Conflict and change in non-profits. Charisma, external control and heterogeneity in Development NGOs

Abstract

This article explores the role of conflict in organizational cultures and models. Based on the study of three Development NGOs located in Andalusia —Madre Coraje, Paz y Solidaridad, and Manos Unidas—, it analyses how episodes of internal crisis, far from threatening organizations survival, can have at the mid term an adaptative effect in ecological terms, clarifying organizational identity or negotiating an equilibrium between different sectors and organizational trends. It concludes that internal conflict, in these cases originated by the attempt of external organizations or charismatic figures to control the DNGO, has the effect of restraining and shaping the way in which environmental factors drive development organizations towards bureaucracy and professionalism.