21759 Strategic Issues in Community Management

Subject level: Postgraduate

Handbook description

This subject introduces students to strategic management in community (nonprofit) organisations and provides the opportunity for students to reflect on, extend, and integrate their knowledge of community management gained from preceding subjects in the course. It also explores critical issues currently impacting on the sector, and appropriate strategic responses to those issues and encourages a strategic perspective on the management of organisations and an ability to apply that perspective within community organisations.

Subject objectives/outcomes

On completion of this subject students should be able to:

1. Demonstrate strategic thinking and action in third sector organisational development.
2. Demonstrate awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of strategic planning and apply that awareness in the analysis of an organisation's strategic plan.
3. Demonstrate integrated learning skills, in a piece of strategic analysis, evidenced by the application of knowledge gained elsewhere in the community management course.
4. Analyse and explain critical issues facing third sector organisations in Australia.

Contribution to graduate profile

Strategic Issues in Community Management provides an opportunity to gain a better understanding of the role of strategy in the management of third sector organisations. It is the capstone subject for courses offered under the UTS Community Management program in that it draws on subjects studied throughout this program including Developing Financial Resources, Managing Community Organizations and Human Resources in the Third Sector. In bringing these themes together the subject seeks to develop students' capacity to think strategically.

Teaching and learning strategies

The Learning Guide, which contains subject and content outlines and information, suggests a learning pathway students might follow and directs student learning towards the assessment tasks. It helps students to keep track of the entire subject while simultaneously working on the details, and to move through the subject with some freedom about the pace and times that best suit them. Teaching strategies also include the promotion of learning partnerships. These partnerships are made up of smaller groups and provide an open and less formal forum for students to discuss interpretations of learning tasks, theoretical issues and responses to various readings. The Partnerships also allow students to share the diversity of their own experiences and backgrounds as a way of informing responses to issues raised in the course and promote networking among class members. These strategies are supported by a series of face-to-face lectures.

Content

• An overview of strategic thinking about third sector organisations
• Core strategic concepts, issue of strategy in competitive industry
• The organisational milieu of third sector organisations
• The global background
• An overview of the relationships between the sectors
• The third sector's relationship with business, government, households and other third sector groups
• Critique of strategic planning for third sector organisations
• Internal and external strategic issues
• Strategic approaches to human service delivery
• Strategic tools.

Assessment

Recommended text(s)

Book of Readings

Indicative references

Alexander, J. (2000) 'Adaptive Strategies of Nonprofit Human Service Organizations in an Era of Devolution and New Public Management', Nonprofit Management and Leadership, Vol 10 (3): 287 – 303

Beaudin, C. L., Senak, M. and Goodstein, R.C. (1996) 'Strategic Planning at AIDS Project Los Angeles' in M. Wood (ed) Nonprofit Boards and Leadership: Cases on governance, Change and Board-Staff Dynamics. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass: 221 – 239

Brown, L. D. and Kalegaonkar, A. (2002) 'Support Organizations and the Evolution of the NGO Sector', Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Vol 31 (2): 231 – 258

Burt, E. and Taylor, J. (2000) 'Information and Communication Technologies. Reshaping Voluntary Organizations?' Nonprofit Management and Leadership Vol11 (2): 131 – 143.

Dees, J.G. (1998) 'Enterprising Nonprofits'. Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb, 1998: 55-67

Friedman, T. (1999) 'Tourist with an Attitude' in Friedman, T. The Lexus and the Olive Tree. London: Harper Collins: 3 – 24

Frumkin, P. and Andre-Clark, A. (2000) 'When Missions, Markets, and Politics Collide: Values and Strategy in the Nonprofit Human Services' Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly vol 29, no. 1, Supplement 2000: Sage Publications: 141-163

Ireland, R. D. and Hitt, M. A. (1999) 'Achieving and Maintaining Strategic Competitiveness in the 21st Century: The role of strategic leadership', Academy of Management Executive Vol 13 (1): 43 – 57

Kaplan, Robert (2001) 'Strategic Performance Measurement and Management in Nonprofit Organizations', Nonprofit Management and Leadership Vol. 11(3): 353 – 370

Kearns, K. P. (1992) 'From Comparative Advantage to Damage Control: clarifying Strategic Issues Using SWOT Analysis', Nonprofit Management and Leadership. Vol 3 (1): 3 – 21

Letts, C., Ryan W. and Grossman A. (1999) 'Organizational Performance: The Hidden Engine of Social Impact', in Letts, Ryan and Grossman High Performance Nonprofit Organizations, John Wiley and Sons: 15 – 28

Lyons, M. (2001a) 'Compacts Between Governments and the Voluntary Sector', Paper to Governance and Partnerships in the Third Sector Conference, Melbourne

Lyons, M. (2001b) 'Why a Third Sector Round Table?' Unpublished Paper

Moore, Mark (2000) 'Managing for Value: Organizational Strategy in For-Profit, Nonprofit, and Governmental Organizations' Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, vol 29 no. 2 Supplement 2000: Sage Publications: 183-204

Norris-Tirrell, Dorothy (2001) 'Organization Termination or Evolution: Mergers in the Nonprofit Sector', International Journal of Public Administration, March, Vol 24 (3): 311 – 322

Porter, M.E. (1979) 'How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy' Harvard Business Review. March-April, 1979: 137-145.

Ryan, W. P. (1999) 'The New Landscape for Nonprofits' in Harvard Business Review Jan – Feb, 1999: 127 – 136

Stone, M. et al (1999) 'Research on Strategic Management in Nonprofit Organizations: Synthesis, Analysis, and Future Directions' Administration and Society, vol 31, no. 3, July 1999: Sage Publications: 378-423

Warburton, J. and Mutch, A. (2000) 'Will People Continue to Volunteer in the Next Century?' in J. Warburton and M. Oppenheimer (eds)Volunteers and Volunteering, Sydney. The Federation Press: 32 – 43

Young, D. (2001) 'Organizational Identity in Nonprofit Organizations: Strategic and Structural Implications', Nonprofit Management and Leadership, Vol 12 (2): 139 – 157.