Community and Consensus: Reality and Fantasy in Planning

Abstract

Strategic planning has been presented as a way to set organizational direction. Differences between corporate enterprises and nonprofit community organizations raise questions whether strategic planning can help the latter. This article presents a case study in strategic planning by a Jewish community federation. Religious differences led to conflicts over policy and procedures. However, planning participants had political and psychological interests in seeing the community as unified. As a result, they followed consensus procedures that let them avoid examining differences, but led to decisions that the majority did not like. Strategic planning cannot escape addressing social, cultural, and psychological differences and conflicts about them.