Much research undertaken in the non-profit field over the last twenty years has focused on size, definition and economic contribution of the sector. Practitioner literature has focused on tools and techniques for managing and working in the sector. Managerial experience In the sector has been largely absent from mainstream management discourse. This study seeks to address gaps In knowledge by exploring the subjective experience of managers in non-profit local development agencies (LOAs). Qualitative research, undertaken with 20 LOA chief executive officers (CEOs),aims to describe and explain how these CEOsmake sense of what they do. More specifically, to consider how concepts of self, Image and identity influence CEO thinking and capacity for action; how CEOs construct the concept of leadership and what effective leadership looks like for their sector; and how they manage, learn and enhance their practice. In doing so, a pragmatist philosophical framework links life, work, theory and practice. A social constructionist research methodology provides a means to consider how CEOs make meanings and construct personal theories, and concepts of sensemaklng, autopolesis and legitimate peripheral participation provide a robust analytical approach. Research methods Include In-depth Interviewing, adaptation of repertory grid technique and a period of Intense shadowing of two CEOs. Findings from the research make significant contributions to understanding and current knowledge of managerial experience In a non-profit context. The thesis points to the need to extend current thinking on conventional approaches to management development. It brings In to view concepts of modal participation, networked practitioners and positive marglnalisation as aspects of expert practice for LOA CEOs.The methods used to elicit leadership constructs and produce a model of leadership dimensions has potential for exportable, future use and encourages further debate around social entrepreneurship and social change leadership. Additional implications for further research Include learning in Inter-organisational settings. As such, the context for the research is non-profit LOAs,however the learning gained from the research extends beyond non-profit boundaries.

This is a practice based thesis which primarily considers the issue of leadership and management in the voluntary sector. The focus for the thesis is my current organisation, Henshaws Society for Blind People, a charity which provides services for visually impaired people of all ages across the north of England.

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Cette thèse s’intéresse au rôle de l’espace en tant qu’outil et enjeu de pouvoir dans le processus de développement des organisations alternatives. Plus spécifiquement, elle examine dans quelle mesure la production d’un espace peut contribuer à la création et à la pérennisation d’une organisation alternative. Pour répondre à cette question, nous menons une étude de cas unique auprès des lieux intermédiaires franciliens dans le secteur du théâtre français. Celui-ci est dominé par deux modèles organisationnels : le théâtre privé marchand et le théâtre public non marchand. Les lieux intermédiaires cherchent à imposer un troisième modèle qui ne relèverait ni du privé ni du public mais de ce qu’ils appellent le tiers secteur. En conjuguant entretiens semi-directifs, observation et données secondaires, nous montrons que ces organisations produisent différents types d’espaces – à la fois individuels et collectifs – à différentes échelles. Cette combinaison permet aux lieux intermédiaires d’être mobiles et de résister aux réactions hostiles de l’espace dominant et ainsi de se pérenniser. / This thesis analyses how the production of space helps to create and sustain alternative organizations. In this study, space is seen as a source of power. In order to answer this question we conduct a single case study: the intermediary places in the French theatre sector. Two organizational models prevail in this sector: the lucrative private sector and the public non-profit one. Intermediary places tend to establish a third model neither private nor public: third sector organizations. We combine semi-structured interviews, observations and secondary data. We show alternative organizations produce different type of individual and collective spaces on multiple scales. Thanks to this combination, intermediary places become mobile and more resistant to dominant space reactions. They are most likely to sustain themselves.