An ESRC Research Programme
An ESRC Research Programme |
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Information and Communication Technologies:
Reshaping the Voluntary Sector in the Information Age?
A report by Dr Eleanor Burt
and Professor John Taylor
Centre for the Study of Telematics and Governance [CSTAG]
Glasgow Caledonian University
Hard copies of the report are available from
Dr Eleanor Burt
Centre for the Study of Telematics and Governance
Department of Management
Glasgow Caledonian University
Cowaddens Road
Glasgow G4 0BA
Price £20
Information and Communication Technologies:
Reshaping the Voluntary Sector in the Information Age?
Contents
Page
| Foreword | 3 |
| Report Summary | 4 |
| Selected highlights from the research | 5 |
| Preface | 6 |
| The rise of the information society | 6 |
| The significance of information and communication technologies | 6 |
| Part one - ICTs: Their significance for managers in the information society | 8 |
| Management and organisation in the information society | 8 |
| The voluntary sector in the information society | 9 |
| Part two - Mapping the uptake and application of ICTs in voluntary organisations. The evidence. | 11 |
| Is the sector wiring up? | 11 |
| Mapping the technology uptake | 11 |
| How is the sector supplied? | 14 |
| Who supplies the sector? | 16 |
| How are ICTs supporting the sector? | 16 |
| Evaluating the significance of ICTs | 23 |
| Part three - Exploring the data further. How important are development staff, income, field and type of activity? | 25 |
| Do development staff make a difference? | 25 |
| Does income make a difference? | 29 |
| Do field and type of activity make a difference? | 32 |
| Annex one | 34 |
| The Virtual Society? Programme | |
| Annex two | 35 |
| Research methodology | |
| Annex three | 38 |
| Survey response rate | |
| Bibliography | 39 |
Acknowledgements
This report would not have possible without the support of the ESRC, or its Virtual Society? Programme [Research award number L13221030].
Nor would it have been possible without the support of everyone who took the time to complete our very detailed questionnaire.
Thank you.
Dr Eleanor Burt
Research Fellow
Centre for the Study of Telematics and Governance [CSTAG]
Glasgow Caledonian University
Professor John Taylor
Dean – Faculty of Business
Director - Centre for the Study of Telematics and Governance [CSTAG]
Glasgow Caledonian University
Published 1999
Foreword
Information and communication technologies [ICTs] have significant implications for the practice of voluntary sector management. They suggest that the intrinsic value of information should be exploited to its optimum by managers within the sector. Fundamental to this is the necessity to understand the potential of information and communication technologies to re-shape or reinforce key information flows in and around voluntary organisations, and to exploit this capability in pursuit of the organisation’s mission and its strategic and business objectives.
This report is the product of a first, exploratory attempt to map the uptake and application of ICTs across a sample of UK voluntary organisations whose incomes range from £250,000 to over £11 million. It seeks both to stimulate ideas and debate regarding the application of ICTs within voluntary organisations, and to provide initial benchmarks for managers of voluntary organisations and others associated with the sector.
Report Summary
Selected highlights from the research
Preface
The rise of the information society
The late twentieth century has seen significant and far reaching advances in the development and application of information and communication technologies [ICTs] [Dutton, 1996]. From the ubiquitous chip, to microwave and satellite technologies, ICTs permeate all aspects of life, work, and society. Installed in everything from retail check-outs and library service points, to surveillance cameras, aeroplane flight systems, and national defence systems, they have become an integral part of modern life. While the significance of ICTs is broadly acknowledged, debates continue about the implications of these developments for individual citizens as well as wider society. ICTs, it seems, are a double edged sword, promising new freedoms and new controls, social integration and social exclusion, unlimited access to information and information overload. Crucially, though, it is not the technologies which determine the direction and shape of these and other outcomes. Instead, outcomes are shaped by contemporary economic and political forces in interplay with the social and historical contexts within which ICTs are embedded – in interaction with the technologies themselves. It is the processes and outcomes of this complex interplay which shape technological development. More significantly, however, they shape the information flows which are commodity and currency within the emerging ‘information society’ – and around which it organises and is evolving. Within the broader contemporary and historical backcloth of the information society, and within the context of evolving technological capabilities and constraints, ICTs facilitate the re-shaping, or reinforcement of existing information flows.
