Management of Conflict in Non-Profit Organization with Shared Governance

Abstract

In social and non-profit organisations with partnership governance, conflicts are more numerous and more difficult to mitigate. Ostrom’s organisational principles guarantee the stabilisation of such organisations, but we lack studies about ways to restore their stability after a conflict crisis. Based on Rahim’s works on conflict handling styles’ influence over long-lasting collaborations, we hypothesize a linkage between Ostrom’s organisational principles and effective conflict handling styles. Our article explores this topic from action research based on the comparison of three non-profit organizations: an associative school, a Non-Governmental-Organization, a Think Tank, Each organisation is characterized respectively by three conflict handling styles that can each lead to their collapse. The rules of collegial governance exemplify well, in the three cases studied, as variables that directly affect the modes of conflict resolution of its members. This analysis opens up new avenues of action for conflict management, whereby stabilization is achieved, by changing its collective rules to move towards more collegiality in decision-making.

Keywords

Conflict, Ostrom, Governance, Collegiality, Rules, Partnership