TRUSTING ASSOCIATIONS A Surgent Approach to Quality Improvement in Associations Peter Noordhoek Tilburg University, the Netherlands TRUSTING ASSOCIATIONS A Surgent Approach to Quality Improvement in Associations TRUSTING ASSOCIATIONS | 1 Colophon Public version of the main study belonging to the Ph.D. research: “Trusting Associations. A Surgent Approach to Quality Improvement in Associations” The University of Tilburg, the Netherlands Promotors: Prof. dr. J.B. Rijsman and Prof. dr. ing. T.W. Hardjono Drs. Dirk Pieter (“Peter”) Noordhoek Born 16 June 1957 at Dordrecht, The Netherlands All rights reserved 2019 Illustration front page: Maarten Boffé All other illustrations: see the table of contents Address: Oosthaven 15-16 2801 PC Gouda The Netherlands T 31-182 684545 M 31-6-53488078 E [email protected] W www.meerdannu.nl Uitgeverij: ISBN 978 90 5294 2957 2 | TRUSTING ASSOCIATIONS TRUSTING ASSOCIATIONS A Surgent Approach to Quality Improvement in Associations TRUSTING ASSOCIATIONS | 3 4 | TRUSTING ASSOCIATIONS CONTENT Summary 11 Acknowledgments 21 Introduction 25 1. QUESTIONS 25 2. ON RELEVANCE 29 Academic Relevance 29 Practical Relevance 34 3. THE STRUCTURE OF THE STUDY 37 4. THREE THEMES: TRUST, ASSOCIATIONS AND QUALITY 39 Trust 40 Associations 46 Quality 50 5. THREE CASES: PUBLIC LIBRARIES, NOTARIES AND REAL-ESTATE AGENTS 53 The first case study as a very reflective practitioner 54 The second case, as a historian and constant observer 54 A third case, as an outside expert 55 PART I ON THE NEGLECT OF ASSOCIATIONS 57 6. TO ASSOCIATE OR NOT TO ASSOCIATE 59 7. WHAT IS AN ASSOCIATION? 62 Developing a Definition 62 A Small History of Writing about Associations 64 Captured in Context: Economists, Politicians, and Lawyers 68 First Definition 71 8. HOW MANY ARE THERE? 72 Counting Problems 72 The Complicated Case of Dutch Association Statistics 74 Counting the World’s Associations 77 Counting the Members 82 Do the Numbers Matter? 84 Data-analysis as next step for research 86 TRUSTING ASSOCIATIONS | 5 9. TRYING TO MEASURE TRUST 89 Trust in Professions 89 Trust in Institutions 91 Trust and Nation Building Through Associations 93 10. WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT? 95 Associations as a Basic Form of Social Organization 95 Complications in Classic Associations 96 Associations and the Professional-service Firm: 98 Digital Ways of Associating 99 The Rules of Murmurations 100 11. PATHOLOGIES AND REMEDIES 103 Pathologies 103 Remedies 108 Consequences for Change 109 12. THREE CASE STUDIES AND AN “ASSOCIATION MATRIX” 110 How Much Change Is Possible? 110 Three Cases 110 Central Question of Change 112 Association Matrix 113 Once More, A Definition of an Association 119 13. DEVELOPMENT OF ASSOCIATIONS: CASE STUDY - PUBLIC LIBRARIES (PART ONE) 120 Library Services: A Complex Assignment 120 From Book to Bib 122 Who Determines What? 125 Forward as What? 126 14. DEVELOPMENT OF ASSOCIATIONS: CASE STUDY NOTARIES (PART ONE) 129 Parallels with the Library Case Study 129 The Roots of an Association 130 The First Forty Years of Growth and Decline 131 ‘Caretakers’ 132 War and a New Gift 132 The Second Forty Years of Growth and Decline 133 A logical reaction and an illogical one 134 Going forward in uncertainty 134 15. CHALLENGES IN ASSOCIATIONS: CASE STUDY REAL ESTATE AGENTS (PART ONE) 136 A Stick of a Story 136 From Local Professionals to Regional Associations 137 The Problem of How to Be Relevant 137 6 | TRUSTING ASSOCIATIONS Working Toward One National Association 139 The Challenge of an Association 139 Between Coaching and Control 140 The Board Decides 141 What Is of Added Value? 141 PART II On the Nature of Associations 143 16. ENTERING A GROUP, BECOMING AN ASSOCIATION 145 From Groups to Associations 145 Durkheim’s Distinctions 147 Dynamic Categorization 149 17. ENTERING AN ASSOCIATION 150 Members of an Association 150 Seeking Definitions of an Association 150 Life-cycle Approach: Member 152 Life-cycle Approach: Association 157 An Attempt at Categorization 161 Transsociations 163 Coming to a New Definition 166 Association Drift 167 18. DEFINING STANDARDS 168 The Social Dilemma of Standards 168 First Order: Use of Terms 171 A Universal Right: Freedom of Association 173 Sources of Standards: Internal and External Rules as Powers of Communication 175 Sources of standards: Fair Play in War and Sports 181 Sources of Standards: Rules and Risings in religion 183 Sources of Standards: When Civic becomes Civil 186 Sources of Standards: when Civil becomes Political 188 Sources of Standards: When Politics Becomes Diplomacy 197 Sources of Standards: When Occupation Leads to Association 199 Sources of Standards: When Conditions Make Them Irrelevant 204 PART III On the Quality of Associations 205 19. THE CONCEPT OF QUALITY 207 Defining Quality 209 The Challenge of Making Definitions of Quality Explicit 212 Defining Quality in Associations 213 From Fight to Flight 215 Experiences with Peer Review 216 TRUSTING ASSOCIATIONS | 7 20. INTERVENTIONS FOR QUALITY 217 Building an Intervention Pyramid 217 Expectations by Regulators 219 Expectations by “Customers” 220 Expectations by the Collective 229 Expectations by Society 235 Using Interventions 238 Looking at Different Interventions: To Attachment Four 240 21. QUALITY IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER 243 A Note on Method 243 Waves of Defining What Quality Is: A Summary and Critique 245 Empirical Paradigm 252 Referential Paradigm 253 Reflective Paradigm 254 Emergent Paradigm 255 Overall Reflection on the Four Paradigms 255 An Alternative Approach 256 Divergent Mindset 259 Objective Mindset 261 System Mindset 262 Social Mindset 264 Tratio As Result of the Different Orientations? 