Bridging Organizations and Sustainable Development

Abstract

In many developing countries, sustainable social and economic development depends on creating effective local organizations, horizontal linkages across sectors, and vertical linkages that enable grassroots influence on national policy-making. This paper examines the role of "bridging organizations" in creating such institutional arrangements. Examples of bridging organizations and their constituencies of various types (associations, networks, cross-sectoral partnerships, political coalitions, social movements) are described. On the basis of these examples, it is argued that bridging organizations and their constituent networks are shaped by values and visions, their tasks, member diversity, and external threats. The cases suggest that bridging organizations can play key roles in building local organizations, creating horizontal linkages, increasing grassroots influence on policy, and disseminating new visions and organizational innovations. Finally the paper argues that bridging organizations are central players in an emerging "multisectoral" development paradigm that is less subject to the flaws of the still-dominant market-led and state-led paradigms.

Adaptive governance and managing resilience to natural hazards

“…A boundary organization is a place for scientists and decision makers to meet to create a boundary arena that is acceptable and accountable to all parties involved (Guston 2001). A bridging organization has a broader scope than a boundary organization (Brown 1991). Examples of a bridging organization include an assessment team composed of different actors in a social-ecological system, NGOs that create a social arena, and the scientific community that can facilitate and control adaptive management processes (Garmestani, Craig, and Cabezas 2008).…”

Liderança e gestão da qualidade – um estudo correlacional entre estilos de liderança e princípios da gestão da qualidade

“…Transformational leadership has been described in the literature as a mechanism to develop an organizational culture and, consequently, associated with the creation of quality management policies and related procedures. This is because this leadership model promotes changes and its probable results help team members deal with the discomfort that inevitably comes with the change process (Bass, 1985;Tichy & Devanna, 1986) and encourages them to continuously improve their own skills and quality capability (Brown, 1991;Deming, 1986). Lastly, the transformational leader would also encourage people to accept the change (Bass, 1985;Conger & Kanungo, 1987).…”

A Mixed Methods Study of Pre-­service Teachers’ Attitudes toward LGBTQ Themed Literature

“…Consider that while R factor analysis computes correlations between statements in order to categorize items into groups, Q factor analysis computes correlations between respondents across a set of statements in order to group people into factors (Brown, 1991;Danielson, 2009;Yang & Bliss, 2012). In Q factor analysis, these factors are known as typologies and while factors in R factor analysis consist of items, factors in Q factor analysis consist of people who load significantly into each factor and are known as defining respondents.…”