Theorist-David Billis Theory of Hybrid Organizations and the Third Sector
Background
Impacts on academic achievement
Contributions to Hybrid Organization theory
Addressing issues with ownership in the Third Sector
Ownership was redefined as different levels of decision-making
Principal, active and formal owners
Principal owners did the majority of the decision-making
Strengths of Theory
Weaknesses of Theory
Influences on present research and practice
Accomplishments
-In 1978, he founded PORTVAC, the first university-based program through his work with voluntarily organizations.
-co-founded the journal Nonprofit Management and Leadership in 1990
-received the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award from ARNOVA the leading international third sector research association
-developed the 'Work Level' Theory
-developed postgraduate courses within the voluntary sector in the UK
The complexity of the Third Sector Organization with the interlocking layers between ownership and accountability.
The increasing use of hybrid organizations and the impact on the third sector.
The uncertainty of how the core elements for Hybrid Organizations mix between principals and can become unclearly determined as specific sector Private/Public/Third.
The ownership may not be owned by a specific group of stakeholders.
There isn't a clear path for decision making.
There is a risk with Hybrid Organizations that third sector may lose their attractive distinctive propositions.
Hybrid TSOs are dependent on paid staff and few to no members.
Flexibility to use principles from each of the sectors; Private/Public/Third
The ability to have more of a flexible approach within the organization.
There isn't a clear path for decision making can also be a strength.
The organization's structure can work outside the common traditional structure, one sector.
Develop an 'Ideal Type' of the Third Sector
The heart of this sector is the association.
He made the recommendation that paid staff may also be apart of the group
Born: October 4, 1934 (age 82 years)
List of books- 13 books
Welfare Bureaucracies 1984
Organizational Design: The Work-Level Approach 1987
The Challenge of Change in Local Voluntary Agencies 1992
Organising Voluntary Agencies 1986
Social Services Departments: Developing Patterns of Work and Organization 1974
Sliding into Change 1993
Organising Public and Voluntary Agencies 1993
Organizing Social Services Departments 1980
Voluntary Sector Management: Research and Practice 1984
Organising NGOs: Challenges and Trends in the Management of Overseas Aid 1993
An extended role for the Voluntary Sector 1986
Taking Stock: Exploring the Shifting Foundations of Governance and Strategy in Housing Associations 1994
A theory of the voluntary sector 1989
Contributions
Organizing Public and Voluntary Agencies
Organizing Social Services
Organizational Design of Work Levels
References:
Shafritz, J.M., Ott, S.J., & Jang, Y.S.(2016). Classics of Organization Theory (8th ed.) Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Billis, David.(2010). Hybrid Organizations and the Third Sector. Challenges for Practice, Theory and Policy. New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan.
Billis, David and Glennerster, Howard (1998) Human services and the voluntary sector: Towards a theory of comparative advantage. Journal of social policy, 27 (1). pp. 79-98.