What is schism?
If you have ever been on a board that is split and dysfunctional, or witnessed a club committee coup—or heard about Brexit—then you know what schism is. If you have experienced this kind of factionalised conflict first hand, you are not alone.
I had my own schism experience, which haunted me for a long time. So when the chance to do some in-depth research came along I thought… why not?
My examiners had good things to say about my research on the lived experience of schism in small nonprofit organisations, and I am proud and excited to share my findings.
A remarkable piece of scholarship, which presents a major advance in our understanding of schism.… A beautiful piece of academic writing.
Dr Rob Macmillan, Sheffield Hallam University, UK
This research has the capacity to make a difference to leaders and other actors trying to navigate the often uncomfortable personal and organisational experience of schism…. But it is the development and justification of the new LETS theory that sets the thesis apart and is worthy of particular commendation.
Dr Justin Davis-Smith, Bayes Business School, UK
Free Online Presentations
I am developing resources as I present and write. I’m no technical genius (please offer help) but I have put together a couple of low-tech online resources here, similar to the ones I have just given in person, but without all the gesticulating.
If you would like to be kept up to date when I add new resources, I’d be happy to add you to my email list, just let me know kathsugars@gmail.com.
I am very happy to adapt them to your needs and present at your organisation, or even better, go into more detail in a series of workshops, or work with your particular conflict, change, governance and leadership needs. Sometimes this might be as simple as a conversation with a leader looking for support.
Re-imagining Schism: A Proposed New Definition
The first outcome of my PhD research was to re-imagine the nature of schism as a human and social construction. The new definition I propose has potential to expand human agency and control in schism, and result in improved outcomes and lived experiences (18 min).
Lived Experience Theory of Schism (LETS)
The main outcome of my research was a lived experience theory of schism (LETS). LETS helps understand the effects of human needs, the balance of power, and group leadership capacity on schism social dynamics and—importantly—can systematically generate more options for managing during an active episode of schism.
LETS can be put to work in other ways, including for change management, and to build group leadership capacity that aligns with your values and purpose while being realistic about your available resources… to make it less likely you will have a schism in the first place (32 mins).
Publications
PhD thesis
A PhD thesis—not as dry and academic as you might think! But pick and choose your chapters. If you are wanting to find out how people experienced schism, and why I came to the conclusions I did, and how to puts LETS to work for you, try chapters 4 to 6.
To reference in APA 7th
Sugars, K.E. (2022). A lived experience theory of schism (LETS): Exploring the complex social dynamics powering factionalised conflict in nonprofit organisations [Doctoral Dissertation, Murdoch University]. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/66231/1/Sugars2022.pdf
ORCID 0000-0003-0799-9622
SCOPUS 23069018000
Kath Sugars 