JOHN SAMUEL
Conceptual Premises
It is very important to develop
conceptual clarity and consensus regarding what is broadly classified or
denoted as voluntary organisation as differentiated from Non Governmental
Organisation and Non-Profit Organisation. While it is difficult to have an absolute
or universal definition, one can think of an operational definition for these
terms. Many a times the assumptions behind the use of the terms voluntary
organisations, NGOs, and non-profit organisations vary according to the
particular national, cultural and political context in which they are being
signified.
The term 'voluntary' signifies
an ethical and moral position rather than a structural or management aspect.
Hence it is important to make a conceptual distinction between Voluntary
Organisation NGOs and Non-profit organisation. While the term NGO denotes a
'relational' category, assuming an identity in terms being not
governmental, the term 'non-profit' has more of an economic all or commercial
connotation.
Voluntary Organisation may be
described as a group of people coming together or an organisation or an
institution initiated on the basis of commitment to the cause of the
underprivileged sections of the society and on the basis of a set of values
like public interest, service, transparency, participation and accountability. People
who are working in such organisations may be compensated for their time and
efforts, but their basic motivation and the principles of organisation and
management are based on the commitment and values of voluntarism and not on
monetary benefits or incentives. While such organisations may receive funds,
without compromising the values, they are not fund-driven organisations.
Values of Voluntarism
The values and principles of Voluntarism include:
·
voluntary formation and an
element of voluntary participation
·
not for the personal or private
profit or gain of those who control and manage the affairs and not self-serving
·
a deep commitment to public
interest and public good, especially a commitment to safeguard the rights of
the under privileged and to work for the betterment of the marginalized
sections of the society
·
a respect for the rights,
culture and dignity of men and women, including the staff, served or affected
by the work of the organisation, taking into consideration their special needs
and abilities
·
secular and non-partisan
approach
·
devoting the maximum possible
proportion of resources available to the task at hand
·
ensuring that the organisation
remains true to its mission and objectives, that its identity, integrity,
methods and activities are not distorted, subverted or taken over or corrupted
by external or internal personal or organizational self-interest
·
Maintaining high ethical
standards at both an organizational and personal level.
Often such values and commitment
are kept alive by a core-group or key persons who initiate the process of
organisation building and help permeate the ethos of voluntarism in the organizational
and working culture.
The social sector, consisting of
social action groups, voluntary organisations, developmental organisations,
training and research institutions represent a very heterogeneous arena of
interests, issues and ideologies. There is also an increasing trend to promote
'NGOs' for protecting the interest of the government, business houses and
corporate interests. Hence it is very important to comprehend the complexities
and contradictions existing in the so-called 'NGO' sector and to distinguish
between the organisations based on the principles and practice of voluntarism
and other organisations that place more emphasis on utilitarian culture and
market values for , delivering' the goods.
Governance
The management, administrative
and programme practices and policies depend to a great extent on the framework'
and manner of governance. Hence it is of crucial importance to develop
statutory and institutional framework that would ensure an efficient, ethical
and transparent manner of governance. The clarity of vision and
mission of the organisation is a pre-requisite for the good governance of an
organisation.
A good policy for governance
would guarantee internal as well as external accountability of the
organisation; internal accountability of the staff and management for the task
they are entrusted
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with and external accountability
to the public and constituency for the cause and values the organisation
represents; and finally accountability to the donors as well funding agencies
for the money received for implementing a programme or project.
A good policy for governance
would emphasize the responsibility of organisations and institutions towards
its employees, staff and 'workers'; including the responsibility to ensure a
work culture based on principles of equal opportunity, gender sensitivity, and
responsibility to provide congenial working environment that would encourage
efficiency, integrity and commitment and would discourage any partisan, biased
or discriminatory management practices.
The values such as transparency,
participation, public interest should reflect in the governing policies of
voluntary organisations and should be translated into the organizational and
programme practices. Good practice of governance would also encourage secular
and nonpartisan organizational characteristics and approach.
It is very important to
incorporate adequate and appropriate provisions in the charter or memorandum of
association of the organisations so that principles and values of voluntarism
become a legitimate and obligatory measure for a good policy and practice of
governance.
The Board members will have a very
important role in upholding the organizational values and commitment in their
functions and responsibilities. Unless the board members are vigilant about
safeguarding the vision, integrity, efficiency and values of voluntarism
through initiating timely and appropriate organizational policies, many of
organisations and institutions would become the victims and causalities of the
internal bureaucracy and power struggle of vested interests.
