Omvärldsanpassning inom ideell sektor
en fallstudie om förändring i strukturen av internationella avdelningen på Svenska kyrkan
Icke-vinst drivande organisationerStrukturanpassningResursberoende teoriSituationellberoende teoriDiffertentiering och integration
Over the last few years, many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the aid sector have grown and become important economic, social and political actors in Sweden. However this sector has also been hard criticized in terms of aid effectiveness. Church of Sweden (CoS), a well established organization in this sector, has faced new challenges in form of demands from their environment regarding reporting aid work. These demands have pushed the International Department of Church of Sweden into a process for adapting the structure in order to meet the new effectiveness requirements.
Using both, Contingency Theory and Resource Dependence Theory as theoretical framework and a single case study as research strategy, this master thesis goes in deep into the description of the change of the structure of the International Department. This work shows how the different parts of the organization functions and what impact will these changes in the structure mean for the future of the organization.
The analysis of the empirical evidence related to the theoretical framework shows that the organization responds to external demands through a more centralized structure than before. This structure facilitates standardized reporting to external funders, but is not optimal to meet the complex environment in which the organization operates according to the presented theory. This new structure could limit, in the future, the CoS´s international work into simple projects in stable environments. This may be effective from an economic perspective, but not if one takes in account the CoS´s vision and values. The study also shows the complex inter-organizational relationships within the aid sector, where there are conflicting demands from external sources (Back donors) and aid beneficiaries who both are expected to be satisfied simultaneously. The present work can contribute to understanding how non-profit organizations work, its structure and hopefully contribute to the actual debate about aid effectiveness.