Serving the Vulnerable While Being Vulnerable: Organizing Resilience in a Social Welfare Sector

2021 ◽  
pp. 089976402110139
Author(s):  
Minkyung Kim ◽  
Melanie Kwestel ◽  
Hyunsook Youn ◽  
Justine Quow ◽  
Marya L. Doerfel
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
Disaster Relief ◽  
Community Resilience ◽  
Informal Networks ◽  
Process Orientation ◽  
Hybrid Organizing ◽  
Relief Efforts

The interplay between formal organizing structures and the informal social networks of employees and organizations furthers the resilience of nonprofit organizations that serve the community. This case study draws on qualitative multi-pronged data collected in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey from two faith networks of social welfare organizations serving the vulnerable in Houston, Texas. Results show that hybrid organizing of formal structures and informal networks contributes to organizational and community resilience. By examining both forms of organizing, this article shows how formal structures offer foundational support to the more informal and nimble social networks across the interorganizational partnerships that support the community. As such, this study extends the process orientation toward resilience by documenting how individuals, organizations, and networks expand organizational internal capacities through disaster relief efforts enacted across levels (employee–organization–community).

scholarly journals Collaboration Mechanisms of Taiwan Nonprofit Organizations in Disaster Relief Efforts: Drawing Lessons from the Wenchuan Earthquake and Typhoon Morakot

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 4328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei-Ning Wu ◽  
Ssu-Ming Chang
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Management ◽  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
Wenchuan Earthquake ◽  
Resource Sharing ◽  
Disaster Relief ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Typhoon Morakot ◽  
2008 Wenchuan Earthquake ◽  
Disaster Relief Operations ◽  
Relief Efforts

Participation of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) is important in emergency management because NPOs often work in conjunction with governments to offer assistance and resources in the emergency management process. NPO participation in disaster relief efforts is a valuable experience for public officials and practitioners, but research investigating NPOs’ experiences in disaster relief efforts is limited. This study examines Taiwan’s NPO collaboration mechanisms during disaster relief efforts and specifically examines the lessons drawn from two major catastrophes by focusing on the opinions of NPO managers in the 88 Flooding Service Alliance who joined the disaster relief operation for the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake in China and 2009 Typhoon Morakot in Taiwan. The vital strategies and factors that contributed to successful NPO collaborations in disaster relief operations were determined through a survey on NPOs’ strategies for resource sharing and service integration and semi-structured interviews with 19 NPO managers. The findings indicate that NPO engagement in disaster services was crucial for the relief efforts of the two disaster events, and that long-term disaster service alliances are effective mechanisms for emergency collaboration in relief work.

Mobility and Immobility in a Transnational Context: Changing Views of Migration among the Kazakh Diaspora in Mongolia

2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Werner ◽  
Holly R. Barcus
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Transnational Migration ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Kazakh Population ◽  
Methodological Approaches

Inquiry into the causes and outcomes of transnational migration spans numerous disciplines, scales and methodological approaches.  Fewer studies focus on immobility.  Utilizing the Kazakh population of Mongolia as a case study, this paper considers how non-migrants view the economic and cultural costs of migrating.  We posit that three factors, including local place attachments specific to Mongolia, access to information about life in Kazakhstan and the importance of maintaining social networks in Mongolia, contribute substantially to their decision to not migrate. Our findings suggest that the decision to not migrate can be very strategic for non-migrants in highly transnational contexts.  

Applications of random graphs

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.C.C. Coolen ◽  
A. Annibale ◽  
E.S. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Random Graphs ◽  
Interaction Network ◽  
Power Grids ◽  
Protein Protein Interaction ◽  
Topological Features ◽  
First Case ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Protein Protein Interaction Network

This chapter reviews graph generation techniques in the context of applications. The first case study is power grids, where proposed strategies to prevent blackouts have been tested on tailored random graphs. The second case study is in social networks. Applications of random graphs to social networks are extremely wide ranging – the particular aspect looked at here is modelling the spread of disease on a social network – and how a particular construction based on projecting from a bipartite graph successfully captures some of the clustering observed in real social networks. The third case study is on null models of food webs, discussing the specific constraints relevant to this application, and the topological features which may contribute to the stability of an ecosystem. The final case study is taken from molecular biology, discussing the importance of unbiased graph sampling when considering if motifs are over-represented in a protein–protein interaction network.

Case study 2

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewan Ferlie ◽  
Sue Dopson ◽  
Chris Bennett ◽  
Michael D. Fischer ◽  
Jean Ledger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Think Tanks ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
Informal Networks ◽  
Think Tank ◽  
Significant Potential ◽  
Key Stakeholders

This chapter analyses the role of think tanks in generating a distinctive mode of policy knowledge, pragmatically orientated to inform and shape issues of importance to civil society. Drawing on political science literature, we argue that think tanks exploit niche areas of expertise and influence to actively mobilize policy analyses and recommendations across diverse stakeholders. Through our exploratory mapping of think tanks, geographically concentrated within London, we characterize their influence as significantly boosting knowledge intensity across the regional ecosystem. In particular, we study the empirical case of one London-based think tank which powerfully mobilized policy knowledge through its formal and informal networks to build influential expert consensus amongst key stakeholders. We conclude that such organizations act as key knowledge producers and mobilizers, with significant potential to influence policy discourses and implementation.

MapTap and Cornelia Slow Digital Art History and Formal Art Historical Social Network Research

2016 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koenraad Brosens ◽  
Klara Alen ◽  
Astrid Slegten ◽  
Fred Truyen
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Data Model ◽  
Art History ◽  
Digital Art ◽  
Unique Data ◽  
Network Research ◽  
Custom Made

Abstract The essay introduces MapTap, a research project that zooms in on the ever-changing social networks underpinning Flemish tapestry (1620 – 1720). MapTap develops the young and still slightly amorphous field of Formal Art Historical Social Network Research (FAHSNR) and is fueled by Cornelia, a custom-made database. Cornelia’s unique data model allows researchers to organize attribution and relational data from a wide array of sources in such a way that the complex multiplex and multimode networks emerging from the data can be transformed into partial unimode networks that enable proper FAHSNR. A case study revealing the key roles played by women in the tapestry landscape shows how this kind of slow digital art history can further our understanding of early modern creative communities and industries.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document