The significance of ICTs
The pervasive and convergent natures of ICTs are significant features of the technologies, facilitating and encouraging the development of information and communication networks on a grand scale. Indeed, such is the scale and significance of the networking which they permit that the technologies bring a networking imperative to society and organisation [Castells, 1996]. In an increasingly ‘wired’ world, electronic connectedness [Mulgan, 1997] becomes essential. From individual citizens, to organisations and governments, those who do not embrace ICTs risk exclusion from key information flows with concomitant implications in terms of social, economic, and political exclusion and disadvantage. In the information society it is both cliché and truism that information empowers those who have access to it.
Part one – ICTs: their significance for managers in the information society
Management and organisation in the information society
ICTs are ubiquitous technologies holding the potential for widespread exploitation across the public, private, and voluntary sectors. They are also convergent technologies, lending themselves increasingly to streamlined information processing and communication within and between organisations and sectors. Taken together, these features both facilitate and at the same time encourage organisations to network electronically, making connectedness crucial to the achievement of mission, strategy and business objectives.
Electronic networking allows the innovative potential of ICTs to be exploited, including their capacity to support flexible forms of organisational and business relationships. Key, here, is the scale and sophistication of the information made available to managers supported by the potential of the technologies themselves [Castells, 1996]. ICTs allow managers to interrogate information systems in new ways, to integrate across their organisation information that was previously unconnected, to ask new questions about their organisation and its relationship with clients, members, supporters, partners and competitors. In the process they achieve insights previously denied. Able to facilitate innovation across all aspects of the organisation’s business and business relationships, the capacity of ICTs both to enable and support functional, spatial, and temporal flexibilities is fundamental [Dutton, 1999]. New forms of organisation in which functional boundaries are dissolved or transformed, or which allow functions to be geographically re-located, can become the norm, bringing with them significant strategic benefits for the organisations which embrace them. Cross-functional teams provide one example of the way in which ICTs can integrate previously independent units, eroding departmental boundaries in the process. Electronic Data Interchange [EDI] provides another example of the way in which organisational boundaries and management structures may be transformed by ICTs as production costs, risks and responsibilities are shifted to external contractors. The growth, both of teleworking and call centres, provides further examples of the flexibilities which have become commonplace within the private sector as production and services are no longer tied to locality. Relatively basic technologies, such as email, document management systems and websites can bring a number of advantages to those who use them. Time zones are dissolved, as email makes round-the-clock communication possible. Document management systems permit papers to be accessed and worked on by authorised personnel even when colleagues are absent from the office, enabling management tasks, administrative activities, and service provision to proceed timeously and without interruption. Websites, meanwhile, allow customers to access information about services or to place orders for products outwith normal office hours. By facilitating management learning and organisational innovation ICTs can contribute to competitive positioning, and, ultimately, therefore to the achievement of mission, strategic and business objectives. However, just as their contribution to wider society is mediated by the interplay of economic, political and social forces in interplay with technological developments and historical context, so, too, their contribution to a business mission and objectives is shaped by forces in and around the organisation itself. ICTs will not automatically bestow strategic advantage [Dutton, 1999]. The extent to which they facilitate innovation and strategic positioning will depend on a number of factors, specific to the organisations themselves, to the environments in which they operate, and to the networks of which they are a part. The vision and the political will of senior management to initiate and sustain requisite organisational change will be crucial within a context in which deeply rooted [and cherished] values, and autonomies, are threatened. In a different setting, the extent to which the technologies are shaped around, and designed to enhance rather than to challenge those same values and autonomies will be pivotal [Christiaanse, and Huigen, 1997]. The formulae underpinning effective adoption and application of ICTs are as diverse as the organisations themselves.The voluntary sector in the information society
The voluntary sector contributes to the nation’s economic performance, to the political health and direction of the nation, and to the quality of life of the nation’s citizenry. The economic significance of general charities has been variably estimated at between 0.67% and 4.8% of GDP [Office of National Statistics in Hems and Passey, p. vii 1998; Salamon and Anheier, p.85. 1994], with gross income and assets estimated to be £13.1 billion and £39.8 billion respectively [Hems and Passey, p. vii 1998]. Less easy to measure, but also significant is the voluntary sector’s contribution to political and social life in a spectrum of activities ranging from policy monitoring, evaluation, and deliberation, to policy implementation, representation and advice [The Deakin Report, 1996; Ferris, 1998]. Also difficult to quantify, but of fundamental importance across the voluntary sector is the value of information – and, moreover, the value to the sector of ICTs themselves. The voluntary sector, in all its guises, is an ‘information intensive industry’ [IT and Communities Working Party, 1992; Deacon and Golding, 1991]. Across the diversity of organisations which characterise the voluntary sector, from local soup kitchens to national charities for the homeless and international aid agencies, information is continually being gathered, processed, and disseminated. As the sector engages with the information society – its complex networks, its customer focus, its emphasis on service quality, and its increasingly competitive nature – the capability of voluntary organisations, not just to move information around existing channels, but actively to exploit information flows and to innovate around these, becomes crucial.
