Dissertation Proposal Defense by Maria Trias

Dissertation Proposal Defense by Maria Trias

Date and Time

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

This event occurred in the past

  • Tuesday, April 19, 2016 at 1:00 p.m.

Location

Mother Rosalie Hill Hall, 147

5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110

Cost

Free*

Sponsor(s)

Details

EXPLORING THE CULTURE OF INNER WORK IN SOCIAL CHANGE NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

By Maria Trias

Committee

Zachary Gabriel Green, PhD, Chair
Theresa Monroe, EdD, Member
Hans Peter Schmitz, PhD, Member

ABSTRACT

     Inner work, defined as the active engagement in intentional practice(s) that support enhanced awareness, reflection, and deliberate action, has the potential to uncover unexamined assumptions that often have us inadvertently perpetuating the status quo. Put simply, inner work may play an important role towards inner development, both at the individual and collective levels, while unleashing generative energy to co-construct a different social reality. As social challenges grow bigger and more complex and solutions do not seem to measure up, a growing number of pioneering experts across a diverse array of disciplines are advocating for the integration of inner development and social change. The field is replete with lay and theoretical academic literature, but empirical research is very limited and mostly focuses on exemplar individuals. In short, there are few insights into the integration of inner and social transformation in an organizational context.
     The purpose of this study is to address this gap in the literature by exploring the phenomenon of inner work as integrated into the daily work of social change oriented nonprofit organizations. A multiple case study design composed of three in-depth holistic case studies will provide different schemata as to what the practice of inner work in these organizational settings could look like. Organizations will be selected by a combination of convenience and purposeful sampling. Adapted ethnographic and portraiture approaches will be used to collect and analyze the data as well as to glean themes about the organizational cultures.
     The findings of this study can contribute to literature on nonprofits, social change and social movements, organizational culture and leadership, and integral studies. Additionally, this study holds the potential to provide a counter narrative in nonprofit organizational praxis, potentially illuminating alternative approaches to the advancement of their mission. The present study may also offer insights that inform nonprofit organizational and leadership practice, as well as educational programs seeking to prepare social change leaders. Lastly, this study can contribute to the consideration of portraiture methods in nonprofit scholarship as a means of exploring transformative aims.

*Free to current USD Graduate Students, Faculty and Staff