The research problem that this study addresses is two-fold.
First, the persistance of poverty gives rise to a real world
concern for improving the effectiveness of international
development efforts. To address the link between the alleviation
of poverty, adult education, and a grass-roots approach, this
study focuses on planning within an organization that offers
adult education programs overseas, specifically a nongovernmental
organization (NGO). An understanding of the dynamics
of planning in such an NGO will help in articulating more
effective approaches to planning practice in international
development. The second aspect of the research problem is that
the relationship between the planning process and the planning
context seems not to have been fully explored in the literature
on adult education program planning. There is a need for a more
complete set of analytical tools that captures the complexities
of planning and sheds light on the relationship between the
planning context and the planning process.
The purpose of this dissertation is to address the main
theoretical question raised by the research problem: How do nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) plan so as to maintain
themselves and be effective given the pressures on them? This
theoretical question was investigated through a case study
method, specifically ethnography. Ethnographic fieldwork, which
included seventeen months of participant observation, twenty-five
interviews, and document analysis, was carried out at an NGO, refered to here by the pseudonym of "Global Faith."
The conceptual framework developed in this dissertation
builds on the negotiation approach to planning. The first part of
the conceptual framework links two strands of research:
leadership theory and negotiation theory. Through this
juxtaposition, I was able to examine the process of planning in a
new light - as the negotiation of meaning. The second part of the
framework shows how a deeper understanding of the context of
planning is accomplished by applying a subjectivist, multi-
perspective approach to analyzing cultures in organizations. This
approach - which incorporates the integration perspective, the
differentiation perspective, and the fragmentation perspective was
used to see Global Faith cultures in three different ways.
These same ways of viewing culture at Global Faith were matched
with the varying interpretations held by staff members in order
to characterize the cultural contexts for specific episodes of
planning involving the negotiation of meaning.
The findings show that by including the negotiation of
meaning in planning activities, Global Faith is able to motivate
staff and deal effectively with confusing requirements,
conflicting expectations, and diverse demands that they face in
their interactions with CIDA, general public donors, the Board of
Directors, and overseas partner organizations. There is a
recursive relationship between planning processes involving the
negotiation of meaning and Global Faith cultures whereby the
cultures are both precursors and products of negotiation of
meaning episodes.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/6769 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Cunningham-Dunlop, Catherine |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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