This thesis explores how I have taken steps to improve my practice of leadership as a Chief Executive within a Third Sector Drug and Alcohol Support Service and to build professional identities for volunteers in the service. I studied how volunteers’ identities changed from that of ‘Volunteer’ to ‘Advisor’ and what I learned about myself as a leader. I noted the value of studying my own reflections as a leader and how change became embedded throughout the organisation as a consequence. As a result of this process, I developed a mnemonic that I consider to encapsulate key aspects of leadership. This is entitled ‘CAVEAT’ and identifies competency, visibility, empowerment and a therapeutic orientation as important qualities of a leader in positions like my own. The study is informed by in-depth focus group discussions, semi-structured interviews, personal reflections, questionnaires and surveys. It provides recommendations for Chief Executives of Third Sector organisations involved in leadership and the professional identity-building of a volunteer workforce in an era of outcome-based commissioning.

The poor in urban areas of developing countries suffer from inadequate tertiary (neighbourhood level) urban infrastructure; water and sanitation, solid waste, drainage, access pavements, street lighting and community buildings. Procurement of tertiary level infrastructure is the responsibility of the public sector. Rapid urbanisation is outstripping the already lacking resources of public sector. The involvement of private commercial sector in the procurement is through the micro-contracts. The term, 'micro-contracts', is proposed for the small and medium size contracts. In some cases a third sector like NGOs, CBOs and community groups have also played roles in the procurement of infrastructure. The processes, roles, relationships and performance of micro-contracts procured under routine and community participated strategies were explored with a view to promote the role of the community in the procurement process. The constraints to contract, relationship between public sector and community groups and ways to overcome those constraints were explored. The contract contexts were taken from India, Pakistan and Sri-Lanka. Both qualitative and quantitative techniques were used. A multiple case study approach was adopted for the research. During the research three hundred and ninety contracts, more than a hundred interviews and filed notes and more than two hundred documents related to the micro-contracts were reviewed and analysed. The concept of benchmarking was adopted in performance analysis. 'Community partnering' is proposed as a procurement strategy to facilitate the community to play different roles parallel to the roles of Client, Engineer and Contractor. The cost and benefits of community partnering were discussed. It was concluded that, for the similar conditions studied, the community partnering between the urban public sector and suitable urban communities is an appropriate procurement strategy. The recommendations include a number of actions which could be taken to promote the community role in urban infrastructure procurement. Areas of future research are proposed.

Since 1999 UK employment programmes (known as welfare-to-work programmes) have been delivered through the procurement of services from organisations outside of the public sector. Managed by contractual arrangements and arranged in a quasi-market system controlled by the state, private and third sector organisations compete to secure contracts predominantly based on payment-by-results and competitive tendering processes. This thesis used an instrumental case study to analyse the impact of the welfare-to-work quasi-market on a third sector organisation based in Scotland. Using a qualitative mixed-methods research strategy including 20 in-depth interviews, 150 documents, an ethnographic study and financial analysis of the organisation’s accounts, the thesis presents an in-depth insight into the development of the welfare-to-work market and its changes over time and the impact this had on instigating organisational change in a third sector organisation. Drawing on transaction cost theory, neoinstitutional theory and resource dependency theory the study found that activities, structure, and management processes changed in line with changes in its organisational field in order to attract and maintain resources and gain legitimacy. Furthermore, the organisation under investigation faced financial management tensions as it sought to balance its involvement in service delivery with transaction costs associated with market participation. The thesis found that the dependence on resources from complex quasi-markets relations creates new power asymmetries between delivery organisations and the state.

