Promises of transformation: just how different are international development NGOs?

Abstract

This article argues that there is a growing convergence between development INGOs and private sector organisations in the way that values are taken up as an instrument of management. Rather than promoting the exploration of difference, managers encourage employees to set aside their concerns and have faith in the organisational mission. In this way they exercise control without appearing to do so, and avoid dealing with the day to day difficulty of undertaking the work. Instead managers feel obliged to promise transformation, because of the increased marketisation and professionalisation of development. The article offers an alternative understanding of values as a profoundly social phenomenon requiring reflection and negotiation through and with others. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

What contribution can insights from the complexity sciences make to the theory and practice of development management?

“…This has not always been the case in a sector which was initially suspicious of management theory and techniques, which Lewis (2001) explores to great effect. However, we argue that today managerialist methods have been adopted largely uncritically from the private sector and are now ubiquitous across all sectors of the economy, not just in International Non-Government Organisations (INGOs); there is a commonality of managerialist language and concepts that propels organisations in very different sectors to become isomorphic (Mowles, 2007), so that the potential for change through the emergence of difference is dampened down.…”

Post‐foundational development management—power, politics and complexity

“…It is much more common these days to find middle and senior managers in development NGOs with management, human resource management and marketing qualifications gained from business schools which are not necessarily sector specific. It is in these ways that management theories derived principally from the private sector have been taken up more or less uncritically in the international development context as though they are equally valid in all sectors (Mowles, 2007;Murphy, 2005 andCooke, 2004).…”

Keeping Means and Ends in View—linking Practical Judgement, Ethics and Emergence

“…In previous articles (Mowles, , ), I have described how both John Dewey () and George Herbert Mead () were interested in the way in which we can expand our sense of self. Intelligent action, for both Mead and Dewey, manifests itself in being able constantly to take the attitude of the other to oneself through reflection and reflexivity and to be open to change as a result.…”