strategic management in ngos
TRANSCRIPT
Strategic Management in NGOs
Venkatesh Ganapathy
Reference
• Pandey, S. (2011). “Managing for Change: Organizational Challenges for Development• Organizations”. Chapter 13 in Sandip Anand,
Ibha Kumar and Anjula Srivastava (Eds),• “Challenges of the Twenty First Century: A Trans- disciplinary Perspective” , MacMillan India: New
Delhi, pp. 198-217
NGOs
• Also called as development organizations• Contribution to health, education, poverty
alleviation, environmental protection and community work.
Changes in working of NGOs : Causes
• International politics• New Technologies• Industrial development• Scarcity of natural resources• Climate change• Social and cultural change
Third sector – Voluntary sector
• Non government• Not-for- Profit
Changes since 1991: LPG
• Social, political and economic changes• Liberal economy• FDI• Growth of knowledge intensive industries• Fast urbanization• Scarcity of energy and natural resources
Critical factors in the external environment of NGOs
• Politico-legal environment• Socio-cultural environment• Economic environment• Technological environment
Statistics
• There are roughly 3.3 million NGOs registered in India
• NGO sector – Rs.75000 crores annually• Positive role of voluntary sector in national
development
Problems in NGOs
• Reduced funding supports from donor agencies
• Inadequate corporate support to long term development goals.
• Lack of professionalism in NGO management practices
• Long term institutional sustainability• Competition for resources
Problems (Cont’d)
• Organizational culture• Inappropriate strategic management• Poor decision making• Lack of special skills needed• Absence of criteria for staff selection• Inexperience in managing relations with
government and media
4 stages of growth for NGO
• Start up• Expansion/ growth• Consolidation• Phase out
Scaling up of NGOs
• NGOs – catalysts of policy innovations and social capital
• Creators of knowledge in social sector• Contribute to community and society
development
Strategic management by NGOs
• NGOs – look beyond short term considerations to create opportunities that do not exist
• Strategy can be influenced by– Focus of beneficiaries– Focus of donors– Focus of founder members– Management of change
Smaller NGOs & their strategies
• Strategy driven by goals and values of founder-leader• On scale-up, need to chalk out formal strategies for
survival and sustainable growth• Growth phase – focus on achieving operational
efficiency• Stage III – move towards long term sustainable
objectives• Stage IV – focus of strategy on institutional building
and social sustainability
Indian NGOs
• Often influenced by international donor agencies
• Focus on ensuring development missing• Partnership focused strategy may be relevant
– build capabilities of local NGOs, build networks with regional NGOs, international funding organizations and government agencies.
NGO strategy must focus on
• Social development• Long term sustainability to beneficiaries• Core competency
NGOs with a good organizational structure
• SEWA• CRY• PRIA
Large NGOs – structural inertia
• Bureaucratic systems• Absence of a professionally driven governing
board• Poor governance• Improper organizational structure• Absence of participative management• Absence of professional culture
Success of strategy depends on..• Strong organizational culture• A culture of organizational learning and capability building• Robust decision making processes• Shared commitment to a common cause• Creation and sustenance of formal teams• Formal HR policies• Mix of top-down and bottom-up approach• Proper documentation• Selection and recruitment of human capital
HR strategies
• Stage 1 – Need for committed people• Stage 2 – Professionally qualified teams• Stage 3 – Retain key people• Stage 4 – Redefine staff capacities and roles,
redeployment of human resources, capability building
Summary
• Strategic management of NGOs is more complex due to the organizational structure and culture and complexities associated with them.
• Performance evaluation, people management – crucial issues
• Reduced dependence on donors and founder members• Build organizational capabilities and networks• Need for greater transparency in sources and utilization
of funds• Change management is crucial