Nonprofit Organizational Assessment

Conversion includes the private acceptance that is absent in compliance. The
individual's original behaviour, beliefs, or thinking changes to align with that of others
(the influencers), both publicly and privately. The individual has accepted the behavior,
belief, or thinking, and has internalized it, making it his own. Conversion may also refer
to individual members of a group changing from their initial (and varied) opinions to
adopt the opinions of others, which may differ from their original opinions. The resulting
group position may be a hybrid of various aspects of individual initial opinions, or it may
be an alternative independent of the initial positions reached through consensus.
What appears to be conformity may in fact be congruence. Congruence occurs when an
individual's behavior, belief, or thinking is already aligned with that of the others, and no
change occurs.
In situations where conformity (including compliance, conversion, and congruence) is
absent, there are non-conformity processes such as independence and anti-conformity.
Independence, also referred to as dissent, involves an individual (either through their
actions or lack of action, or through the public expression of their beliefs or thinking)
being aligned with their personal standards but inconsistent with those of other
members of the group (either all of the group or a majority).
Anti-conformity, also referred to as counter-conformity, may appear as independence,
but it lacks alignment with personal standards and is for the purpose of challenging the
group. Actions as well as stated opinions and beliefs are often diametrically opposed to
that of the group norm or majority. The underlying reasons for this type of behavior may
be rebelliousness/obstinacy or it may be to ensure that all alternatives and view points
are given due consideration.
Minority influence
Minority influence takes place when a majority is influenced to accept the beliefs or
behaviors of a minority. Minority influence can be affected by the sizes of majority and
minority groups, the level of consistency of the minority group, and situational factors
(such as the affluence or social importance of the minority). [6] Minority influence most
often operates through informational social influence (as opposed to normative social
influence) because the majority may be indifferent to the liking of the minority. [7]
Self-fulfilling Prophecy
A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become
true due to positive feedback between belief and behavior. A prophecy declared as truth
(when it is actually false) may sufficiently influence people, either through fear or logical
confusion, so that their reactions ultimately fulfill the once-false prophecy. This term is
credited to sociologist Robert K. Merton from an article he published in 1948.
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