Board composition and structure in human service organizations

This study examines board composition and structure of six types of human service organizations (local United Way, YMCA, YWCA, Jewish Family Service, Catholic Social Service, and non-religious family service) in six metropolitan cities (Boston, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Los Angeles, and Atlanta) at three points in time: 1931, 1961, and 1991. The composition and structure of HSO boards are important in promoting organizational effectiveness, because the composition and structure can guide and facilitate the functions of the governing boards. However, the scant empirical studies concerning the composition and structure of HSO boards over time, and within time periods, by organizational types and regions, limit the ability of HSOs administrators to work more effectively with these boards. This study uses five theoretical perspectives: (1) democratic pluralist perspective; (2) elitist perspective; (3) resource dependence perspective; (4) institutional perspective; and (5) regional civic cultural diversity perspective. These theoretical perspectives are used to examine three different sets of hypotheses. The first set of hypotheses deals with the overall compositional and structural changes in all HSO boards; the compositional changes in the board leadership (executive committee membership and board officership); and the compositional change in the national board membership over time. The second set of hypotheses deals with the organizational variations (differences and similarities) in board composition and structure over time. The third set of hypotheses deals with the regional variation in board composition and structure over time. This study draws on preliminary data collected by teams of researchers in six cities as part of a broader study of nonprofit governing boards that was supported by the Lilly Endowment and coordinated by Yale University\u27s Program on Nonprofit Organizations. This study showed that the composition and structures of HSO boards have had diversified changes over time. The same was true for the composition of board leadership except for the national HSO board (UW) whose continued homogeneity supports elitist perspective. This study found differences in board composition and structure by organizational types with different resource profile over time. Our findings partially supported the hypothesis regarding similarities of board composition and structure. Finally, this study found that Boston HSO boards differed from boards of other cities in the study. This study demonstrated the great variability of the composition and structures of HSO boards