O propósito desta tese foi investigar como tem ocorrido o processo de sucessão em empreendimentos sociais no Brasil, com foco no associativismo produtivo, identificando quais fatores limitam e quais facilitam esse processo a partir das dimensões Indivíduo, Organização e Ambiente. Trata-se de uma pesquisa de caráter exploratório e descritivo, desenvolvida em duas etapas complementares. Na primeira etapa, o grupo amostral compôs-se de 378 empreendimentos, que foram objeto de um survey, para identificar as associações produtivas. Destas foram selecionadas para constituírem a amostra aquelas que já passaram ou estão passando por processo sucessório e cujos dirigentes demonstraram disposição em participar da pesquisa. Na segunda etapa, composta por uma amostra com 32 empreendimentos, buscou-se analisar como interagem as dimensões Indivíduo, Organização e Ambiente na configuração do processo sucessório, identificando quais os fatores que, em cada uma dessas dimensões, podem facilitar e aqueles que podem limitar o processo sucessório. Para analisar a estrutura e as principais características do processo sucessório, tomou-se por base os seguintes eixos orientadores: dimensão Indivíduo - papéis da liderança, habilidade da liderança e estilos de liderança; dimensão Organização - estrutura, planejamento, conselhos, comunicação (transparência), controle e avaliação; dimensão Ambiente - influências dos stakeholders (comunidade, fornecedores, clientes, parceiros) no processo sucessório. Os resultados obtidos apontaram que uma das principais características das associações produtivas pesquisadas é a existência de um entrelaçamento entre dimensões política, econômica e social. No entanto, tais iniciativas têm como um dos principais desafios, o de criar contextos favoráveis a essa organização socioeconômica e política entre cidadãos que compartilham mais carências que recursos para a construção e manutenção de um projeto associativo. Sobre o processo sucessório, os dirigentes das associações mostraram-se conscientes da importância de planejar e de gerenciar seu desenvolvimento, mas dispõem ainda de ferramentas pouco estruturadas para isso. As associações também atribuem importância à gestão compartilhada do processo sucessório como forma de conciliar expectativas tanto do público interno, quanto do público externo, porém, não dispõem de um sistema estruturado de administração desse processo. O processo sucessório nas associações pesquisadas encontra-se em fase de construção: adapta-se às demandas do cenário atual, mas apresenta evidentes necessidades de aprimoramento para uma condução mais efetiva do planejamento e da gestão compartilhada do processo. / The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how the succession process in Brazilian social enterprises have been executed, focusing on productive social activism. The study identifies which factors limit and facilitate this process, based on the following aspects: Individual, Organizational and Environmental. The nature of this research is exploratory and descriptive and was developed in two complementary stages. In the first stage the chosen group consisted of 378 enterprises that were the subject of a survey to identify the productive associations. The survey was set up to identify associations which are productive and within them, the enterprises which are active and those which are going through a succession process. The disposition of the leaders in taking part in the survey was also taken into consideration. The second stage was composed of a sample of 32 enterprises in which their interaction in an Individual, Organizational and Environmental level when going through a succession process was analyzed, identifying what facilitates and what limits this succession process. To analyze the structure and main characteristics of the succession process, these were taken as the base according to the following guidelines: Individual dimension leadership roles, leadership abilities and leadership styles; Organizational dimension structure, planning, counseling, communication (transparency), control and evaluation; Environmental dimension stakeholders influence (community, suppliers, clients, partners) in the succession process. The end results suggest that the main characteristics of those productive associations analyzed here is the intertwining of political, economic and social dimensions. However, one of the major challenges for these associations is to create positive outcomes in a socio-economic and political environment where community resources are scarce, rather than sufficient to build and maintain a cooperative project. Regarding the succession process, the associations leaders showed an understanding about the importance of planning and managing their progress, but still had tools with lack of structure to do so. The associations also attribute importance to the participative management in the succession process as a way of reconciling internal and external expectations, however they do not have a structured system to manage this process. The succession processes in the surveyed associations are in a constructive phase, whilst dealing with their day to day demands, but still show clear improving necessities for a more effective planning and participative management in the process.

This thesis examines creative trajectories of urban life that irrupted as a result of a series of devastating earthquakes in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2010-11. In particular, it focuses on third sector organisations (TSOs) that emerged during the recovery period, and examines how these organisations sought to inscribe themselves within the re-emerging city. In doing so, I argue that the rupture afforded by the earthquakes opened up the possibility for the dominant practices of a complex political conservatism to be challenged through the emergence of new and previously restrained claims to the city that have manifested through these TSOs. These organisations have made use of the temporary recovery-spaces of the city, and appear to be working to embed their underlying values and politics in its renewal. Pertinently, this thesis comprehensively explores the ways these emergent organisations were impelled and sustained by improvisations that attempted to invoke and continue a fidelity to the earthquake event. The dominant narrative in the city has since critiqued these emergent organisations as being subsumed by a broader state project that is working to restore a neoliberal and conservative style of politics. Drawing largely upon in-depth participatory research within emergent TSOs, this thesis seeks to evaluate the notion that the creative forces of these organisations have become stripped of radical potential through a gradual incorporation into a more resilient version of the previous political orthodoxy. In doing so, it contributes to literatures on the political possibilities of the third sector by paying attention to the organisational practices that foster alternative logics of performative expression, political engagement and cultural imagination alongside formations of the seemingly neoliberal. By drawing attention towards the tentative probing of sociocultural and material fissures, practices of organisational experimentation and the ethical agency of staff, I argue that the sector might be viewed as fostering spaces through which alternative ethical and political sensibilities are being actively contested on a range of scales. Subsequently, this thesis explores how the foundations and relations that previously made the city legible have been shaken. Accordingly, the research offers a re-reading of the earthquakes that makes an argument for something more complex than an automatic return to the status-quo. It recognises the earthquakes as a series of violent geophysical events that prompted the irruption of some potentially disruptive imaginations, but explores perceptions that the disaster couldn’t impel others. Underpinning discussion on how these imaginations are grasped and sustained is an examination of how possibilities were afforded or curbed by interpretations of what the earthquakes represented (or enabled) in ongoing storylines of the city. Consequently, this thesis explores what it actually meant in practice for these organisations to be faithful to the event.

