vmudgett: A little about me: "My name is Vivien Mudgett. This class starts my last year in my MSN program. I am an RN and have a Bachelor's in Health Sciences and a Maste..."
You are a very welcome addition to this class... and your blog site is fabulous! So much for this 'second career' stuff. YOU GO, GIRL!
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Friday, January 14, 2011
The human nature of bureacracy.
The difference between non-profits, public organizations, and NGO's is more than their collective administrative and managerial structure.
The difference is power. Who has it, how they got it... and who doesn't have it. "Power" in all these organizations is attributable to two factors: 1) human capacity, and 2) revenue stream.
Volunteers, who are uncompensable in nonprofit organizations have a tremendous amount of power. Whether they're a Board member for a large, national nonprofit, or a grassroots, lower-level volunteer at a senior center-- people listen. Salaried people. Regulatory bodies. Licensing agents. The opinions of volunteers are sought out by all these entities for the volunteers' perspectives on organizational operations, marketing and messaging, and consumer services.
It seems that there is a disproportionately inverse relationship between organizational structure and function, as far as power goes. The often casual nature of an organization's volunteer structure belies its relative strength of power. Why is there such a linear staffing structure, defined by rules, regulations, policies, and procedures--when volunteers are often assembled into a non-descript pool of labeled people with few rules and fewer policies? Yet they wield more power as a leadership entity than the most highly organized and paid staff?
This is only one reason why I'm such a big fan of Job Descriptions for all volunteers, complete with some measures of accountability and performance monitoring and management. Volunteers-- even very powerful ones-- sometimes need to be 'fired.' Unless we take their roles seriously, acknowledge the tremendous power they have (especially in community relations), and put measures of responsibility and accountability in place... it doesn't matter what 'type' of organization you have. Powerful people will be left to run amok, and this is the last thing a responsible nonprofit leader needs or wants.
The difference is power. Who has it, how they got it... and who doesn't have it. "Power" in all these organizations is attributable to two factors: 1) human capacity, and 2) revenue stream.
Volunteers, who are uncompensable in nonprofit organizations have a tremendous amount of power. Whether they're a Board member for a large, national nonprofit, or a grassroots, lower-level volunteer at a senior center-- people listen. Salaried people. Regulatory bodies. Licensing agents. The opinions of volunteers are sought out by all these entities for the volunteers' perspectives on organizational operations, marketing and messaging, and consumer services.
It seems that there is a disproportionately inverse relationship between organizational structure and function, as far as power goes. The often casual nature of an organization's volunteer structure belies its relative strength of power. Why is there such a linear staffing structure, defined by rules, regulations, policies, and procedures--when volunteers are often assembled into a non-descript pool of labeled people with few rules and fewer policies? Yet they wield more power as a leadership entity than the most highly organized and paid staff?
This is only one reason why I'm such a big fan of Job Descriptions for all volunteers, complete with some measures of accountability and performance monitoring and management. Volunteers-- even very powerful ones-- sometimes need to be 'fired.' Unless we take their roles seriously, acknowledge the tremendous power they have (especially in community relations), and put measures of responsibility and accountability in place... it doesn't matter what 'type' of organization you have. Powerful people will be left to run amok, and this is the last thing a responsible nonprofit leader needs or wants.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
First Class reflection
I was seriously nervous about introducing the concept of Blogging as a course management/assignment paradigm! Thanks to all of you for fighting through the nerves and getting used to communicating this way. This is my second post... it only took me 20 minutes how to figure out how to do it... and I can tell already that I'm going to like this! I built my profile, too. I am filled with a great sense of satisfaction that I am figuring out how to operate in this environment. I look forward to sharing my thoughts and perspectives on management with you.-- Barb
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Welcome SWRK 6690 Students!
This is the vehicle we'll be using to share information... our thoughts... and respond to others' writings!
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