The Structure of Dialogue: Exploring Habermas\u27 Discourse Theory to Explain the Magic and Potential of Restorative Justice Processes

The theory of restorative justice has always lagged behind practice. As such, gaps in theory have developed, existed over time and continue to exist today particularly in terms of explaining the so-called magic that occurs within the encounter process. Byexploring the theories of Jorgen Habermas, it is suggested that new frameworks can be developed that can help theorists think about and explain the experiences central to restorative processes. This paper focuses on Habermas\u27 theory of universal pragmatics and communicative action as a means to better understand the workings within the encounter process that give rise to common understanding, agreement, learning, and strengthened relationships

The Nonprofit Ethics Survey: A Contextual Approach

Organizational ethics require the attention of nonprofit leaders as regulatory trends and accountability measures increase. In spite of this interest, little empirical research has been conducted on ethics assessment within the nonprofit sector and more importantly, no survey instrument currently exists exclusively designed for nonprofit organizations to assess the perceptions of ethics within their organization. This lack of tools and information prohibits comprehensive self-assessment, and forces a reactive, single-loop approach to ethical issues, rather than a feedback system based on actual data. To address this need, the Nonprofit Ethics Survey provides a practioner-friendly survey designed to assess the perceptions of ethics held by the affiliates of nonprofit organizations. Development of the instrument occurred through the use of factor analysis, specifically, two principal components analyses, conducted on a sample of 530 nonprofit affiliates; which included 78 board members. The results of the first factor analysis identified the following six underlying constructs: Transparency; Daily-Ethics Behaviors of Board Members; Open Communication; Daily-Ethics Behaviors of Senior Staff; Decision Making; and Accountability. The second principal components analysis, conducted on a question set only responded to by voting board members, yielded a promising preliminary seventh construct to measure Governance. Taken together, the two principal components analyses facilitated the revision of the survey to achieve a parsimonious means of measuring the perceptions of ethics within nonprofit organizations. Additionally, a measure of Cronbach\u27s Alpha was calculated for each scale in the survey to determine the level of internal consistency; these coefficients ranged from 0.86–0.94, indicating the survey provides a reliable means of measuring the constructs related to organizational ethics in nonprofit agencies. Each scale in the Nonprofit Ethics Survey uses Likert-style questions in addition to a small number of dichotomous variables and overall rating questions. The creation of a statistically sound instrument designed to assess nonprofit ethics ensures that organizations have the ability to accurately self-assess from an ethical perspective. As such, the development of this practitioner-friendly, statistically supported instrument that is well-grounded in theory represents a significant contribution to both the theoretical and empirical literature on nonprofit organizational ethics and third sector studies

2006 INTRODUCTION- Beyond Regulation: Creating Tools for Promoting an Ethical Culture in Nonprofit Organizations

Introduction to Beyond Regulation: Creating Tools for Promoting an Ethical Culture in Nonprofit Organizations report. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) in Chicago Illinois on November 15-18, 2006.https://digital.sandiego.edu/npi-npleadership/1009/thumbnail.jp

Beyond Regulation: Tools for Promoting Ethical Action in Nonprofit Organizations

For a full year more than 168 nonprofit practitioners participated in a dialogue series about nonprofit ethics that culminated in a large-scale forum on October 27, 2006. The result of this thoughtful deliberation was a discussion guide that can be used by nonprofits during board and/or senior staff meetings (a) to explore existing ethical practices within a nonprofit organization (b) reach a common understanding about the ethical culture that participants wish to see in action and (c) uncover any discrepancies that currently might exist between what is currently happening and what people engaged in the conversation believe ought to be happening

The Small Farmer-Tuskegee University-Walmart Project: Observations of the Steps within Commercial Supply

Abstract Observations of the various efforts necessary in an initiative, the Small Farmer-Tuskegee University-Walmart Project, to assist small farmers to comply with produce industry standards and supply produce to a major retailer over a six-year period were documented through an illustrative case study. The observations were taken from meetings with commercial buyers and farmers, site visits to processing centers and corporate farms, conference calls, and, mainly, from the authors’ “hands-on” participation with the functioning and preservation of this initiative. Consequently, these observations were organized into a framework of criteria that must be successively satisfied to be able to supply produce commercially. These criteria were capacity, capability, quality, food safety, consistency, sustainability, and marketability. A key finding was that for small farmers to meet these criteria, they required organization and support. It was concluded that although the effort was successful, the information gained through the effort was perhaps more valuable. Keywords: Small Farmers, Produce Markets, Commercial Supply, Capacit

Case Study of a Food Safety/Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) Educational Program for Small and Limited Resource Produce Farmers

This case study examined methods used in a food safety/Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) educational program with small and limited resource produce farmers in Alabama to assist them with obtaining certification. Two methods were used, namely, the identification of challenges to food safety certification and development of strategies to address the challenges, and the enlistment of educational methods to facilitate food safety certification. As a result, there were four challenges to food safety certification identified; needs for motivation, information, clarification, and resources. In addition, the educational methods enlisted included group meetings, instructional material distribution, individual farm instruction, and expert instruction. The program was found to be limitedly successful, producing ten GAPs certified operations; further evaluation of the methods is needed. Key Words: Food Safety, Certification, Good Agricultural Practices, Produc