Enterprise Culture and the Arts: Neo-Liberal Values and British Art Institutions

Neoliberal discourse has spread from the economic realm into all parts of society. This chapter discusses the current situation of neoliberal discourses and their effects on the arts, focusing on the United Kingdom. It also examines the historical development of British cultural policy, highlighting trends toward the marketization of the arts, increasing government intervention, and a growing emphasis on managerialism. The analysis shows that British arts organizations have been deeply affected by state and corporate interests. The chapter draws on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, who describes the field of cultural production as containing two poles that are autonomous or heteronomous. By tracing British cultural policy as it came to favor enterprise culture, the chapter demonstrates an increasing loss of autonomy in the arts

Different Drivers: Exploring employee involvement in corporate philanthropy

Corporate Philanthropy (CP) is multi-dimensional, differs between sectors and involves both individual and organizational decision-making to achieve business and social goals. However, the CP literature characteristically focuses on strategic decisions made by business leaders and ignores the role of employees, especially those in lower status and lower paid positions. To redress this imbalance, we conducted a qualitative study of employees’ involvement in CP processes in ten workplaces in the South East of England to identify whether and how they are involved in CP decision-making and to capture their perspective on the nature of CP and the benefits generated by such activities. We specifically chose to study workplaces where employees are involved in the actual execution of the CP strategy, prioritising companies with a visible presence on the high street. The results illustrate the benefits of involving employees in CP decision-making, which we argue derives in part from the ‘liminal-like states’ that typify CP activities organised by shop floor staff, involving the temporary overturning of hierarchies, humanising of workplaces and opportunities for lower-level staff to prioritise their personal philanthropic preferences and signal their charitable identity to colleagues and customers. Whilst the data also suggests that CP decision-making remains predominantly top-down and driven by profit-oriented goals, we conclude that employees should be involved in choosing charitable causes as well as in designing and implementing workplace fundraising, in order to maximise the advantages of CP for the company and for wider society

Managerialism and beyond: Discourses of civil society organization and their governance implications

Different disciplinary, theoretical, and empirical lenses have contributed to a kaleidoscopic picture of CSO governance. Most of the time, CSO governance is contrasted with corporate governance in business organizations; only rarely is the broad variety of CSOs taken into account. To widen this perspective, we develop an empirically grounded typology of five discourses of organization in CSOs: managerialist, domestic, professionalist, grassroots, and civic discourse. We argue that each of these discourses gives specific answers to the three core questions of governance: To whom is the CSO accountable, i.e., who are the key actors who need to be protected by governance mechanisms? For what kind of performance is the CSO accountable? And which structures and processes are appropriate to ensure accountability? The way in which different discourses answer these questions provides us with a deeper understanding of the reasons behind the manifold notions of governance in CSOs. (authors' abstract

Patterns of governance structures in trade associations and unions

Most research on the governance of nonprofit organizations concentrates on welfare-oriented organizations and disregards other types of nonprofits. This article examines the governance structures of trade associations and unions as a special type of nonprofit organization. Analysis is based on a qualitative case study survey of thirty Swiss trade associations. The results distinguish four categories of governance: satellite governance, delegate governance, executive governance, and inner-circle governance