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.
Towards the end of 2013, Edwin Samson, the Chief Coordinator of Adult Basic Education Society Teacher Empowerment Centre (ABES-TEC), a non-profit, non-sectarian NGO promoting quality education in the private and the public schools of Pakistan, began to reflect in earnest over ways to make the organization self-sustainable. ABES-TEC was responsible for implementing different projects initiated by local as well as international donors. Due to a reliance on donor funding, Samson had recently downsized the NGO workforce yet again. This was a course of action that he had been unwilling to undertake as he felt that abrupt downsizing would demotivate all the NGO employees and adversely affect their work performance. In order to retain employees, ABES-TEC had to strive for self-sustainability rather than depending solely on arbitrary project funding.
Organisations are making efforts to enhance diversity and become inclusive, yet there is little agreement on what leads an organisation to become inclusive. This article explores how organisations become inclusive through certain policies, practices, and behaviours. We conducted this study on a multinational subsidiary based in Pakistan with its parent company headquartered in Europe. Single case study methodology was used along with semi-structured interviews to gather in-depth data. Our findings suggest that inclusive organisations and inclusion can be considered relative concepts based on the context. An effort to find standardised policies, practices and behaviours to create inclusive organisations may not be possible. Organisations may be considered inclusive in the context that they operate in. The study strongly demonstrates the need to further refine the concept of inclusive organisations especially in light of societal context. The study serves as a valuable point of discussion in understanding how local operating context is balanced with international transfer of human resource (HR) practices. Our study contributes to diversity and inclusion literature through discussing behavioural and procedural elements that contribute towards building an inclusive workplace in a non-western context.
This is a theoretical paper that has analysed more than 55 publications to draw comparison between Pakistan and India non-profit sectors. The two countries share their history under British rule before 1947 partition. Before the partition the non-profit sector saw a rise under different religious umbrellas, however after the partition the sectors saw a rise in nonreligious, non-political organizations in both countries. The paper draws the similarities and differences among the types of organizations, funding sources, giving, and legal framework. The paper debates the reasons for different evolutions of the sectors in post-independence era and its reasons. The findings show that both sectors evolved different due to differences in religious influence, political instability, and check and balance systems. The paper aims to contribute in depth analysis of the both sectors in the literature.
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