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DOI 10.1007/s11266-015-9672-1
BOOK REVIEW
David Lewis: Non-Governmental Organizations,
Management and Development, 3rd edn
Routledge, London, 2014, 315 pp., £39.99 (paperback), £90.00
(hardback)
Willem Elbers1
Ó International Society for Third-Sector Research and The Johns Hopkins University 2016
In 2001 David Lewis, currently Professor of Social Policy and Development at the
London School of Economics and Political Science, published ‘The management of
Non-Governmental Development Organizations’. At the time, it was the first
academic book providing in-depth coverage of the field of NGO management. Since
then numerous changes have occurred in the global context of international
development and new challenges have emerged for NGOs, underlining the
continued importance of the topic. Similar to previous versions of the book, the
third edition, retitled ‘Non-Governmental Organizations, Management and Development’, is about NGOs working in the field of development—as opposed to those
working primarily in humanitarian or emergency relief. Drawing upon an extensive
body of literature, Lewis provides an introduction to the issues and debates that are
key to NGO operations.
The book consists of three parts: The first part identifies and examines the
different ways in which NGO management has been conceptualized in the past
decades. Here the book introduces a conceptual framework for understanding NGO
management, focusing on NGOs’ internal organization, their activities and their
relationships—all within the context of the organizational environment. Part two
examines various theoretical perspectives on NGO management against the
background of development work. It sets out to understand why NGOs have come
to be regarded as key actors in development and identifies a variety of approaches
that can be used to understand their management challenges. The third part is
concerned with the practical side of NGO management, examining the different
dimensions of the conceptual framework in greater depth. The book ends with a
Book review editor: Silvia Ferreira.
& Willem Elbers
w.elbers@maw.ru.nl
1
Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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reflection upon its conceptual framework and some thoughts upon the future of
NGO management.
In his book, Lewis argues that there can be no single approach to understanding
the management performance of NGOs. He identifies three main schools of thought
for understanding the management of NGOs: a general management view (NGOs
can draw upon generic management thinking), an adaptive view (generic
management should be adapted to NGOs), and a distinctive view (NGOs’ unique
characteristics require unique management solutions). As all three make potentially
important contributions but also have limitations, Lewis makes the case for a
‘composite’ model for understanding NGO management.
While the overall approach and focus of the book have stayed the same compared
to the previous (second) edition, the new edition has been expanded and revised in
numerous ways. Three changes stand out. First, Lewis has made the book up to date:
new research has been included and many new references and examples have been
added. Furthermore, the (potential) implications of recent changes in the global
context of international development for NGOs are discussed, such as the rise of
BRIC countries and the post-2015 development agenda. Second, most existing
chapters have been restructured while new chapters have been added. The new
book, for example, pays more attention to different theoretical perspectives relevant
to NGO management. Third, the new edition has done away with the textbooktemplate introduced in the second edition, which included learning objectives and
key terms in the beginning of each chapter and review questions at the end. To this
reviewer, this is a welcome change as the previous textbook style unjustly gave the
impression that the book was targeted at students only.
Lewis uses a broad definition of NGOs throughout the book which includes both
national and international organizations and those from industrialized and development countries. While this choice makes sense for an ‘introduction to NGO
management,’ the text sometimes fails to differentiate between different types of
NGOs. This lack of precision is relevant because different types of development
NGOs face different management challenges as they operate in different contexts
and do different things. To this reviewer, more attention to the specific management
challenges associated with different types of NGOs would have been helpful.
Overall, the book succeeds as a comprehensive and accessible introduction NGO
management. Lewis skilfully presents an overall picture of the key debates
regarding NGO management and disentangles the various positions in, and
perspectives on, these debates. The conceptual framework offered for understanding
NGO management is useful and balanced. Although the book contains many
practical examples, the emphasis on clarifying the key issues and providing
concepts for analysis means that the book is above all interesting for an academic
audience. This is also what sets the book apart from other recent books on NGO
management such as those of Ronalds (2010) and Crowley and Ryan (2013), and the
edited volume of Fowler and Malunga (2010) which seek to offer management
advice and target NGO managers. ‘Non-Governmental Organizations, Management
and Development’ is an excellent starting point for students researching and
studying NGOs while also being a useful reference guide to those more familiar
with the world of development NGOs.
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References
Crowey, J., & Ryan, M. (2013). Building a better international NGO: Greater than the sum of its parts.
Bloomfield: Kumarian Press.
Fowler, A., & Malunga, C. (Eds.). (2010). NGO management: The Earthscan companion. London:
Earthscan.
Ronalds, P. (2010). The change imperative: Creating a next generation NGO. Bloomfield: Kumarian
Press.
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