MIRROR EFFECT OF ORGANIZATIONAL MODELS ON SOCIAL-COMMUNITY INTERVENTION

 Original article published in Catalan on 09/20/2022




In various reflections, I have pointed out the idea that organizational and management models of third sector entities could be a lever for driving social transformations. But why?

The reasons can be diverse, I explained some of them in my article "Third Sector: what if the lever lies in management an organizational models?", but when I share this idea, I also draw on the fact that the way we relate to our environment influences the response we can provoke or receive from it.

So, can we think of different forms of organization that facilitate and promote social intervention with a more community-oriented perspective? And if entities organized according to more communal, participatory, and democratic models became a reflection of the social intervention approach that the third sector and administration are advancing towards?

In a very summarized and simplified way, when we talk about community-oriented social intervention, it could be:

  • Oriented towards weaving, reconstructing the community, understanding it as the sphere of life where the types of relationships between individuals are basically  primary relationships: relationships based on mutual trust, similar to family ties, of high intensity and proximity (physical or not), that don't respond to market dynamics (Fernando Fantova, 2020).
  • At the same time, we can also refer to a social intervention oriented towards community action. In this case, we can adopt a definition provided by Ernesto Morales and Oscar Rebollo (2014), in which community action processes serve a triple intentionality:
    • On one hand, they are processes that promote improving people's living conditions, and therefore, they have a transformative intentionality regarding social issues.
    • On the other hand, they are inclusive processes involving all community members.
    • Lastly, they promote individual and collective empowerment, including political empowerment.

Social intervention promotes autonomy and inclusion of individuals. Community action seeks the construction of collective responses to collective problems. This way, people exercise their social rights and contribute to problem-solving.

Returning to the initial idea, based on how we relate, we receive different responses from our environment. We might consider that if third sector entities organize themselves with community-based models, the response or effect they generate in their environment could facilitate community-oriented social intervention.

Some characteristics of these management and organizational models that could act as a mirror effect include:

  • They are participatory management models based on shared decision-making involving those individuals (voices) affected by the decision. They are inclusive models that simultaneously empower individuals both individually and collectively.

 

  • They are also models with a transformative intent in both organizational structure and business management, impregnated with the philosophy and values of the social and solidarity economy. They also aim for transformation in the content of decisions made and actions taken.

 

  • Another important characteristic of these models is the dynamics inside the organization. These dynamics should be based on respect, proximity, listening, and understanding of others. They are focused on building relationships of trust and recognizing diversity in both people and knowledge, with a strong willingness to construct collectively. Collective construction here is not just the sum of voices or individuals but rather the generation of collective intelligence, where the result exceeds the sum of individual intelligences. Dynamics in which there is an awareness of hierarchies, power, and how power is exercised. These models should focus on building "primary relationships" within organizations, relationships that don't adhere to traditional market or business dynamics.

Thus, could community-based organizational and management models in third sector entities become a mirror to promote and construct models of social intervention with a community-oriented perspective and action?

____

Fantova, F. (2000). Soledat, comunitat i serveis socials després de la pandèmia. https://lleiengel.cat/soledat-i-serveis-socials/

 

Morales, E., Rebollo, O. (2014). Potencialitats i límits de l’acció comunitària com a estratègia empoderadora en el context de crisi actual. Revista de Treball Social, 203, 9-21.


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