Voluntary Agencies and the Contract Culture: "Dream or Nightmare?"

Kramer, Ralph

doi:10.1086/604032

Cited by 106 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Contracts are fast replacing grants as the vehicle of government funding for nonprofits, especially in community services. Contractual relationships increase prescription by and accountability to the state (see the 1997 Special Issue of Third Sector Review on "Contracting for Care" and also Kramer, 1994;Muetzelfeldt, 1998;Nowland-Foreman, 1998). Incorporated associations acts, passed by all states starting in the early 1980s, prescribe many structural elements and, indeed, are more prescriptive still than federal corporations law.…”

Section: Australian Nonprofit Organizationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural Isomorphism in Australian Nonprofit Organizations

Leiter

2005

Voluntas

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This paper assesses the extent of structural similarity or isomorphism among nonprofit organizations in Australia. Based on neo-institutional theory, the paper explains such isomorphism in terms of these organizations' subordination and dependency, the uncertainties they face, and the networks of experts of which they are a part. The analysis uses the nonprofit component of a 2001-2002 random sample of Australian employment organizations. It finds surprisingly little isomorphism in this subsample and few differences in isomorphism according to the level of the factors thought to produce similarity. The discussion of the findings focuses on the suitability of the nonprofit sector as the appropriate organizational field within which isomorphism involving these organizations is likely to be produced. Industries, which include all organizations that produce the same product or service, be they nonprofit, for-profit, or government, may be more appropriate interactional fields for the development of isomorphism.

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Section: Australian Nonprofit Organizationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural Isomorphism in Australian Nonprofit Organizations

Leiter

2005

Voluntas

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“…'s institutionalization and ties to the public sector have allowed staff to develop resources and skills for being contentious claimmakers as well as influential actors who are comfortable in the policy arena. I thus lend support to studies that show that public sector funding may have invigorating, not deadening, effects on an organization's work in the political arena (Chaves et al, 2004;Kramer, 1994). However, my story specifically ties Project H.O.M.E.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 54%

A Calmly Disruptive Insider: The Case of an Institutionalized Advocacy Organization at Work

Landriscina¹

2006

Qual Sociol

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Through a case study of a leading service provider organization in Philadelphia, this paper explores the advocacy work of a publicly funded, professionalized, institutionalized nonprofit organization. In this article I relate how in the spring of 2002, staff at the organization responded to a recurring political issue: local business groups were again calling for official action against "aggressive panhandlers" in the downtown district. I use ethnographic and historical data to show that the organization's institutionalization and ties to the public sector have allowed staff to develop resources and skills for being both contentious claim-makers and influential actors in the institutional political arena.

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“…• While contractual dependence on government agencies is now increasing in Australia (see the 1997 Special Issue of Third Sector Review on ''Contracting for Care''), the trend started earlier (Kramer 1994) and has likely progressed farther in the United States; here again, the prediction is greater coercive isomorphism in the US. • Labor relations historically have been more centralized in Australia than in the United States (Western 1997); the prediction from this factor, in contrast to the previous ones, is greater coercive isomorphism in Australia.…”

Section: Cross-national Comparisonsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonprofit Isomorphism: An Australia–United States Comparison

Leiter

2008

Voluntas

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This paper examines the organizational structures of nonprofit organizations in Australia and the United States. Using random samples of nonprofits drawn from the two organizational populations, the analysis compares the extent of structural resemblance or isomorphism in each. It detects similar levels of isomorphism for several structural characteristics. The paper interprets this finding as reflecting expectations for nonprofit organizations that stretch worldwide.Résumé Cet article analyse les structures organisationnelles des organisations à but non lucratif en Australie et aux Etats-Unis. En proposant des exemples pris au hasard des objectifs non lucratifs des deux populations organisationnelles, l'analyse compare l'étendue les ressemblances ou de l'isomorphisme de chacune d'elles. Cela permet de détecter l'isomorphisme de plusieurs caractéristiques structurelles. L'article interprète le fruit de ces recherches en reflétant les attentes des organisations à but non lucratif qui s'étendent dans le monde entier.Zusammenfassung Dieser Beitrag untersucht die oranisatorischen Strukturen von Nonprofit-Organisationen in Australien und den Vereinigten Staaten. Unter Bezugnahme auf zufällig ausgewählte Stichproben beider organisatorischen Populationen vergleicht die Analyse das jeweilige Ausmaß struktureller Ä hnlichkeit oder Isomorphie. Es werden ähnlich ausgeprägte Isomorphien bei mehreren strukturellen Charakteristiken entdeckt. Der Beitrag interpretiert diese Ergebnisse als ein Spiegelbild der Erwartungen für Nonprofit-Organisationen weltweit.

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Voluntary Agencies and the Contract Culture: "Dream or Nightmare?"

Cited by 106 publications

References 26 publications

Structural Isomorphism in Australian Nonprofit Organizations

Structural Isomorphism in Australian Nonprofit Organizations

A Calmly Disruptive Insider: The Case of an Institutionalized Advocacy Organization at Work

Nonprofit Isomorphism: An Australia–United States Comparison

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