The Attributes of Effective NGOs and the Leadership Values Associated with a Reputation for Organizational Effectiveness

• Published date: 01 September 2015
• Date: 01 September 2015
• Author: George E. Mitchell
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nml.21143

39

N M  L, vol. 26, no. 1, Fall 2015 © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/nml.21143

Journal sponsored by the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University.

Correspondence to: George E. Mitchell, 160 Convent Ave., NAC 4/135, New York, NY 10031. E-mail: gmitchell@ccny

.cuny.edu

 e Attributes of Eff ective NGOs

and the Leadership Values Associated

with a Reputation for Organizational

Eff ectiveness

George E. Mitchell

The Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership, City College of New York

Building on prior research characterizing organizational effectiveness as a social construc-

tion, this article identifies the perceived attributes of effective transnational nongovernmen-

tal organizations (NGOs) and the leadership values associated with higher reputations for

organizational effectiveness. Results are based on an in-depth, mixed-method interview

study of 152 NGO leaders located in the United States and representing all major sectors

of organizational activity. Among the twenty-nine attributes that leaders identified in peer

organizations that they regarded as particularly effective, leaders stressed instantiation of

sound principles or strategy, a grassroots approach, large organizational size and resources,

being collaborative, singleness of focus, campaigning abilities, funding and fundraising

prowess, global scope, and quality people. Furthermore, statistical analysis reveals that

NGOs with leaders who value similarities with peer organizations, grassroots approaches,

diversity of strategies, dedication, professionalism, and distributed organizational structures

have significantly higher reputations for effectiveness.

Keywords: organizational effectiveness, NGOs, reputation, mixed-method

WHAT FACTORS CONTRIBUTE TO A REPUTATION FOR NONGOVERNMENTAL

ORGANIZATIONS (NGO) EFFECTIVENESS?  is article addresses this question by exam-

ining the results of a large-n, in-depth, mixed-method interview study of 152 transnational

NGO leaders located in the United States and representing all major sectors of organizational

activity, including humanitarian relief, sustainable development, environment, human rights,

and confl ict resolution. Leaders’ perspectives off er rare insight into the attributes and leader-

ship values that may contribute to perceptions of enhanced organizational eff ectiveness.

 is research was supported by National Science Foundation Grant No. SES-0527679 (Agents of Change: Transnational

NGOs as Agents of Change: Toward Understanding  eir Governance, Leadership, and Eff ectiveness) and the Transna-

tional NGO Initiative at the Moynihan Institute of Global Aff airs at Syracuse University.  e author is grateful to Sarah S.

Stroup and Jack Clancy for their assistance in developing this research.

Nonprofi t Management & Leadership DOI: 10.1002/nml

40 MITCHELL

 e article is organized as follows.  e fi rst section briefl y discusses prior scholarship about

NGO effectiveness. This is followed by a description of the data from the transnational

NGO interview study and the method of analysis.  e section after that provides a discus-

sion of the results, focusing on the most frequently cited attributes of eff ective NGOs and

the leadership values associated with higher reputations for organizational eff ectiveness.  e

fi nal section off ers a summary and conclusion, providing insights for NGO managers and

leaders and suggestions for future research.

The Construct of NGO Effectiveness

The literature on NGO or nonprofit organizational effectiveness is well established and

has been a popular subject for periodic review (Baruch and Ramalho 2006; Forbes 1998;

Herman and Renz 1999; Lecy, Schmitz, and Swedlund 2011; Rojas 2011) and empirical,

methodological, or conceptual analysis (Dart 2010; Herman 1990, 1992; Herman and Hei-

movics 1995; Herman and Renz 1998, 1999, 2004, 2008; Liket and Maas 2013; Mitchell

2013; Murray and Tassie 1994; Osborne and Tricker 1995; Sheehan 1996; Sowa, Selden,

and Sandfort 2004; Tassie, Murray, and Cutt 1998; Williams and Kindle 1992). Much

of this scholarship has examined the problems of defi ning and measuring organizational

eff ectiveness (Herman 1990, 1992; Herman and Heimovics 1994, 1995; Mitchell 2013,

2014b; Sawhill and Williamson 2001; Sowa, Selden, and Sandfort 2004) and has observed

that organizational eff ectiveness may have multiple defi nitions (Mitchell 2013) and mul-

tiple dimensions based on the subjective perspectives of various stakeholders (Balser and

McClusky 2005; Herman and Renz 1997, 1998, 2004; Jun and Shiau 2012; Packard 2010;

Shilbury and Moore 2006). An emergent consensus within this literature characterizes

organizational eff ectiveness as a social construct that is made meaningful though intersub-

jective interpretation. Many scholars agree that judgments about organizational eff ectiveness

and its correlates are contingent upon stakeholder subjectivity and that the construct is fun-

damentally perceptual in nature rather than “a real property” of organizations ( Herman and

Renz 1997, 188).

Previous scholarship investigating the specifi c factors associated with organizational eff ective-

ness has often focused on domestic US nonprofi ts, has been limited to single sectors, or has

examined organizations on the boundaries of NGO studies such as foundations (Ostrower

2004, 2007), civic associations (Jun and Shiau 2012), or Olympic sporting organizations

(Shilbury and Moore 2006).  ese qualifi cations notwithstanding, this research has sug-

gested that adequate funding, staff motivation, facilitative organizational structure (Packard

2010), leadership (Herman and Heimovics 1990; Herman and Tulipana 1985; Packard

2010; Shiva and Suar 2011), the presence of paid staff , computerization of records (Eisinger

2002), stakeholder management practices (Balser and McClusky 2005), staff educational

suffi ciency, and board member perceptions (Herman and Tulipana 1985) may contribute to

perceived organizational eff ectiveness.

However, although prior research has extensively examined organizational eff ectiveness

among specific categories of domestic nonprofits, it has not yet systematically sought

to identify the attributes of effective transnational NGOs on a large-scale nor cross-

sectorally, nor has it attempted to link specifi c leadership values to perceptions of NGO

eff ectiveness.  is is particularly problematic because transnational NGOs substantially

diff er from locally or domestically operating organizations. Relative to most domestic