A Method for Coping With Diversity Within Voluntary Organizations
Abstract
A Method for Coping With Diversity Within Voluntary Organizations SAGE Publications, Inc.1975DOI: 10.1177/089976407500400308 James E. Jarrett The Council of State Governments I. THE PROBLEM Achievement of organizational goals demands an adequate level of member integration since integration is instrumental in achieving group goals. Lack of integration may indicate significant diversity in members' opinions about 1 association policies, goals, or means. In many voluntary associations chronic disaffection over goals or means causes withdrawals from the group. If disaffection is to be reduced and if achievement of association goals is to occur, members' preferences must be altered: "Coalitions for social reform will be the stronger, the more their participants can agree on fairly well defined goals"(Holden, 1973). How could a voluntary association democratically resolve its disagreements? Consider a restricted set of all voluntary groups, namely, voluntary associations with decision-making bodies in which members have nearly equal standing--equal because no group leader, paid staff, or executive committee of the association makes final decisions independent of members' preferences, because no member is excluded from formal voting rights, and because members generally participate in major decisions of the associationo Examples of such democratic, egalitarian groups include neighborhood associations, tenants' rights groups, local political