I gränslandet mellan civilsamhälle och näringsliv -Management och chefskap i ideell sektor
To understand and explain how the borderland between civil and corporate societies areconstructed and reproduced in the organisations subjectivity. I want to study the navigationsand interpretations of the different actors in the field in an explorative manner.? How do the leaders of the organisations interpret governing and strategic management? Whatconcepts are used? How is the leadership constructed?How do they discuss the demands of management and structure coming from outside theorganisations? How are the organisations shaped by accountability and normative conceptions of leadership?What is their view on the demands coming from within the organisations? What role does thedemocratic governance body have in relation to the employees and the management?What is their view on employment, relations with trade unions and employer associations andthe managerial position of the organisations?The Swedish context with strong emphasis on membership and democratic rights for themembers and volunteers has not gained a large impact on the international researchconcerning non-profit management. Instead the service delivering organisations working withgovernment contract and hired recruiters and volunteer management is in focus. This makes ita very interesting area of research. My specific interest is in the management of employees inthis type of organisation and how the use of corporate management theory can give us a clueto how the organisations perceive their subjectivity; are they companies without a profit goal or ore they nonprofits with employees?The methodology; I have conducted interviews with leaders in some of the most well knownand interesting organisations in this field. The Swedish Red Cross, Saco - The SwedishConfederation of Professional Associations, and the Fair Enterprise Network, a socialbusiness enterprise. To contrast their answers I interviewed the Employers' Association IDEAand the section for employees in non-profit organisations within JUSEK union. I have had asocial constructivist perspective and approach in my research as my interest is about howinterpretations are made, how leaders construct their view of the organisation and their role init and the meaning behind the words that are used to make sense of the organisations.My conclusions is that a new terminology and more research is needed, the work situation ofemployees, they work in a no-man?s-land where expectations, order structure, limitations,rights and obligations are all very unclear and floating. This may be a result of a lack oftheory and concepts that are unique for the civil society and that the organisations are forced to use management terms and concepts. There is a very real dilemma for the organisations; the increased demand of numbers and data to verify the quality of the organisations, the increased interpretation of competition within the sector and the lack of concepts to show this in a truthful and justifiable way.