Blog

An autumnal update on our leadership research

The Centre for Voluntary Sector Leadership provides an update on their work to date, including, their involvement in the Voluntary Sector and Volunteering Research Conference 2017, their production of a series of blogs and details of two literature reviews completed by the team.

20th October 2017

What are we up to? Updates on our research projects

Dr James Rees is the former Director of the Centre for Voluntary Sector Leadership in The Open University Business School. In this blog, he reflects on the current successes of the Centre for Voluntary Sector Leadership, highlighting four key projects that he and the team are involved with.

13th September 2017

Leadership from the top, bottom, and across the table

This blog is written by Dr Carol Jacklin-Jarvis, Director of the Centre for Voluntary Sector Leadership in the Faculty of Business and Law at The Open University. Here, she blogs about the importance of collaborative leadership for the voluntary sector.

22nd August 2017

Celebrating diverse leadership

The recent Small Charity Week and Refugee Week has inspired Dr Vita Terry, a PhD student associated with the Centre for Voluntary Sector Leadership, to think about refugee community organisations (RCOs) and the important role they play within society. Read her blog here.

23rd July 2017

Is there a need to rethink leadership for the voluntary sector?

'Government now appears, frankly, to be sclerotic and disengaged. That's not to say it doesn't remain an important stakeholder with some key functions, but what does it mean for the sector if it cannot or will not take a real lead?' This blog is written by Dr James Rees, former Director of the Centre for Voluntary Sector Leadership.

6th July 2017

The voluntary sector can learn from the theory of collaborative advantage

If you want to collaborate with another organisation, it pays to understand why some partnerships don't work, writes Professor Siv Vangen, Director of the Centre for Voluntary Sector Leadership at The Open University Business School. Read her blog here.

1st June 2017

Is leadership different in voluntary organisations, and if so why?

This question is often at the heart of many lively discussions here at the Centre for Voluntary Sector Leadership. However, Carol Jacklin-Jarvis's reading about the relationship between leadership and context, and reflections on recent research interviews, is leading her to ask a slightly different question.

10th May 2017

Austerity and public sector cuts undermines trust in the voluntary sector

Research conducted by The Open University Business School’s Centre for Voluntary Sector Leadership shows that the public trust in smaller charities far exceeds that of their larger counterparts. This blog is written by Dr James Rees, the former Director of the Centre for Voluntary Sector Leadership.

14th November 2016

Researching leadership in cross sector collaborations

Daniel Haslam is a new PhD student in the Centre for Voluntary Sector Leadership. In this blog, he introduces his research into voluntary sector leadership in the context of cross-sector collaborations, which focuses on the emerging NHS multispecialty community providers.

4th October 2016

To collaborate or not to collaborate?

'The question for many leaders is: how far are we willing to compromise, what kind of trade-offs are reasonable, and when does collaboration simply threaten our identity too significantly to be worth the potential benefits?' This blog is third in a series written by Dr Carol Jacklin-Jarvis. Here, she discusses the dilemmas of leading across boundaries.

1st September 2016