Culture and change in nonprofit boards

Abstract

Abstract The actions of boards, like all organizational behaviors, emerge from board culture, which is composed of members' customary practices, shared beliefs, and assumptions about reality. It is a board's culture that enables its participants to deal with ambiguity and complexity by providing familiar meanings and solutions to problems. Board development efforts that do not take these factors directly into account are likely to produce only superficial and short‐term changes. This article presents alternative approaches to board development, using two levels of learning drawn from examinations of board cultures.