We now turn to the data that has been gathered in our own research.
Part two – Mapping the uptake and application of ICTs in voluntary organisations. The evidence.
Is the sector wiring up?
The research confirms the spread of computer networking in all its forms, with 366 [83.6%] respondents currently using some form of computer networking, while a further 24 [5.5%] intend to adopt networked technologies within five years. At a prima facie level this suggests high levels of connectedness within the sample organisations. However, closer examination of both the uptake of networking technologies and their application within organisations suggests a different picture. Here, the evidence reveals lower levels of uptake of core networking technologies such as external and internal email, portable computing, intranets and extranets, as well as significant disparity in their application to key business activities. While the trend across the next five years points to increasing adoption of key technologies, their integration with core business activities remains low. Clearly, significant portions of the voluntary sector are failing to exploit the informational potential of ICTs. Mapping technology uptakeData was gathered across a range of ICTs comprising telephony, basic computing technologies, and electronic networking.
Telephony
The majority of organisations combine desktop and portable computing. Around 2% use portable computing exclusively. The declining number of organisations intending to use desktop computing, in juxtaposition with the rising number of organisations planning to use portable technologies, may indicate growing preference for exclusive use of portable technology.
Electronic networking
Figure 1. Other networking technologies
What proportion of PCs are networked?
The proportion of networked PCs is variable across the organisations. Around a third of organisations have ninety-six per cent or more of their PCs networked, while just over twelve per cent have somewhere between seventy-six per cent and ninety-five per cent networked. While the trend is towards more organisations with increased network capacity, in terms of the proportion of PCs networked, care is needed in interpreting this data. The autonomous branch structure found in many voluntary organisations means that branches and other satellites may have no PC capability. Thus, a network capacity of ninety-six per cent relative to the number of PCs in existence may conceal significant variations in network capability within organisations. At best, it signals that network capacity is spread across the ninety-six component elements comprising Head Office, branches, and other satellites. At worst, the networking capability is entirely concentrated within the Head Office.
Table 1. Proportion of networked PCs
| No response 25% or less networked 25-50% networked 51-75% networked 76-95% networked 96-100% networked |
Current 15.6% 12.6% 15% 8.7% 12.8% 35.2% |
Planned 7.7% 6.3% 5.7% 7.4% 13.7% 59.3% |
| Sample size = 366 organisations 'No response' signifies that the organisation did not respond to the question |
Hardware procurement
Hardware requirements are also met through purchase, leasing, and donation. While purchase remains the favoured method, a drop of three per cent is anticipated in the number of organisations using this method over the next few years. The number of organisations planning to lease hardware is predicted to rise by around three per cent in the same period, and growth of approximately one per cent is anticipated in terms of organisations obtaining hardware by donation.
Figure 3. Hardware procurement methods
Who supplies the sector?