A presente pesquisa teve como objetivo conhecer e avaliar a contribuição do profissional contábil nas organizações do Terceiro Setor, para transparência e accountability. Para verificar se a gestão da organização pertencente ao Terceiro Setor desempenha suas atividades de forma transparente e accountable, realizou-se uma pesquisa exploratóriodescritiva em uma organização pertencente a esse setor denominada Viva Rio, que encontra-se sediada na cidade do Rio de Janeiro, onde foram realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas. Os resultados da pesquisa apontam que a Contabilidade pode contribuir muito para essas organizações, principalmente pelo fato de essas entidades, diferentemente das demais organizações do primeiro e segundo setores, precisarem prestar contas aos mais diversos públicos. A organização pesquisada utiliza informações não financeiras e financeiras como ferramenta de auxílio à transparência e accountability, e ainda, os registros contábeis são contabilizados por projetos e por financiadores, o que gera acurácia e tempestividade na disponibilidade dessas informações aos seus interessados. / This research aimed to understand and evaluate the contribution of the accounting professional at the organizations in the Third Sector, for transparency and accountability. To verify that the management of the organization belonging to the Third Sector plays its activities in a transparent and accountable way, a descriptive exploratory research was conducted in an organization belonging to this sector called Viva Rio, which is based in Rio de Janeiro, which semi-structured interviews were conducted. The survey results show that accounting can contribute much to these organizations, mainly because of them, unlike the other organizations of the first and second sectors, need to be accountable to more diverse audiences. The organization studied uses non-financial and financial information as an aid tool for transparency and accountability, and yet, the accounting records are accounted for by donors and projects, which generates the accuracy and timing in the availability of informations to its stakeholders.

The nonprofit sector is becoming increasingly important to the U.S. economy both as an employer and service provider. Although most of the sector’s revenues are earned, the ability of the nonprofit sector to generate significant levels of unearned income in the form of grants and contributions reinforces the sector’s uniqueness. This dissertation uses the NCCS-Guidestar data to address questions pertaining to the determinants of nonprofits’ contributions and government grants. Each of the essays’ findings is discussed briefly below. The first chapter examines the relationship between an organization’s finances and the level of government grants received. Because organizations choose to apply for government grants, a Heckman procedure is coupled with fixed effects to produce unbiased, within organization estimates. When controlling for the probability an organization receives grant funding, the average level of grants an organization receives generally increases with improvements in efficiency measures. In testing Brooks’ (2004) adjusted performance measure, the author finds that for many categories of nonprofit organizations, improvements in performance relative to community expectations increase grants for recipients, but better performance reduces the probability an organization receives any government grants. The second essay examines the determinants of direct support to organizations in four of the major categories, namely Arts, Education, Health, and Human Services, using instrumental and panel techniques. Unlike government grants, changes in price do not affect organizations’ expected contributions. When significant, government grants generally crowd out private donations while the effects of program service revenue vary by category and specification. The final essay examines the effects of nonprofit expenses and revenues on direct support for organizations in four small subcategories, Disaster Preparedness, International Aid, Environmental Conservation, and Performing Arts. The essay tests whether the impact of various revenue and expense variables on direct support changes around an unexpected event such as 9/11. Results suggest that the events of 9/11 had a greater moderating effect for categories losing funding compared to categories that received a windfall of contributions.

