Artful Leadership: Managing Stakeholder Problems in NonProfit Arts Organizations

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Nonprofit organizations sometimes experience problems with stakeholders, and the organization's manager must then decide how to respond. In this study, Mary Tschirhart addresses three questions: What types of problems do managers experience with their organizational stakeholders? How do they respond to these problems? What determines the use of different responses? Interviews with managers of twenty-four nonprofit arts organizations yielded information on three types of problems. In problems of organizational legitimacy, the stakeholder's values or norms are in conflict with the organization's activities; for example, audience members are upset that a theater's performance includes nudity. In stakeholder legitimacy problems, the organization's values or norms are in conflict with stakeholders' activities, as in the case of a theater concerned that a volunteer is misusing theater funds. In efficiency problems, organizational and stakeholder activities are interdependent and incompatible, without any violation of the values or norms of either party, as when a theater is competing with other theaters for a funder's limited monies. Along with detailed discussions of these problems, the author offers practical advice on responding to complaints.

FROM THE CRITICS

Booknews