DG desk , August 09, 2010

Publication Date: 9 August 2010

Author(s): Rajendra K Pachauri

Abstract:

There was a book which I possessed on the management of Non Profit Organizations (NPOs) authored by Peter Drucker. I used to read portions of that book quite regularly, and particularly some of the case studies of remarkable NPOs that Peter Drucker had provided. Unfortunately, I find that book is missing now, like so many others that I possessed. Most likely someone borrowed that book from me, and it never came back. However, the lessons of that book remain with me, particularly because they highlighted the need for enlightened management in organizations like ours. Indeed, those NPOs which really do well are driven by outstanding leadership at every level and management structures and styles that are far superior to those found in some of the best profit making organizations. An NPO firstly has to create a structure which is essentially flat, because that is the best prerequisite for tapping the initiative and ingenuity of talented people in the most effective way. Further, since an NPO does not get confined by its direct answerability to a group of shareholders, it must regard itself as accountable to a much larger universe of people and their expectations. It is also true that an NPO has a longer time horizon to drive its efforts than a typical profit making company, which spends far too much effort in maximizing profits merely in the next quarter. The fact that NPOs have to build up their activities and capacity by mobilizing financial resources from a range of sources also imbues it with an ability to market ideas and concepts, which in the process get refined and acquire much higher validity for societal needs than would be the case with a typical profit making organization. 

Publisher/Organisation: TERI

Source: TERI Intranet