The Board members should ensure that:
·
High Standards of planning,
operation, administration, evaluation and reporting are maintained in the
organisation
·
all statutory obligations are
met and adequate resources are available
to the organisation for all aspects of its work and administration
·
the resources provided to the
organisation are used for their intended
purpose and are
properly accounted for
Organisational Integrity
Organisations and organizational
leaders should practice what they preach. With an increasing flow of funds and
substantial increase in infrastructure facilities, many organisations are
facing
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The danger of hyper
-institutionalization at the cost of the values, cause and issues they claim to
represent or stand for. This also leads to the weaning away of organizational
transparency and accountability.
Public interest VS Institutional Interest VS Self-Interest
of Organisational Leaders
The integrity of an organisation
to a great extent is determined by or depends on whether the organisation
represents and stands for the public interest, or it is engulfed in
institutional interest or being used for the self interest of the organizational
leaders. The integrity of a voluntary organisation is adversely affected when
institutional interest of the organisation takes precedence over the public
interest or the cause; and organizational integrity would be in peril when the
self interests of the leaders take precedence over both the public interest and
institutional interest.
For safeguarding the organizational
integrity, it is imperative to develop effective policy regarding the
appropriate use of resources and infrastructure facilities. It is equally
important to develop and enforce standardized norms and practices that would
guard against the misuse or disproportionate use of any organizational resource
or facility for the self interest of any senior management staff or board
members.
It is very important to develop
and maintain voluntary organisations that would be public (as distinct from
private) in its scope, structure and principles. This aspect is all the more
important in the South Asian context, wherein many organisations, began as
voluntary and public initiative,
are gradually turning into instruments or
institutions that serve personal or family interests of a single organizational
leader or a handful of key actors on the Board of Trustees or Directors.
Management Practice and Team Building
A good management Practice
should ensure Efficiency, Effectiveness and Accountability at all levels, and
the organizational ability to deliver results without compromising the values
and ethics of voluntarism. Professional attitude is absolutely necessary for
good management practice. Planning, performance, monitoring and credible
account practice should be an integral part of management. Half yearly and
annual performance reports and consistent analysis of the expenditure pattern
of the organisation would help understand the strengths and limitations of
management practice. A decentralized, task oriented and functional
management approach would be more relevant in the context of voluntary
organisations.
It is important to develop multiple
leadership roles for a more participatory management practice. A management
practice centered on just one charismatic leader would be adverse to the
sustainability and the growth of organisation in the long run. For ensuring the
continuity of the task as well as the organizational goals and objectives, it
is very much necessary to develop a second cadre of leadership at
various levels of governance, administration and programmes of the
organisation. The basis for the leadership in the organisations should emanate
from competence, commitment to the organizational values and cause, efficiency,
effectiveness, decision making capacities and ability for teamwork, rather than
the family, class, caste or regional affiliations.
The very term 'human resource'
is based on the assumption that staff are a 'resource' that would maximize the
productivity or results of the organisation. For evolving a good management
practice, the employees or staff should be considered as 'subjects' who are
participating and are involved in the process of bringing about positive social
change, rather than 'resources' that would increase the organizational
'productivity' or 'objects' that could be used for organizational ends. Good
management practice should provide an enabling and motivating working
environment to the staff A well defined and clear personal policy, with
standardized service terms and salary structure, would be essential to maintain
a good personal management practice. A good personal policy can serve as a very
fruitful corollary to a management practice that gives emphasis to team
building and team development. Team building is a process of continuous diagnosis,
action planning, implementation and evaluation. A cardinal principle of
effective team functioning is that members must be highly concerned with both
their own needs and those of others. One important aspect of team building is
helping a team develop a 'model of excellence' against which it can measure its
own performance.
Instead of encouraging big
monolithic organizational structures with thousands of employees and
'labourers', it would be more appropriate and effective to develop
organisations with decentralized budgeting and operation with number of
effective 'teams' working together for a common cause.
A good management practice would incorporate some of
the following characteristics of team work:
·
The team shares a sense of purpose or common
goals, and each team member is willing to work towards achieving these goals
·
The team is aware and
interested in its own processes and examining norms operating within the group
·
Group members continuously try
to listen to and clarify what is being said and show interest in what others
say and feel.
