Person-Centered Leadership for Nonprofit Organizations

In Person-Centered Leadership for Nonprofit Organizations: Management that Works in High Pressure Systems, authors Jeanne Plas and Susan Lewis argue that nonprofit managers are prime candidates for professional "burnout" as they encounter obstacles that are seemingly insurmountable:challenging goals, needy clientele, and inadequate budgets and facilities. Part One of the book discusses the application of participatory management practices in the nonprofit setting. The authors focus on the possibilities of person-centered leadership, a form of participatory management where "regard for the employee is as deep as the regard for the client, service, and product strategies for nonprofit organizations." In Part Two, the authors present the results of their five-year longitudinal study of the social service agency, Oasis Center, established thirty years ago as a haven for troubled youth. With their rich experience as researchers in nonprofit management at Vanderbilt University and as practitioners in nonprofit organizations, Plas and Lewis successfully incorporate theory and practice in a way that is both practical and relevant to nonprofit professionals.