Keep A Breast Foundation

Keep A Breast Foundation

Lorena Ayala

Romeo Benavidez

ORGL 4341 MGMT. I

October 8th, 2020

In today’s modern world, female leaders are perceived differently when compared to

male leaders, especially when a female stands at the forefront of an organization. One of the

most widely known nonprofit organizations with a female leader at the forefront of its operations

is the Keep A Breast Foundation or otherwise known as KAB. The Keep A Breast Foundation

was created by Shaney Jo Darden. Shaney Jo Darden created the Keep A Breast Foundation or

KAB as a way to raise breast cancer awareness after a close friend of hers was diagnosed.

Darden’s mission through KAB is to educate and support people of all ages on the diagnosis of

breast cancer and give back to these individuals through what they call the grant cycle. The grant

cycle is a diverse group of three breast cancer survivors who are chosen to issue grants out to

women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer and women who have boldly survived

breast cancer. The KAB has been very successful in each of its endeavors, however, the Keep A

Breast Foundation could greatly improve with the implementation of two principles of

management. These principles are the use and implementation of the three alternative decision-

making styles in “making decisions for the common good” (Landemore, 2013, p. #1) and

instilling the urgency and importance of human capital. When implemented correctly by the

foundation, not only would their efforts of providing education and support be driven to an

increase but the grant cycle can exceed its limitations in terms of the women that issue the grants

out and the numerical balance on the grant as well.

The leader of any organization is often thought of or referred to as the decision-maker, 

the decision-maker will choose the alternative that rates the highest and gets the maximum

benefits”(Francis, 2016, p. #2), thus the need for the best fitting decision-making style. There are

three alternative decision-making styles that are used by leaders or the decision-makers. These

three styles of decision-making are authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire. The Keep A
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Breast Foundation could greatly benefit by implementing the use of democratic decision-making.

While the foundation holds a sense of loyalty to its supporters, there is a lack of the use of unity.

Democratic decision-making focuses on the facilitation of any conversation, encouraging every

person within an organization to share their thoughts and idea, “especially on urgent topics

related to core operations” (Perils of Democratic Decision Making, 2016, p. #5), and then

combining the variety of information in making the best possible decision for the organization. If

implemented, the women that make up the Keep A Breast Foundation and all of its supporters

are not only tied closer to the foundation’s mission but to each other as they share their journey

and awareness for breast cancer. Alongside the implementation of democratic decision-making,

the KAB foundation could also greatly benefit from the enforcement of the urgency and

importance of an organization’s human capital. Human capital when explained is a rather loose

term that translates knowledge, education, experience, and any hard or soft skills that an

employee possesses. It is essential for an organization to experience growth and development,

and when adding it to the business ethics of the Keep A Breast Foundation, each member and

supporter of the organization is valued for their experience, thus creating a larger barrier for

financial means provided for the foundation as a nonprofit organization, funding activities,

events and the grant cycle.

For every positive result that could occur when using and implementing democratic

decision-making and instilling the urgency and importance of human capital within an

organization, a negative result appears as a potential threat to the organization’s success. The

dangers that present themselves in the face of these additions and implementations to the

organization are the issues of personal impulse and bias when making a decision, as well as the

lack of efficiency when instilling the importance of human capital. Bias in decision-making is
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often called individual decision-making, potentially being dangerous to the unity of the

organization, “Individual decision making can often be wrong” (Landemore, 2013, p.3), due to

the lack of perspective that is needed to make a decision outside of personal gain and entirely for

the well-being of the organization. On the other hand, in terms of the dangers that surround the

enforcement over the importance of human capital can lead to an inefficient level of human

capital within the organization, “Inefficient utilization of human capital in organizations is one of

the main factors leading to low productivity among” (Eliyahu, 2020, p. #4). 

That being said, after careful consideration for the foundation and its mission, as well as

the suggestive measures that could be taken to benefit the KAB, the following collective plan

includes the results and summarization of the progress the Keep A Breast Foundation has seen

over the course of a three-year period. The portion of the plan made to implement democratic

decision-making revolves are the key factors of time and talent. Democratic decision-making

works best when employees and team members are able to share their ideas openly and honestly,

as well as being given enough time to develop these ideas through their own personal strengths

and improve on their weaknesses. On the other end of this collaborative plan to better help the

progression and success of the Keep A Breast Foundation, to enforce the urgency and

importance of human capital is to first acknowledge that human capital is used to increase

productivity and profitability. Once this information has been obtained, it is vital for human

capital to be explained to employees as an opportunity for customers to put their trust in them

and an opportunity to increase organizational profitability through a customer’s loyalty and trust.

When each portion of this suggestive collaborative plan are put alongside each other, the Keep A

Breast Foundation is not only prone to see positive results in each improved area of the

organization but flourish and prosper as well, in their endeavors to fulfill and carry out their
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mission of educating and supporting people who have been diagnosed and who have survived

breast cancer.

Democrati c decision making

2021 4.5

2020 3.8

2019 2.6

Graph 1

“…democratic decision-making form a cognitive system that ensures that decisions taken by the

many are more likely to be right than decisions taken by the few” (Landemore, 2013, p.9).
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Human Capital
7

0
2019 2020 2021 2022

Donations Grant Cycle

Graph 2

“…In the dimension of human capital…We found a positive effect of demographic and

psychographic factors on firm performance, as also a positive effect of demographic factor on

psychographic factor” (Khan, 2018, p. #2).

References

ELIYAHU, A. S., BIBU, N., & DANAIATA, D. (2020). Organizational Politics and its

Influence on Employees’ and Volunteers’ Motivation in Emergency Organizations in

Israel. Review of International Comparative Management / Revista de Management

Comparat International, 21(2), 251–264. https://doi-

org.ezproxy.southtexascollege.edu/10.24818/RMCI.2020.2.251

Francis C. Uzonwanne. (2016). Influence of age and gender on decision-making models and

leadership styles of non-profit executives in Texas, USA. International Journal of

Organizational Analysis, 24(2), 186–203. https://doi-

org.ezproxy.southtexascollege.edu/10.1108/IJOA-05-2013-0667
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Hélène Landemore. (2013). Democratic Reason : Politics, Collective Intelligence, and the Rule

of the Many. Princeton University Press.

Khan, E. A., & Quaddus, M. (2018). Dimensions of human capital and firm performance: Micro-

firm context. IIMB Management Review, 30(3), 229–241. https://doi-

org.ezproxy.southtexascollege.edu/10.1016/j.iimb.2018.05.004

The Perils of Democratic Decision Making. (2016). Ivey Business Journal, 14–20.