By Saidouri Zomaya, NNGO Graduate Assistant
In this article, Caitlin McMullin and Paloma Raggo examine the roles of nonprofit boards within organizations and how they are transformed throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic. Employing Bradshaw’s contingency theory of governance, the authors suggest that nonprofit boards can balance the role of both managers and leaders as organizations navigate the various stages of the pandemic, which consist of shock, adaptation, recovery, and the new normal. The authors argue crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic can challenge traditional board roles that often focus on long-term planning to focus on short-term decision making instead. Thus, nonprofit boards need to evaluate the organization’s characteristics and external connections to quickly adapt its structure to the unpredictable environments that may arise during such crises.
The authors suggest four potential governing configurations: policy, constituency/representative, entrepreneurial/corporate, and emergent cellular, the authors predict that:
- Policy boards often take on a management role. However, once facing a pandemic, they will implement a leadership role until they adjust to the adaptation stage. Then, they revert to a management role to produce order and consistency in the organization.
- Constituency/representative boards will usually support both leadership and management roles in traditional environments then turn to a leadership role when faced with a crisis, followed by a return to a leadership/management function during the recovery stage.
- Entrepreneurial/corporate boards will take on a management role throughout their response plan to the pandemic since they generally focus on efficiency and emergent strategic planning in traditional environments.
- Emergent Cellular boards will support a leadership role by providing a strategic plan throughout the pandemic adaptation and recovery stages since they tend to be less formal and more flexible in traditional environments.
Proposed Solutions
The authors suggest two options for navigating the new normal. In policy, constituency/representative, and entrepreneurial/corporate configurations, a leadership role must be employed to navigate systematic uncertainty. Alternatively, in an emergent cellular configuration, a management role might help promote consistency during times of uncertainty.
How to Prepare for Future Crises
The authors propose the following steps that board members can implement in preparation for potential crises in the future:
1) organizations need to create a list of major contingencies that might impact their operations.
2) organizations need to discuss the various scenarios that may arise throughout different stages of a crisis and develop possible responses to those scenarios accordingly.
Future Research
A more behavioral-oriented approach is crucial for future studies in order to understand how decisions are made in non-profit boards. Additionally, there needs to be more focus on the individual-level contingencies in non-profit boards and how they impact a board’s ability to alternate between leadership and management roles.
Reference
McMullin C, Raggo P. Leadership and Governance in Times of Crisis: A Balancing Act for Nonprofit Boards. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. 2020;49(6):1182-1190.