Software
Organisations were asked about their main software suppliers. Around 77% use Microsoft products. The remainder disperse their software requirements across a diverse range of suppliers, of which Apple [7.1%], Sage[ 5.5%], and Novell [5.2%] predominate. Across the next five years, the number of organisations employing Sage software is expected to grow by around half a per cent. The data indicate a decline of between four per cent and one per cent in the number of organisations using Microsoft, Apple and Novell software over the same period.
Hardware
Dell supplies the hardware requirements of around 17% of the organisations, while IBM technology is used by 10.4%, Compaq by 10.3%, and Apple by 10.1%. The remainder spread their computing requirements across a wide range of suppliers. Around 12% of organisations do not know which make they will be using in the next few years.
How are ICTs supporting the sector?
Voluntary organisations engage in a range of business activities in pursuit of their core mission. These are encapsulated here within the broad headings internal governance, management learning, and strategic and operational management.
Internal governance
ICTs have the potential to transform internal governance in a sector in which time and space are not conducive to sustained communication between governing boards, executive staff, and grassroots members. Remote communication could compliment existing media, enhancing the scope, type, and quality of communication between key stakeholders. Evidence from the research suggests that the sector is not exploiting the opportunities available, and that it is unlikely to do so in the near future. Fewer than thirty five per cent of organisations use ICTs to provide information to stakeholders. Around seven per cent provide electronic discussion forums or similar electronic mechanisms through which stakeholders can communicate, engage in discussion, and debate policy or other issues. Fewer than three per cent enable stakeholders to participate in the internal policy process using mechanisms such as electronic voting.
Figure 4. Internal governance
| Getting behind the
statistics Some organisations are using electronic networking to support governance by:
|
Management learning
Structured managerial learning applications such as Executive Information Systems, Decision Support Systems, and Geographical Information Systems are used by relatively few organisations. These figures are off-set by the slightly higher number of organisations stating that networking technologies provide enhanced executive information [34.2%] together with the higher number who state that ICTs improve the effectiveness of strategic management [55.2%]. This suggests that some managers may be using less formal methods of information processing, that nonetheless draw on the information resources that derive from new information systems.
Figure 5. Management learning
Getting behind the statisticsWhat some participants say about the role
of ICTs in management learning:
|
Strategic and operational capabilities
Organisations were asked how ICTs support their strategic and operational activities. While the extent to which the technologies support these activities indicates that ICTs are largely under-exploited, there are signs that some organisations are beginning to innovate around electronic networking. Care needs to be taken in judging the degree to which innovation is occurring, however. What is exotic, radical and innovative to one organisation may appear passé to another. Moreover, survey based research does not lend itself to understanding the deep qualitative shockwaves and shifts which even the introduction of a relatively ‘mundane’ technology, such as internal email, may induce within some voluntary organisations.
Here we look at some of the ways in which ICTs support strategic and operational activities in voluntary organisations, ranging from the geographical relocation of work, to customer services, inter agency liaison, and administration.
The geographical re-location of work.
Electronic networking facilitates the re-shaping of departmental and sectional boundaries around key information flows, supporting improvements in working practices within and across organisations. It permits, too, the spatial re-location of offices, departments, and other units with concomitant benefits in cost-savings, customer access, and service flexibility. In volunteer run organisations, home working may have particular benefits, permitting degrees of flexibility previously impossible in terms of both location and hours of work.
Clearly, a number of organisations are exploiting the opportunities which ICTs afford to re-shape organisational boundaries across space, time, and functionality. Moreover, the data reveal that increasing numbers of organisations intend to exploit this potential within the next few years.
Table 6. Re-locating work
| Geographical re-location of functions Functional boundaries dissolved/transformed Remote working-home |
Current 13.4% 19.9% 35.2% |
Planned 26.5% 34.2% 61.5% |
| Sample size = 366 Numbers will not add to 100% as: a) organisations may use one or more electronic applications b) the responses grouped together here are drawn from different elements of the questionaire |
| Getting behind the
statistics In some organisations ICTs facilitate the re-organisation of work by:
|
Customer services
ICTs provide voluntary organisations with opportunities to compliment and improve the services which they offer to customers. From information services, to befriending services, or the submission of grants applications, a range of opportunities exists. Call Centres and websites can provide ‘one stop shops’ for members, supporters, or others unsure who they need to speak to, or what services are available. While some services may not have application across the range of fields and types of activity encapsulated within the voluntary sector [mutual support groups, for example], others undoubtedly have wider relevance.
