POWER AND PARTNERSHIP IN THE THIRD SECTOR

This article analyzes the partnership relations between the Non Governmental Organizations and the companies under the point of view of the authority. It also shows that the studied relations of partnership involve power, therefore, the action of the involved organizations is transformed. The current situation of this study is in the process, currently generalized, of Revista de Ciências da Administração – v.7, n.14, jul/dez 2005 25 Poder e Relações de Parceria no Terceiro Setor diversification of the capture of resources for which the NGOs make efforts in the search for more resources. The analysis does not follow the usual expensive prescriptive character of this field of study when using as a conceptual basic the sociological approach of power and its more traditional contributions. The empirical-theory occurred in existing partnerships in the city of Recife, in 2003. Using the study method of multi-cases, three Non Governmental Organizations and four companies were studied in the city. It was certified that the flow of power occurs, predominantly, from the company to the NGO, the technical ability and ownership of ways of sanction and rewards are the main sources and bases of power used by them. The main alterations noticed are in respect to the change of logical action of the NGOs that progressively takes the instrumental logic that characterizes their partners.