Abstract

The identity crisis of charitable organisations in current research has highlighted the extraordinary sense of chaos and liquidity within the philosophical framework that stitches together the fabric of the third sector. This confusion of identity has been highlighted by the current constructs of gender and spirituality within the organisational systems that have been taken for granted and remained unexplored until recent times. Community-based, human service charitable organisations and non-government organisations (NGOs) operating in Western Australia recently participated in qualitative research that used the themes of leadership, spirituality, ethics and values to examine and explore issues of gender, business practices and spirituality on the culture and relationships between employees and employers. What was revealed were substantial assumptions held by leaders and employees about the existence of a philosophical framework that was presumed to have established a sense of common purpose, a shared understanding about the core issues and the prospect of a viable future. However, the experienced reality and presumed framework differed widely!