| Getting behind the statistics Organisations have indicated that ICTs enhance customer services in the following ways:
|
Inter agency networking
Effective service planning and service delivery requires liaison and communication across a network of suppliers, service providers, purchasing agencies, and other associated agencies. Here, too, ICTs have the capacity to support organisational requirements. However, just seven per cent of organisations employ ICTs in inter-agency data exchange. A similar percentage engages in electronic liaison with partner organisations. Fewer than three per cent administer or conduct inter-agency meetings electronically.
Table 2. Communicating with partners
| Inter agency data exchange Inter agency liaison Inter agency |
Current 7.1% 7.1% 2.2% |
Planned 17.8% 17.2% 12.8% |
| Sample size = 366 organisations Numbers will not add to 100% as: a) organisations may use one or more electronic applications b) the organisations grouped together here are drawn from different elements of the questionnaire |
ICTs in administration
Used effectively, ICTs can produce administrative savings, reducing paper costs, cutting transaction times, and lowering overall communication costs. Within the public sector ICTs typically gained their organisational toe-hold within the finance and accountancy departments. It is, perhaps, not surprising to find this stronghold, too, within the voluntary sector. Around eighty-four per cent of voluntary organisations employ computer systems in support of financial management. The findings point to significant under-exploitation of the technologies’ potential in other key areas such as electronic document handling, electronic liaison [for example, with partner organisations involved in aspects of service delivery, development, or evaluation], or electronic transactions [such as client referrals, course or conference bookings]. In another core area, the administration of human resources, just twenty-one per cent of voluntary organisations employ computer support.
Figure 7. Administration
Evaluating the significance of ICTs
Organisations were asked to indicate the perceived benefits of ICTs in relation to a number of activities ranging in scope from strategic management, to service delivery, and administration. Considerable variation is evident with regard to the perceived significance of the technologies across the span of activities. The technologies’ greatest contributions are judged to lie in enhancing administrative activities, and improving performance and operational management. While disappointing, lower evaluations in areas such as strategic management, internal governance, and representation may reflect lack of awareness of the potential of ICTs to enhance these activities. Equally, managers may be aware of the wider potential, but lack the resources [for instance, qualified staff, technological infrastructure, or organisational commitment] to exploit it.
Part three – Exploring the data further. How important are development staff, income, field and type of activity?
In this section the data are explored further by reference to a number of key variables. First, we ask whether there is any correlation between the employment of development staff within voluntary organisations and the uptake and application of ICTs. Secondly, we ask whether size of income has any relationship with technology uptake and application. We also ask whether the fields or types of activity in which organisations are engaged show any correspondence with the behaviour of the organisations.
In examining these relationships, and in presenting the findings of the research, we are not implying that particular variables can be expected to cause, or do cause, particular effects. It would be entirely wrong, and misleading, to imply that the existence of variable ‘x’ determines outcome ‘ y’. It is our intention only to explore and to present ‘associations’ between variables. Judgements as to the precise nature of the relationship between, for instance, the employment of development staff and the use of intranets, require more substantive understanding of individual organisational contexts than is possible in survey analysis.
In highlighting potential as well as apparent associations, we provide a starting point from which further, more in-depth research and analysis can proceed.
Do development staff make a difference?Around fifty-five per cent of the organisations surveyed employ one or more [part-time or full-time] IT development staff. The data indicate that where IT development staff are employed, organisations tend to demonstrate stronger uptake of technologies and applications.
Perceptions of the significance of ICTs are also higher among organisations employing IT development staff. This is almost certainly due to the technologies having a greater impact within these organisations and the familiarity with IT visions of those technical staff. Equally, having IT development staff within the organisation may heighten awareness of the technologies’ impact, leading to more explicit articulation of their significance.
The relatively high number of organisations employing IT development staff, combined with the apparent relationship between these employees and higher levels of technology exploitation, raises deeper issues about the comparatively low level of uptake relative to potential uptake across this group. If we accept that having IT development staff in post does make a difference in some cases, what are the contextual factors which permit this difference in some instances and which inhibit it in others?
