The Entrepreneurial Context of Nonprofit Manager Assessment: Comparative Case Study

Summary

Abstract

There has been a strong debate in the last years about entrepreneurship and the competencies that each person should demonstrate in order to be a successful entrepreneur, successful and effective employee as well as successful manager. The new economic reality, which among others can be described as remaining under the influencing power of globalisation, makes the management processes more global-oriented. This is also the reason of more internationally-oriented organisations, which do not necessarily operate in a for-profit way, but also not-for-profit. Therefore, it becomes increasingly important to discuss the role of a manager in such international organisations and especially non-profit ones. Still, it also becomes important to discover the personal characteristics of such managers, especially taking into account the entrepreneurial dimension. The text presents an introductory analysis of two case studies which describe two European student organisations. Special attention is put on the concept of work assessment of managers of such specific entities.

Keywords: manager assessment, managerial competences, student organisations, AIESEC, AEGEE

Introduction

Several theories and approaches were used to explain the entrepreneurial phenomenon. These theories and approaches are related to personal characteristics, attitudes, environmental and economic factors and also relate to the degree of entrepreneurial culture that a society promotes as well as to the personal cognitive state during the decision-making process. Certainly most of the supported theories converge to the opinion that an entrepreneur should demonstrate several qualifications, which according to European Qualification Framework should be described in terms of three types of learning outcomes such as a) knowledge, b) skills and c) wider competencies.

Knowledge is the facts, feelings or experiences known by a person and means the outcome of the assimilation of information through learning and is the body of facts, principles, theories and practices that is related to a field of study or work such as entrepreneurship. Concerning skills in the European Qualification Framework working document that are defined as the knowledge and experience needed to perform a specific task or job and the personal ability to apply knowledge, to use know-how to complete tasks and solve problems. Additionally, it is supported that the definition of skills is used for a specific level of performance, while Proctor and Dutta define skills as the targeted and well-organised behaviour and the required knowledge and experience for the execution of a specific task or project.