265 22. TRATIO IN ASSOCIATIONS: CASE STUDY PUBLIC LIBRARIES, PART TWO 267 The Books That Were Lent Before 267 New Stories for the Sector 270 First Crisis: Getting to Grips with the Minimum Standard 273 To a More Existential Approach 274 The Second Crisis: A Cloaked Attack 276 Missing Players 277 From Pattern to Matrix 278 A Successful Failure 280 Going to the Country 281 Public Audit and Public Law 282 Looking Back at the Struggle for a More Horizontal Approach 283 23. TRATIO IN QUALITY: CASE STUDY NOTARIES, PART TWO 284 The Deeds That Went Before 284 Many Interventions 286 Quality and Integrity as a Goal 288 Doing the Audits 291 The Loneliness of the Member 293 A Battle for the Soul of the Association 295 The Vertical and the Horizontal 298 Where To Go? 301 8 | TRUSTING ASSOCIATIONS 24. TRATIO IN QUALITY: CASE STUDY REAL ESTATE AGENTS, PART TWO 305 What Went Before? 305 A New Approach to Audits: Inductive Auditing 306 Identifying Added Value 307 Bridging the Distance Between Trust and Ratio 310 25. FOUR WAYS TO WORK ON QUALITY: COMPARING THE CASE STUDIES 314 PART IV TRUSTING ASSOCIATIONS 317 26. GETTING TO “YES”: A SURGENT APPROACH 318 When Is It a Surge? 319 Real Estate Agents Association: A Surge Against All Odds 320 Public Library Association: A Necessary Surge 322 Notariat: An Emergent Approach 324 First Assessment: Delivering Quality 325 27. DEALING WITH CRISIS AND TRANSFORMATION 328 28. A CONTEXT OF INCIDENTS 333 29. BEING AN ASSOCIATION: CONSTRUCT, CONTEXT AND CONSEQUENCES 338 What we do not know 338 The pillar of the collective 345 The Pillar of the Goal - Leadership Issues 347 30. TRUSTING ASSOCIATIONS 350 A Cycle of trust 350 A Conscious decision 353 Scenarios 354 The Added Value of Associations 357 31. QUESTIONS OF CAUSE AND EFFECT 358 PART V CONCLUSIONS 361 Answering the Questions of this Study 362 Theses 375 Bibliografie 377 Tables, figures and schemes 411 TRUSTING ASSOCIATIONS | 9 10 | TRUSTING ASSOCIATIONS Summary What is this thesis about? This thesis starts with the following question: is it possible to (re)gain trust in an association by introducing, for instance, peer review between the members of an association? This thesis uses and compares three case studies to link the three concepts of trust, associations and quality. It describes how a proposal comes to be made in the General Assembly of the association on peer review and the likelihood of it being accepted. It also shows how the history and context of the association and its members influence this decision and how this can suddenly turn. This is done to get a better grip and provide answers on the more general questions that underlie this thesis: the what, how and why of associations and how trust can be(re)gained through quality interventions. On Associations: What Questions What is to trust in associations? Trust is not a rational term, though it can be approached in a rational manner. As such, it is hard to determine whether trust can be (re)gained in an association after crisis, transformation and incidents. Within an association, it is easier to determine if members have trust in the way their board improves trust. This study shows that it is possible to have all the members agree to a quality approach even though they may be individually against it. This ‘surge’ of support seems a condition for a renewal of trust. What makes trusting associations important? When faced with a crisis and serious incidents, it is often at the level of associations that a collective effort can be made to change the image of a sector in a way individuals and their organizations and institutions cannot. For governments and other parties, associations provide a collective address for individual problems. For members, the association provides a reputational shield, a chartered construction for our social needs. If only for this, associations have added value, though they may be far less stable than before. What is an association? An association is a horizontal group that acts as a collective actor, with a structure recognizable by relatively high entry-and-exit conditions and relatively closed standards of behavior for its members. In “classic” associations, the borders of the group are recognizable by symbols and registrations.