Management in the non-profit sector - how management science can contribute to strengthening organisations engaged with social change and transformation

The proposed PhD project explores management issues within the non-profit sector with the aim of deepening our understanding on how management science can contribute to strengthening organisations engaged with social change and transformation.
Mainstream management thinking has pervaded the non-profit sector, and its language and practices have become part and parcel of everyday work in charities, cooperatives, NGOs and other organisations committed to social and economic transformation. Non-profit management literature is predominantly made up of contributions that assume that more and better management is needed for non-profit organisations to strengthen their position in and contribution to societies. However, a small yet growing body of research invites us to scrutinise the uncritical adoption of management models in the non-profit sector. Central to the critiques found in this literature is the idea that, rather than strengthening organisations as advocated by policy makers and mainstream management literature, increased pressure toward a market orientation and its associated business-like approaches is actually undermining non-profit organisations’ engagement with social transformation agendas.
The PhD would explore this literature and these issues in a practical context and could be focused on NGOs, charities, social enterprises, foundations and other types of organisations in a variety of contexts.