El objeto de estudio de esta tesis es producto de una mirada problematizadora sobre la confluencia entre a) la participación, como idea y como práctica en los ámbitos más variados y bajo las concepciones más diversas; b) el Tercer Sector, como conjunto más o menos delimitado de organizaciones distinguibles respecto a los sectores público o privado y c) en el plano conceptual, el entrecruzamiento entre fenómenos organizativos y fenómenos de poder. El objetivo de la tesis es analizar las prácticas de participación en organizaciones del Tercer Sector en función de los fenómenos de poder que son inherentes a esas prácticas, destacando el papel de la toma de decisiones y la centralidad de la participación como una característica del Tercer Sector que se considera obvia e indispensable. Los capítulos 1 y 2 están dedicados a la revisión de literatura sobre participación y Tercer Sector. El primer capítulo ofrece una visión problematizadora de las concepciones y aproximaciones a la participación, enfatizando las diferencias entre las formas de entenderla y llevarla a la práctica. El segundo capítulo tiene como propósito describir y discutir el fenómeno del Tercer Sector, las formas en que ha sido concebido y sus relaciones con el Estado y con el Mercado como los grandes referentes con base en los cuales se define. Los capítulos 3, 4 y 5 tienen como propósito ofrecer el marco conceptual por medio del cual se ha desarrollado el planteamiento del problema y el diseño de la investigación. El Capítulo 3 presenta la concepción de poder de Foucault contrastándola con otras concepciones de alcances más limitados y subrayando su capacidad para un abordaje analítico de las relaciones complejas entre participación y Tercer Sector. El Capítulo 4 presenta y discute los conceptos clave de la teoría de prácticas sociales de Bourdieu. El Capítulo 5 se centra en fenómenos específicos como la toma de decisiones y los encuentros sociales, que resultan de especial relevancia en la comprensión de la articulación entre participación y Tercer Sector. Los capítulos 6 y 7 son dedicados a los objetivos y al diseño metodológico de la tesis. El Capítulo 6 hace una síntesis de los capítulos anteriores, resaltando las preguntas y las direcciones a seguir como base para los cuatro objetivos generales que sirven como ejes del estudio El Capítulo 7 detalla el método y el procedimiento seguidos. El capítulo enfatiza la centralidad de la noción de prácticas sociales, destacando sus implicaciones como unidad de análisis en un estudio de tipo etnográfico. Los capítulos 8, 9, 10 y 11 presentan los resultados de la tesis en forma de tres grandes mapas. El Capítulo 8 ofrece una introducción a los mapas, resaltando su estructura y contenidos. El Capítulo 9 presenta un mapa económico que parte de la idea de las actividades de participación como bienes intercambiables cuya producción y circulación condiciona el funcionamiento de las organizaciones del Tercer Sector. El Capítulo 10 está dedicado al proceso de conformación y en el funcionamiento de las organizaciones del Tercer Sector. El Capítulo 11 está dedicado a los aspectos simbólicos de la actividad del Tercer Sector en forma de mapa meteorológico. El Capítulo 12 presenta las conclusiones de la tesis. Los resultados expuestos en los mapas se retoman de forma sintética como base para señalar las conclusiones del estudio: a) un Tercer Sector cuyos efectos formalizadores neutralizan el potencial transformador de la actividad colectiva; b) una participación atrapada en el procedimiento y c) la dificultad de convertir en tema de discusiones la complicidad no deliberada de los agentes cuya actividad sostiene el Tercer Sector con esos efectos políticamente neutralizadores. Palabras clave: relaciones de poder; participación; Tercer Sector; prácticas sociales; organización / The object of study in this dissertation is the product of a problematizing view of the confluence among a) participation, as an idea and as a set of practices unfolded through the most varied fields and under the most diverse conceptions; b) the Third Sector, as a more or less delimited collection of organizations the activities and aims of which are different from those of organizations that belong to the public or private sectors; and c) at a conceptual level, the intertwining between organizational phenomena and power phenomena.The aim of the dissertation is to analyze practices of participation in Third Sector organizations according to power phenomena inherent to those practices, highlighting the role of decision making and the place of participation as a taken for granted characteristic of the Third Sector. Chapters 1 and 2 are devoted to the literature review about participation and Third Sector. The first chapter offers a problematizing view of conceptions and approaches to participation, underscoring the differences among the ways in which participation is understood and put into practice. The second chapter is aimed at describing and discussing the Third Sector as a social phenomenon, the ways in which it has been conceived and its relations with the Market and the State as the basis upon which the Third Sector is defined.Chapter 3, 4 and 5 are intended to provide the theoretical framework that has guided the development of the research problem and the design of the study. Chapter 3 presents Foucault's conception of power in contrast with other short range conceptions and stressing its capacity for an analytical approach to the complex relations between participation and the Third Sector. Chapter 4 presents and discusses key concepts of Bourdieu's theory of social practices. Chapter 5 is focused on more specific phenomena such as decision making and social encounters. Chapters 6 and 7 are devoted to the aims and the methodological design of the study. Chapter 6 starts with a synthesis of the former chapters, underscoring the questions and directions to follow as the basis for the general objectives around which the research has been developed. Chapter 7 offers a detailed account of method and procedure. The chapter highlights the centrality of the notion of social practices, stressing its implications as an analytical unit in an ethnographic study. Chapter 8, 9, 10 and 11 offer the results of the study in the form of three grand maps. Chapter 8 is aimed at introducing the maps, stressing their structure and contents. Chapter 9 presents an economic map that is focused on participatory activities as exchangeable goods the production and circulation of which shape the functioning of Third Sector organizations. Chapter 10 is focused in the process of conformation and in the functioning of Third Sector organizations. Chapter 11 is devoted to the symbolic aspects of Third Sector activity.Chapter 12 shows the conclusions of the dissertation. The results included in the maps are synthetically recalled as the basis for exposing the conclusions: a) a Third Sector the formalizing effects of which neutralize the transformative potential of collective undertakings; b) a participation trapped in procedures; and c) the difficulties in trying to turn the non deliberate compliance of agents whose activities sustain the Third Sector and its politically neutralizing effects into a discussable topic. Keywords: power relations; participation; Third Sector; social practices; organization

