What Were You Thinking? A Constructive Epistemology of Nonprofit Policy Development

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18666/JNEL-12197

Keywords:

epistemology, policy development, nonprofit management education, nonprofit management, accountability

Abstract

This paper examines the challenges of teaching management policy development in nonprofit organizations through a pan-disciplinary “constructive epistemology.” The elements of the epistemology encompass sequential elements that go beyond problem-solving heuristics, and apply well to managerial policy development in nonprofit organizations. Those elements include Issue Identification, Stakeholder Recognition, Normative Desires, Conceptual Framing, Empirical Observation, Scenario Envisioning and Prescriptive Recommendation. I argue that each of these helps to frame policy problems, and together they provide a firm basis for developing policy and for reviewing its effects. The constructive epistemology is illustrated with a discussion of how nonprofits might develop policy around the prospect of receiving donations from morally suspect sources, the so-called “dirty money” problem.

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Published

2023-10-05

Issue

Vol. 13 No. 4 (2023): Special Issue: Disciplinary Perspectives in Nonprofit Management

Section

Articles

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