·
Differences of opinion are encouraged
and freely expressed. The team does not demand narrow conformity or adherence
to formats that inhibit freedom of movement and expression
·
The team is willing to surface conflict and
focus on it until it is either resolved or managed in a way that does not
reduce the effectiveness of the individuals concerned
·
The team exerts energy towards problem solving
rather than allowing it to be drained by interpersonal issues or competitive
struggles
·
Roles are balanced and are shared to facilitate
both the accomplishment of tasks and feeling of group cohesion and high group
morale
·
To encourage risk taking and creativity,
mistakes are treated as sources of learning rather than reasons for punishments
·
The team is responsive to changing needs of
its members and to the external to which it is related
·
Team members are committed to periodically
evaluating the team's performance
·
The team is attractive to its members, who
identify with it and consider it as a source of both professional and personal
growth
·
Developing a climate of trust is a
pre-requisite for all that above elements
Finance and Fundraising
Financial Management practice
should be based on the optimum use of resources, sustainability of the
programme as well as organisation, and the maximum use of resources for the
direct benefits of the constituency. Transparency of organizational budgets and
accountability for the spending of organizational resources would be required
to have credible finance management. Monthly internal auditing would help to
monitor the pattern of expenditure. A good management practice should ensure
appropriate procedures for financial review.
Other important suggested measures for finance
management are the following:
when
negotiating with donors or grants and/or contracts ensure that the
terms and conditions of funding agreement and
procedures and timetable for reporting are mutually acceptable
only pursue or accepts grants or
contracts that:
are consistent with their mission and
objectives and do not cause
their identity, integrity, methods and activities to
be distorted, subverted or corrupted
~ do not compromise their independence
~ do not place more responsibility on their organisation than
they
can manage
D seek
to avoid dependence oil single, narrow or insecure sources of
funding or contracts.
=}
the resource mobilization and
investment should be adequately
broad and oriented to long-term
sustainability. Means of attaining such sustainability should include
developing corpus funds and effective marketing and sales of publications,
specialist skills and expertise of the organisation.
D ensure
that the fund raising efforts of one organisation do nor undermine
the viability and sustainability other voluntary
organisations.
=}
in preparing budgets and
costing, ensure that the full
organizational and administrative costs are recognized
and included and adequate resources obtained to meet them
D ensure that funds provided are always
used for their intended purpose
=} For
upholding organizational and financial
credibility It is
important that voluntary organisations publish their
activity report and audited statement along with the sources of funding.
Communication to the Public
Communication is an important
aspect of management. Communication to the Public as well as the internal
communication between and among the team members would make the organisation
more efficient and effective. Open Communication is a two way process that can
bring about mutual trust between the constituency and the organisation as well
as consensus and cohesion among the team members. If an organisation establishes
a consistent communicative pattern to the public, that would go long way in
making organizational transparency and accountability possible and in gaining
social credibility and legitimacy.
Following are some of the possible areas of
communication to the public:
The vision, mission, policies
and programmes of the organisation should be communicated through brochures,
link letters and field meetings with the public or the groups the organisation
is working with.
The source of funds, programmes
and audited statement of accounts should be published and disseminated widely.
A brief report and audited statement may preferably be published in a local
newspaper that commands a substantial readership among the constituency. It is
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also important to communicate the organizational and
accounts report directly to the people who constitute the general body of the
organisation.
Whenever a public programme or a
social issue is highlighted through mass media. It is important to project the
work done by the organisation rather than the personality of the organizational
leaders.
Communication to the public should be in the local
language and a simple and straight forward style of communication would be more
effective.
Role of Umbrella Organisations
Umbrella organisations can playa
very crucial role in facilitating good policies and practice among the
voluntary organisations. Networking among the organisation has a synergizing
effect. Through consistent networking efforts umbrella organisations can provide
appropriate channels and platforms that can help evolving commonly shared
norms, policies and joint programmes for promoting good organizational
governance and, ethical and effective management practices. While umbrella
organisations can set a high standard of values and management practice as the
criteria for the membership, it is not possible to ensure the any enforcement
mechanism that would be validated by the voluntary sector as a whole. Donor
Agencies, Government and number of other factors playa very crucial role in
determining and influencing the nature and manner of governance. Hence Umbrella
Organisation can only initiate a wide spread and sustained campaign to
influence all the important actors, including Donor Agencies and Government, in
the voluntary sector. Umbrella Organisations are best placed to facilitate a
self disciplined and voluntary regulatory mechanism among the organisations.
Reference:
1.
Discussion on good practice and
policy at South Asian Conference on Ruler "Laws and Regulation for
Voluntary Organisation.
2, Non Governmental Organisations; Guidelines for
Good Policy and Practice, Common Wealth Foundation 1995.
