- 2015-03-09 (x)
- Engle, Mark (x)
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Show moreWhat if we could encourage association leaders to make bold and wise decision? Board members of nonprofit societies have limited time to devote to strategic issues confronting their associations. It is essential that they use their limited time productively and remain focused on strategic decision making. Therefore, this study addresses how association leadership—both boards and CEOs—consider significant issues and make decisions. The purpose is to determine how boards and staff of professional societies (associations comprised of individual memberships whose primary purpose is to provide learning and knowledge for members of the profession they represent) navigate the decision-making process and make bold and wise decisions that will ultimately help their organizations “transform society.”1 The proposed conceptual model first identifies a board effectiveness zone in which issues of major magnitude, unique or unusual frequency, and high uncertainty are considered. The key decision steps of the process are then addressed and responsibility for each step is assigned to either staff or board members. Decision factors, criteria, and decision makers are then identified to determine whether they intersect and how this intersection might encourage boards and CEOs to engage in strategic decision making. The study culminates in a research plan designed to address how associations engage in making bold and wise decisions.
Doctorate of Management Programs
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Show moreIf association boards of directors are to favorably impact decision outcomes for their organizations, they must make high-quality, consequential decisions. Through a quantitative study, the researchers examined how associations and their boards make high-quality strategic decisions. This paper argues that (a) boards are most fundamentally decision-making bodies, and (b) boards struggle with a challenging paradox when deliberating major issues: vigorously and properly debating differing perspectives on a consequential issue engenders tensions that can easily lead to dysfunctional interactions among decision makers. Decision-making constructs that relate to this paradox are identified and examined for their applicability to the nonprofit context. Gathering data from more than 200 association CEOs, this study investigates the potential for decision theory constructs to provide new insights into nonprofit governance. Our study found that the effectiveness of association governance can be assessed empirically by its decision outcomes, that validated constructs of decision process and relationships are applicable to board settings, and that the concept of conflict and understanding are important mediators of high-quality, consequential decision making.
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