to determine which is most applicable in the non‐profit sector.

This paper reviews the above concepts in the light of the unique non‐profit environment.

The IC concept is more effective compared with other strategic management concepts within the non‐profit context. IC is an important resource that non‐profit organisations need to develop in order to gain sustained strategic advantage.

This paper helps to build a nascent body of literature suggesting that the concept of IC is the most effective strategic management concept in NPOs. The increased awareness of the IC concept in the sector, as a result of this paper, is likely to generate further research from both non‐profit practitioners and scholars.

Very little systematic research has reviewed the applicability of strategic management concepts within the non‐profit context. The paper acts as the first attempt to fill this gap.

In current economic systems, the role played by non-profit and voluntary organisations is relevant. Several studies analyse the development of these organisations and suggest reasons related to the dissemination of policies that first consider public intervention and then ‘the third way’ of the economy as a way to increase wealth and support economic development. In this context, it should be noted that:

• Modern non-profit organisations (NPOs) take the form of enterprises encouraging the development of capabilities to satisfy human needs in terms of production of goods and utilities.

• A systematic cooperation with the local context (i.e. enterprises and Public Administration) is becoming increasingly more important for the survival and development of NPOs.

• Excellent opportunities for economic and social growth and for mutual development can develop from this type of cooperation.

• Starting from this premise, the purpose of the research is to suggest some insight on the theme of cooperation between for-profit and non-profit world in the light of the thought of Church’s Social Doctrine, and in particular, of the Encyclical Letter of Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate – On Integral Human Development in Charity and Truth. In this sense, the contribution is a conceptual work; the study could improve with empirical research concerning the level of diffusion and the form of collaborations for-profit/non-profit in the Italian context.

Modern non-profit organisations (NPOs) take the form of enterprises encouraging the development of capabilities to satisfy human needs in terms of production of goods and utilities.

A systematic cooperation with the local context (i.e. enterprises and Public Administration) is becoming increasingly more important for the survival and development of NPOs.

Excellent opportunities for economic and social growth and for mutual development can develop from this type of cooperation.

Starting from this premise, the purpose of the research is to suggest some insight on the theme of cooperation between for-profit and non-profit world in the light of the thought of Church’s Social Doctrine, and in particular, of the Encyclical Letter of Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate – On Integral Human Development in Charity and Truth. In this sense, the contribution is a conceptual work; the study could improve with empirical research concerning the level of diffusion and the form of collaborations for-profit/non-profit in the Italian context.

From a methodological point of view, after a literature review on NPOs and corporate social responsibility, the chapter analyses reasons, strategies and tools of collaborations between non-profit and for-profit worlds (the role of Public Administration and hybrid organisation is excluded). Then, focus moves up on Church’s Social Doctrine and Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate with particular attention to the topic analysed in this chapter (collaboration for-profit/non-profit enterprises). The vision emerging from the Encyclical is that the dichotomy between for-profit and NPOs should be resolved by striving for the development of a ‘civil economy’ with the capacity to promote the overall development of the human being. The research highlights the importance of dissemination of initiatives promoted predominantly by NPOs, with the objective of stimulating and supporting the implementation of forms of structured collaboration; we are sure that a ‘connection point’ between for-profit and non-profit is now necessary.

This chapter seeks to contribute to a better understanding of Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs) use of practices for the purpose of organizational sustainability by highlighting the need for conducive performance measures and standards attached to NPO funding sources.

A review of literature for the UK Non-profit organization sector and NPO performance measures. The review structures literature as it relates to the non-profit sector and their relation to societal impact of human social service (HSS) non-profit organizations, non-profit performance measures, and processes of knowledge sharing in application of organizational evaluation.

This chapter provides a review of gaps in the literature referring suitable performance measurement and assessments suitable for the unique culture and approaches to performance measures of non-profit organizations. Future research implications suggest research in order to comprehend processes and procedures of performance measures inclusive of knowledge sharing and the processes of how non-profit learn, share, and evaluate internal and external to the NPO sector.

The value of this chapter is relevant for the public, government, and corporations to support efficient and effective ways in appropriating funds and defining successful NPO’s for external funders to invest.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the impact of organizational culture on the conflict handling style in non-profit organizations. Conflicts in non-profit organizations and especially in associations are more numerous, mainly because of the search for compromise in the decision-making phases and the high level of loyalty in mission that strongly stimulates the voice of one’s opinion. The authors observe that a modification of the organizational culture, through symbolic changes, can resolve the conflicts sequence.

Culture is measured through the organizational culture profile tool and the culture deciphering technique. The authors detail two cases of non-profit organizations, in which conflicts sequence resolution was handled through organizational culture change while conflicts resolution at the individual level could not bring an end to the conflicts sequence.

These cases highlight how organizational culture shapes behaviors and conflicts handling styles. These cases also give insights on how an organizational culture can be changed to setup new default conflict handling styles in an organization. The cultural change management only worked when it was planned on critical cultural change readiness factors with a strong enforcement of the change by the governing bodies.

This study complements research studies on how organizational culture shapes attitudes and behaviors and shows how and under which conditions a cultural change could resolve a conflict sequence. This study also presents a conflict resolution method when the roots of conflicts are embedded in the existing organizational culture. In such conflicts situation, interpersonal conflict resolution technique did not solve the conflicts sequence and only cultural change finally brought an end to the sequence.

A combined search on two levels, the individual level and the organizational culture level, will thus show convergent conflict sources and get a great deal of knowledge before solving individual-level conflicts.

The non-profit sector is sometimes subject to high-conflict situation and this research contributes to more efficient conflict resolution protocols with an applicable method of conflict analysis, change management and conflict resolution.

The work showed how the organizational culture is a key element in the explanation of conflict sources and conflict handling in case of high and repeated conflict situation. It is thus possible to resolve conflict sequence by changing a carefully chosen cultural trait. Nevertheless, the culture change management program is complex and risky. In a high-conflict situation, the authors identified several key conflict resolution factors: the careful identification of the organizational culture traits explaining conflict handling style; the alignment of the management team on the cultural change plan to raise up the intensity of the new set of behaviors; and the selection of the most efficient symbolic change decision.