Sukcesja stanowisk kierowniczych w organizacjach pozarządowych
Succession of management positions in non-governmental organizations

Author(s): Janusz Reichel
Subject(s): Economy, Business Economy / Management, Accounting - Business Administration
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: succession; non-governmental organization; quantitative analysis; qualitative analysis; case studies; Poland
Summary/Abstract: The problem of succession of managerial positions is one of many issues of strategic importance for each organization. In management theory, one can encounter many works on the process of succession and succession management. There are also guides to advise organizations on how to plan, organize and conduct succession for the benefit of the organization's results and its durability. Analysis of the literature on the subject shows that reflection on succession concerns more often only selected types of organizations. There are works on enterprises (mostly large enterprises) or family businesses due to the special nature of the latter. Attention is also directed to organizations whose results can be easily operationalized and examine their dependence on succession - this applies to, for example, sports organizations. Relatively little attention is devoted to this issue in non-governmental organizations. In the literature of the subject one can find some works on succession in non-governmental organizations, but they still do not give an overall picture of the issue. The literature reviews carried out earlier by other authors indicate the need to learn the phenomenon of succession in non-governmental organizations, with particular emphasis on understanding the processes that accompany the transfer or taking over of managerial positions. The authors, whose work is discussed in this dissertation, suggest to examine a larger number of specific case studies that give a chance to get to know the context of ongoing processes. In this sense, the presented dissertation meets the needs reported in the literature and presents a series of case studies obtained from direct participants of events - most often presidents of the organization. The assumed goal of the research is to understand the succession process in non-governmental organizations and its conditions, and therefore also in its emotional and political dimension. Two initial chapters of the book are the result of literature studies, the first one is devoted to non-governmental organizations and the context of their functioning, and the second one describes the phenomenon of succession itself. The empirical material from interviews and quantitative research is presented analogically in the third and fourth chapter of the work. The study analyzed the pool of case studies with the use of a case study method supplemented by the approach known from the grounded theory, which is also an innovation. The logic of the work required first to collect the empirical material and then to conduct literature studies. In this way, a cross-sectional synthesis was created from a multiple case study, which was not burdened with too much risk of even unintentional contamination of the collected qualitative data by the theory regarding succession in other types of organization. The author decided that in the next stage of the research he will first make a quantitative analysis of statutes of the examined organizations, which concern the functioning of the boards with particular emphasis on the term of office of the authorities. To this end, the author selected a sample of non-governmental organizations having the status of a public benefit organization, which continued their operations at least since 2004. After this analysis, research questions were concretised and computer-assisted interviews were conducted with 75 presidents of the foundations with status of public benefit organization. Both quantitative analyses are included in the fourth chapter of this work. The aim of the work is to examine the course of the succession process and its determinants in non-governmental organizations, with particular emphasis on the context in which this process takes place. Such a general goal is justified by the pioneering nature of the research, as there is no comprehensive work on the subject of succession in non-governmental organizations so far (in Polish literature, the subject is, as yet, almost absent). The basic research of this thematic area therefore seems to be crucial and should avoid the error of automatic transfer of knowledge and solutions developed by the practice and theory for organizations from other sectors. The result of the research helps to create a general picture of the processes of succession (and the conditions in which they take place) in non-governmental organizations and point out main issues and topics that should be taken into account when examining the world of non-governmental organizations in the context of succession processes. The series of recommendations for future research in this area are also the result of the work.

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