The Dimensions of Stakeholders’ Management Capacity in Non-Profit Organizations: A Theoretical Study

Abstract

Organizations’ everyday interaction with their stakeholders is tied to their management capacity, especially their ability to cope with the pressures of uncertainty and scarcity in their environment, and, using the tools at their disposal, to overcome conflicts and strengthen the efficiency and effectiveness of these relationships. The present study’s objective was to verify whether the stakeholder capacity dimensions (communication and negotiation, marketing, proactivity, strategic formulation, resources and stakeholder-serving) proposed by Freeman (1984) and Freeman, Harrison, & Wicks, (2007), for for-profit organizations, apply to non-profit organizations. The present theoretical reflexive and interpretive study seeks to address in greater depth these issues based on theoretical considerations. Given that relations between stakeholders in both for-profit and non-profit organizations are similar, one can infer that the management capacity dimensions proposed by Freeman and his collaborators for for-profit organizations also apply to non-profit organizations.

Keywords

• Terceiro setor. Teoria dos stakeholders. Organizações sem fins lucrativos. ONGS.