A management memo on a case study about an ethical dilemma was due this week.

The deadline for this one was pushed back from Thursday by the start of class to Friday at 11pm. So here I am at 11:30pm posting my outline after finishing it. I’ve been writing furiously for the past couple of hours, and was racing that deadline. Thought I had it done and uploaded just under the wire, only to see Moodle indicate that I was a little over four minutes late. Looks like the clock on my computer is slow. Then I did one last proofread after the deadline and found a pretty awful typo. It was supposed to read, “Stakeholder analysis should never be seen as a substitute for virtuous and ethical practice.” So I fixed that and resubmitted about 20 minutes late. Hope it doesn’t affect my grade, but if it does what’s done is done. I’m proud of having done a thorough job and turning in quality work, and that I got this done while juggling a busy week at my job and all the other normal aspects of life. And now it’s time to step away from this computer.

Course readings and lecture notes outline

• Nonprofit organizations have a distinct mandate to be good stewards of the resources they receive (MNO, chap 1)
• After their nonprofit’s formal incorporation, founders need to have the mindset that the nonprofit is no longer their organization. It exists to serve a public purpose. (MNO, chap 3)
• Fundamental feature of an NGO is that it’s independent of direct control of any government (Willets)
• The most difficult question about the interdependence of NGOs is whether they come under governmental influence (Willets)
• In more authoritarian societies, NGOs may find it very difficult to act independently (Willets)
• NGOs are not just well-meaning, uncontroversial, non-political groups (Willets)
• political theories of nonprofit organizations are increasingly entwined with broad debates over civil society, social capital, and the rights of association (Clemens 2010)
• wise use of stakeholder analyses can help frame issues that are solvable in ways that are technically feasible and politically acceptable (Bryson 2004)
• we are moving into an era when networks of stakeholders are becoming at least as important, if not more important, than markets and hierarchies (Bryson 2004)
• success for public organizations depends on satisfying key stakeholders according to their definition of what is valuable (Bryson 2004)
• Stakeholder analysis never should be seen as a substitute for virtuous and ethical practice, although they may be a part of promoting such practices. (Bryson 2004)
• Accountability and transparency are big topics in the nonprofit sector. (Week 2 lecture)
• The community really is the owner of your nonprofit (Week 2 lecture)
• “The lifeblood of a nonprofit is public trust” – if you lose that, funding and credibility goes away (Week 3 lecture)
• North Star Test - evaluates whether a nonprofit is acting in accordance with the public interest (Week 3 lecture)
• The board has one voice, not just the loudest voice or the chair’s voice. If you have an organization whose board operates this way, they need training. (Week 3 lecture)
• Mission trumps anything else you do - do not take money from sources counter to your values (Week 3 lecture)
• If you don’t define who you are, somebody else will (week 3 lecture)
• One simple model is a triangle that identifies three components of an organization: mission and mandates, internal capacity, and external support (MNO, chap 2)
• Unethical behavior is not always premeditated or understood to be wrong by everyone involved (MNO, chap 2)
• moral codes of the organization should be made clear to all to whom they apply, and organizational systems should be put in place (MNO, chap 2)
• The work context can affect individual ethical conduct, so it is important for nonprofit leaders to explain and reinforce what is and is not acceptable behavior. (MNO, chap 2)
• One of the most influential methods may be to use values-based leadership (MNO, chap 2)
• A variety of organizational structures and systems can be used to encourage ethical behavior and signal accountability (MNO, chap 2)
• Societal pressures encourage nonprofits, and those working within them, to go beyond the letter of the law in the ethical level of their governance and operations. <MNO, chap 2)
• At its core, accountability is about trust (Ebrahim 2010)
• The challenge for leadership and management is to prioritize among competing accountability demands. This involves deciding both to whom and for what they owe accountability. (Ebrahim 2010)
• accountability is not just about responding to others but also about “taking responsibility” for oneself (Ebrahim 2010)
• demands of accountability “to whom” are multifold and can seldom be reduced to simple terms (Ebrahim 2010)
• accountability is also about power, in that asymmetries in resources become important in influencing who is able to hold whom to account. (Ebrahim 2010)
• Concept of accountability to mission (Ebrahim 2010)
• downward accountability mechanisms remain comparatively underdeveloped (Ebrahim 2010)
• the legitimacy and reputation of the social sector needs to be buttressed by internally driven mechanisms. (Ebrahim 2010)
• critical challenge for nonprofit leaders lies in finding a balance between upward accountability to their patrons while remaining true to their missions. (Ebrahim 2010)
• accountability is not simply about compliance with laws or industry standards but is, more deeply, connected to organizational purpose and public trust (Ebrahim 2010)
• Most nonprofit organizations may not discern the general public as a major actor, let alone the dominant one, yet it is the ultimate source of every privilege they enjoy (Woods 2012)
• Three markers of a responsible organization: true to their missions, act as if outcomes matter, are candid. (Woods 2012)
• More and more often, however, perhaps aided by social media, stakeholders are realizing that they can protest unaccountability. (Woods 2012)
• public perceptions are particularly troubling for nonprofit organizations that depend on continuing financial contributions (Rhode & Packel 2009)
• A variety of situational pressures can also undermine moral conduct (Rhode & Packel 2009)
• Once people yield to situational pressures when the moral cost seems small, they can gradually slide into more serious misconduct. (Rhode & Packel 2009)
• ethical climate - organizations signal their priorities in multiple ways (Rhode & Packel 2009)
• Workers also respond to moral cues from peers and leaders. Virtue begets virtue, and observing integrity in others promotes similar behavior. (Rhode & Packel 2009)
• Ethics and morals speak to the values of the person, organization, society (Lecture week 5)
• Why do we care about ethics? It’s tied to decision making, also tied to accountability and maintaining the public trust. (Lecture week 5)
• “A moral principle is not a command to act in a specific way, it is a tool to help determine the right course of action in a given situation” (John Dewey?) (Lecture week 5)
• The culture and success of an organization is closely linked to its management and the quality of leadership (Clark)
• External environmental scanning tool - PEST analysis (political, economic, social, technological). Change that to PESTEEL (environmental, ethics, legal) (Lecture week 6)
• As leaders and managers you praise in public and critique in private, and you never surprise each other when you can avoid it. (Lecture week 6)