Among the key issues that arise in research of cooperatives are their supposedly hybrid nature and how they are able to balance both social and economic goals. I contend that the concept of 'needs' has become an important differentiating factor for the cooperatives I studied in Emilia Romagna. Placing this concept centrally in an analysis of cooperative practice helps to reveal the interplay between various value systems, reaching beyond arguments of the degeneration of cooperatives or the reproduction of dominant models, which both assume a one-way flow of influence. The recent history of the cooperative movement in Italy shows that these institutions have developed along with changing conceptions of need, supported by broader social movements and value systems. The cooperative network is today of central importance, and seen as an egalitarian means to share ideals and drive local innovation. However, my research shows that the instrumentalisation of the concept of 'need' also naturalises certain aspects of capitalist practice and has consequences for the enactment of other values within the cooperative. For example, in one cooperative I examined, the focus on meeting the members' needs for work was important in justifying a decision to merge with another cooperative despite a decision-making process that was seen as less than entirely democratic. This orientation also justified the use of precarious labour, and the need to protect members' livelihoods helped to justify low pay for internships and municipal job placements, as opposed to furthering the cooperative values of equity and equality. While the cooperative workers desired an element of personal relations, this was sometimes seen to be at odds with the focus on production and the maintenance of jobs. The marketing of more ethical products with reference to their social added value highlighted the central role of individual consumer citizens in bringing about change, which also reinforced divisions within the cooperatives based on who was more or less able to make these choices. In conclusion, I argue that while 'needs', like 'added value', can unite social and economic concepts of value, this also naturalises certain aspects of capitalist practice, particularly in this case where employment emerges as the primary need to be met. This leads me to suggest that the focus on meeting needs, as opposed to focusing on achieving specific ideals such as democracy and equality, may not be as effective to create alternative practice.

Social science research on third sector organisations in the last two decades has emphasised their growing presence and importance in healthcare. This has occurred alongside significant reorganisation of health systems in the UK, including a continued policy emphasis on partnership-working between the public sector and the third sector. However, unanswered questions in the literature remain with regard to the specific roles that these organisations fulfil within partnership arrangements. This thesis examines the role of third sector organisations within Scottish services for the chronic, neurodegenerative condition Huntington’s disease (HD). The closely connected nature of Scottish healthcare and the multitude of professionals involved in HD mean these services are an important, but currently understudied, example of professional interaction around complexity. A multi-methods qualitative research framework was used to gather perspectives of key individuals working in the Scottish HD and wider health scene. Making use of the key concepts of expertise and boundary work, this thesis argues that third sector organisations have an extensive shaping role in 1) the positioning of healthcare organisations, 2) the identities of healthcare professionals, and 3) the meanings around illness and the remit of support. The research findings revealed that organisations and professionals in HD partnership arrangements engaged in processes of boundary work in the negotiation of the roles of themselves and others. Third sector professionals occupied many positions within services, as both experts and supporters of patients. In the process they and other professionals often took on identities as ‘key, committed professionals’. Understanding around HD was also shaped by these professionals as the wider aspects of illness and its support were brought into focus. Building on these findings, it is argued that third sector professionals in coordination roles are well placed to develop a type of expertise that I term ‘aggregate know-how’ (Pols 2014), based around both their professional skills and their extensive contact with patient experiential knowledge. The research builds on and extends influential previous models of third sector ‘partnership’ in healthcare (Rabeharisoa 2003), emphasising the key role of third sector organisations in knowledge production. It also offers insights of both theoretical and practical use with regard to service delivery in healthcare, showing the potential for genuine third sector/public sector partnership around expertise when there is adequate cultural support and resources.