Community Coalitions: Understanding Volunteer Dynamics in a Complex System

Simmons, Carmen

2004-11
2015-03-09

In recent years, volunteers and practitioners alike have been drawn to creating and participating in various types of alliances and coalitions as a way to address and solve complex community problems. Community coalitions, in particular, have brought together diverse volunteers and agencies committed to specific community change. In many cases these community coalitions have been highly successful. However, just as often, they have failed to reach their goals and produced messy, unpredictable, and disappointing results. Community coalitions are complex systems populated with volunteers and professionals and their networks. They move these shadow systems forward in unpredictable and sometimes counterproductive ways operating at the edge of formal organizations. This paper will explore the dynamics of agent interaction within community coalitions using a complexity framework to illuminate characteristics of networks and agent interaction.

Voluntarism

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http://hdl.handle.net/2186/ksl:weaedm240

30 p

Doctorate of Management Programs