Looking at technology uptake
Turning to applications
Internal governance
While the application of ICTs within the internal governance process is generally low, organisations with IT development staff performed better than those without IT development staff. The number of organisations providing electronic information to stakeholders in internal governance was around nine per cent higher in those with IT development staff. Electronic communication with stakeholders was almost five per cent higher in organisations employing IT development staff, than in those without. The opportunity to participate in decision making [for instance, through membership of electronic policy fora or by electronic voting] was also higher, albeit less markedly so, in organisations having IT development staff.
Table 3. Internal governance
| Information provision Communication Particpation in decision making |
IT development staff 38.7% 9.8% 2.9% |
No IT development staff 29.6% 4.9% 1.9% |
| Sample size = 366 organisations Number of organisations with IT development staff = 204 Number of organisations without IT development staff = 162 Organisations may use one or more electronic applications |
Management learning
The tendency for organisations with IT development staff to outpace those without, also holds in relation to the adoption of management learning applications.
The re-location of work
The propensity for organisations with one or more development staff to exploit ICTs to a greater extent, is sustained in relation to organisational re-structuring and the re-location of work. The number of organisations enabling electronically supported home working is almost eighteen per cent higher in the case of organisations employing IT development staff. Electronically supported re-structuring of functional boundaries [within and between divisions, departments, and other units] also occurs to a greater extent among organisations retaining IT development staff. The number of organisations engaging in ICT supported re-structuring is around ten per cent higher in the case of organisations employing IT development staff. The spatial re-location of functions is also markedly higher among organisations with IT development staff, than in those without.
Table 4. Re-locating work
| Home working Erosion of functional boundaries Geographical re-location of functions |
IT development staff 43.1% 24.5% 18.1% |
No IT development staff 25.3% 14.2% 7.4% |
| Sample size = 366 organisations Number of organisations with IT development staff = 204 Number of organisations without IT development staff = 162 Organisations may use one or more electronic applications |
Customer services
Turning to customer centred activities, the data again suggest a relationship between the employment of IT development staff and technology exploitation.
Does income make a difference?
Associations between organisational income and technology uptake and exploitation are difficult to discern. While the data indicate broad correspondence between ‘kit’ and size of income, variations do exist and it is not always the largest organisations which are best resourced. Variability is also noticeable in relation to technological applications and innovations. Here, organisations with incomes between £250,000 and £500,000 or £501,000 to £999, 000 per annum may exploit ICTs to the same degree, or to a greater degree, than organisations with incomes of between one and ten million per annum or, even, eleven million plus.
Technology uptake
Applications
Internal governance
No clear, or consistent, association emerges between organisational income and ICT supported internal governance.
In terms of the provision of electronic information to internal stakeholders, exploitation is greatest amongst the middle income groups. 39% of organisations in the £1 million - £10 million range, and 35% of those in the £501 thousand - £999 thousand band provide electronic information to stakeholders in the governance process.
Table 5. Internal governance, income and the provision of electronic information to stakeholders
| Income band Income unknown £250,000 - £500,000 £501,000 - £999,000 £1 million - £10 million £11 million |
Organisations providing electronic information to stakeholders 0% 27% 35% 39% 31%
|
| Sample size = 366
organisations. Percentages will not add to 100% as they relate to sub-populations within the income group. Number of organisations in income band £250,000 - £500,000 = 82 Number of organisations in income band £501,000 - £999,000 = 63 Number of organisations in income band £ 1 million - £10 million = 184. Number of organisations in income band £11 million and over = 35 Number of organisations not stating their income band ie ‘income unknown’ = 2 |
No obvious pattern is evident either, in terms of organisations using ICTs to support communication, including dialogue and deliberation, amongst stakeholders. Nine per cent of organisations within both the top income band and the lowest income range, provide this capability, followed by 8% of those within the £1 million - £10 million group, and 6% of those with incomes ranging from £501 thousand to £999 thousand per annum.
