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In Search of Noble Organizing: A Study in Social Entrepreneurship

Srivastva, Alka
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1081265383

Abstract Details

2004, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Organizational Behavior.
This dissertation is an invitation for dialogue and change. It introduces a generative, grounded theory of noble organizing; a dynamic process linking noble intentions and the translation of those intentions into social action through processes that defy traditional norms. This inquiry explores four social entrepreneurship organizations in their commitment to the common good and high purpose of developing human communities. Two for profit companies employ a multi pronged holistic approach to economic community development by 1) using the business of finance and credit to stimulate growth in disinvested areas and 2) providing quality service and care for a constituency that includes its low-income minority workforce, clients and ultimately the industry through public policy advocacy and reform. Two nonprofit entities cultivate and maintain communities of the highest quality by 1) providing social justice organizations with alternative funding sources to promote community-based advocacy work and 2) serving recovering drug and alcohol abusers by promoting personal development and collective learning. Interviews with strategic persons, published materials and subsequent consensual validation from each of the organizations were used to develop narratives that provide the framework for this study. A discourse analysis of the narratives revealed six universalistic principles characterizing the ethos of social entrepreneurship. Exploration into the Principles of Intentionality, Serendipity, Values-Led Governance, Unconventional Wisdom, Reinvention and Reverberation offer ways of approaching ideas for developing new directions for organizing in the interest of human beings with the intent to engage persons who desire change for the future and wish to participate in that future by contributing and influencing its own transformation. The term noble is used as a verb qualifier to understand and describe organizing processes that focus on conduct in the service of others and expressed through actions. Through the study of social entrepreneurship, the development of propositions offer insights into noble organizing that provide implications for further inquiry. By promoting the generativity of noble organizing and its concomitant values that support and sustain social entrepreneurship organizations, contributions to the field of positive organizational scholarship, management theory and/or practice could generate a multiplicity of transformations toward a higher moral direction for members in society.
David Cooperrider (Advisor)
316 p.
Social Entrepreneurship; Noble Organizing; Organizing Processes; Narrative Development; Positive Organizational Scholarship

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Srivastva, A. (2004). In Search of Noble Organizing: A Study in Social Entrepreneurship [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1081265383

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Srivastva, Alka. In Search of Noble Organizing: A Study in Social Entrepreneurship. 2004. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1081265383.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Srivastva, Alka. "In Search of Noble Organizing: A Study in Social Entrepreneurship." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2004. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1081265383

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

case1081265383
4,387
© 2004, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies and OhioLINK.