Strategic Management of Public Interest Organizations

This paper argues that strategic management of a public interest organization not only needs to be aimed at the interests it represents, but it also has to incorporate the organization’s internal workings. The functioning of a public interest organi-zation is seen to suffer from a primary dilemma of membership and influence and a secondary dilemma of representation and control. If these dilemmas are not han-dled adequately, the public interest organization will suffer from a vicious circle of contradiction and conflict, eventually threatening the organization’s long-term viability. A case study is elaborated to empirically underpin this proposition. KEY WORDS: public interest organization; voluntary organization; strategic management; structuration theory; mentally handicapped people