Associations between income and applications remain elusive in relation to electronically supported participation in internal decision making processes. 4% of organisations in the lowest income range provide some form of electronically supported decision making process, followed by 3% of those within the £501 thousand to £999 thousand band. 2% of organisations spanning the £1 million - £10 million band provide similar electronic capability. None of the organisations within the top income band provide this form of support.
Re-locating work
Customer services
Do field and type of activity make a difference?
No clear or consistent relationship is evident between field of activity [for instance, animals, environment and conservation, or disability and social welfare] and the uptake and application of ICTs. Nor is there evidence of any clear or consistent association between type of activity [for instance, service provision, representation, or grant making], and the uptake and application of technologies.
Field of activity
Some of the highlights from the data are as follows:
Type of activity
Annex one
The Virtual Society? Programme
The research upon which this report is based was undertaken as part of the Economic and Social Research Council’s [ESRC] Virtual Society? Programme. Further information about the Virtual Society? Programme is available on the website at www.brunel.ac.uk/research/virtsoc./text/intro.htm.
Annex two
Research methodology
Research is a combination of ‘scientific method’, subjectivity, and pragmatism. The present research is no exception. Both the voluntary sector, and [increasingly] the field of information and communication technologies, set considerable challenges for the researcher. Of course, with hindsight it is always easy to see ‘how it ought to have been done’. In practice, conceptual issues around the nature and scope of the sector together with classificatory issues regarding sub-sectors, fields, and types of activity [Hems and Passey, 1996; Salamon and Anheier, 1992; Kendall and Knapp, 1995] mean that it will remain difficult ‘to put ought to into practice’. The difficulties are exacerbated when research is reliant upon databases whose conceptual and classificatory schemas are not those the researchers would have employed. Then, too, there is the scope and nature of information and communication technologies themselves. Such is the range of ICTs that a comprehensive audit of the technologies available to and employed by any organisation, be it public, private, or voluntary sector, is not feasible. Moreover, as previously distinct technologies converge and synthesise within network infrastructures conceptual distinctions between those technologies become blurred, such that it is difficult to see, for instance, where telephony ends and computing begins, or where ‘kit’ ends and applications begin.
We turn now to practice.
The research in practice
The sample
The findings reported here are based upon a large scale postal survey of 1490 UK voluntary organisations. While the survey touched organisations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, most of the participating organisations are in England.
The organisations sampled comprise core voluntary organisations, or those which the general public would recognise as voluntary organisations or charities. The sample organisations have incomes ranging from £250,000 per annum to incomes in excess of £11 million per annum. Primarily national or international in scope most also operate at regional or local level, with a small number working exclusively within local communities. The organisations, which undertake activities such as service provision, research, grant making and representation, span fields ranging from social welfare, to arts, conservation and animal welfare.
The literature reviews
Literature reviews, which have been on-going throughout the research, shaped both the focus of the research, the development of the research questions, and the design and implementation of the research methodology. The reviews encompass relevant literatures from disciplines which include the political sciences together with the management and organisational sciences. They also draw on literature associated with information systems, information technology, and the voluntary sector.
The questionnaire survey
Questionnaire focus
The questionnaire was designed to elicit four broad categories of information:
The focus on strategic issues meant that the questionnaire was suited to respondents operating at executive or senior management levels, who would have requisite technological expertise available to them if required. Thus, the survey was targeted at the Chief Executives or their equivalent. In practice, responses were received from either Chief Executive level or from Directors of IT or their equivalent.
The substantive ICT related questions were designed to allow for broad interpretation by participants, with opportunities throughout for the addition of ‘other’ information should categories be deemed restrictive in any way.
Copies of the questionnaire are available from the authors, on request.
Survey timescale
The questionnaire was piloted in January 1998, with the main survey undertaken between March and May 1998.
The survey was designed to capture current trends as well as those anticipated to develop within the next five years. Thus, the evidence presented in this report encompasses the period 1998 to 2003.
Annex three
Survey response rate
Six hundred and thirty seven organisations returned questionnaires [42.75%], of which 29.26% were suitable for analysis. As the aim of the research is to gain practical insights into the uptake and application of ICTs rather than to undertake statistical testing, the response rate is acceptable.
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