The Assessment of Models in an Organisation: National Federation of Voluntary Bodies

Introduction

Solving management issues are crucial in the work for every organisations. Non-profit organisations are no exception. The transition to the market relations has encouraged non-profit organisations to become aware that management is a key factor in an effective operation these days. Non-profit organisations have ceased to consider themselves as closed systems that implement statutory goals through public funds. Orientation towards consumers has become one of the main strategies of their activity. Non-profit organisations have been sufficiently addressed to the study of clients’ interests, desires, needs and motivations, as well as the cooperation with different groups of consumers and diversification of activities. The tasks of promotion of non-commercial services, price policy formation, and attraction of additional sources of financing have become more relevant now.

The National Federation of Voluntary Bodies is the non-profit organisation that has combined willingly and non-willingly bodies with the aim to provide services to individuals with intellectual disability in Ireland. The current research paper critically evaluates the culture of the residential area in the organisation with respect to enhancing an effective organisational performance as well as discuss the ways in which the culture should be supported or changed. The National Federation of Voluntary Bodies is one of the non-profit organisations that has managed to build an effective organisational model of management that allows successfully operating within the area of proficiency.

The Evaluation of the Organisational Model of National Federation of Voluntary Bodies

Types of Organisational Models of Management

The organisational structure of an administrative apparatus is a type of division of labour in the management of production. Each department and job position is created to perform a specific set of management or work functions (Rudani 2013, p. 300). To perform the functions of a division, managers are given certain rights to use the resources and are responsible for performance of functions assigned to the particular division.

The scheme of the organisational structure of management reflects a static position of subdivisions and job positions as well as the nature of the relationships between them. Organisational models can be structured by functions, types of products or provided services (Robbins et al. 2013, p. 140). The functional model is a step-hierarchical structure. In fact, it is characterised by the presence of single-sided managers with assisted functional bodies. Under this model, lower level managers are not administratively subordinated to the functional leaders of top-level managers (Neelankavil 2015, p. 24). The divisional structure of the organisational model is divided either by the part of activity or geographical area (Phillips & Gully 2013, p. 473). The matrix structure is characterised by the fact that an executor can have two or more leaders. Such a scheme has been used in the research data management and development for a long time, and it is now widely used in organisations that operate in many areas (Truxillo, Bauer & Erdogan 2015, p. 533). The discussed organisational structures are a basis of the models in organisations. In fact, there are other different models and their combinations are diverse (Child 2015). However, the discussion of the basic models helps to determine the organisational model of the National Federation of Voluntary Basis as well as critically assess it and offer recommendations on the improvements based on the assessment.

The Organisational Model of National Federation of Voluntary Bodies and Its Assessment

The National Federation of Voluntary Bodies is a non-profit organisation which consists of willingly and non-willingly institutions that assist individuals with the intellectual disability in Ireland. The mission of the National Federation of Voluntary Bodies is the following:

To provide the leadership and support that will enable willingly organisations to adapt to a radically changing operating environment, with the ultimate aim of ensuring that the people whom our members support benefit from best quality service according to their needs. (National Federation of Voluntary Bodies 2017e)

The values that the organisation shares are loyalty, commitment, professional attitude, provision of qualified services among others (National Federation of Voluntary Bodies 2017h). The National Federation of Voluntary Bodies has the matrix organisational structure. It is supported by the fact that the institution has been divided into departments managed by two leaders. The top managers are entitled to select five senior managers, each of them should operate in one department of the institution (National Federation of Voluntary Bodies 2017i). The choice of the matrix organisational model allows the institution to solve the tasks of integrating different types of work and create a large number of communication channels and centres for the adoption of technical and technological solutions. As a result, the establishment of the matrix model allows uniting target and complex groups of specialists by a separate type of product.

The Assessment of the Effectiveness of the Organisation

The fact that non-profit organisations are not required to pay dividends and do not provide commercial benefits to their founders and stakeholders does not mean that its leaders should not care about the effectiveness of their institutions. Otherwise, non-profit organisations can turn into a source of charity or enrichment of individuals (Hopkins 2012, p. 261). The lack of attention to the efficiency can ultimately quickly lead to the condition of a financial crisis in case a non-profit institution is wasting resources that could be spent on other social needs.

Since the problem of assessing the effectiveness of non-profit organisations is to measure the volume of the services provided at the output, which is very difficult to do numerically, the attention shifts to measuring and controlling the input costs. According to Patranabis and Gupta (2016, p. 84), organisations can be estimated by such criteria as: quality management, quality of products and services, the ability to innovate, the volume of long-term investments, the financial position, the ability to attract and develop high-quality human resources, the responsibility before the society and the environment, as well as the extensive use of the organisation’s assets. Some of these criteria are also suitable for the evaluation of the effectiveness of non-profit organisations. These are the quality management, the ability to innovate, the ability to attract and develop high-quality human resources, as well as the responsibility to the society and the environment. The assessment of the effectiveness of the National Federation of Voluntary Bodies will be based on these four criteria.

Thus, the National Federation of Voluntary Bodies operates in a wide range of services offered for individuals with intellectual disabilities. According to the National Federation of Voluntary Bodies (2017j), the institution constantly improves the quality of the provided services guided by the long-term objectives outlined in the Strategic Plan 2016 – 2019 of the National Federation. The effective strategy allows the institution to conduct analysis of the standards adopted in the organisation, estimate the need for innovations to increase the quality of services and practices, as well as to provide an advisory support to willingly and non-willingly bodies who are a part of the institution.

At the same time, the non-profit organisation has introduced a wide range of innovations that are available on the institution’s official website. Bu doing so, they allow realising that it is in compliance with the criteria of the ability to innovate enough up-to-date techniques and technologies to support the individuals with intellectual disabilities with enough knowledge and assistance these days. In particular, customers can download directly from the website the programs and the respective literature that can help them to adapt to the modern society (National Federation of Voluntary Bodies 2017l). The institution is actively supporting the third parties that assist the individuals with intellectual disabilities, which is outlined in the institution’s supporting services (National Federation of Voluntary Bodies 2017g). The organisation has also a family and friends’ forum where all the participants can actively discuss current issues and concerns (National Federation of Voluntary Bodies 2017b). The discussion groups and symposiums conducted by the National Federation of Voluntary Bodies allow all the participants to get familiar with innovations and modern tendencies related to the area of concern (National Federation of Voluntary Bodies 2017a). Additionally, the organisation conducts events to discuss the achievements of all the parties involved, which also allows it to improve the quality of provided services and evaluate the effectiveness of the performance (National Federation of Voluntary Bodies 2017c). The adoption of educational and partnership progress is also one of the institution’s achievements that allow effectively assess its performance and determine the future goals (National Federation of Voluntary Bodies 2017f). Moreover, the organisation provides features and tutorials for the individuals with intellectual disabilities and family members (National Federation of Voluntary Bodies 2017d). Finally, the institution holds events to establish new relationships with potential partners and family members (National Federation of Voluntary Bodies 2017k). All these features support the fact that the organisation is effective in its performance with a constant implementation of innovations along with the quality of services and management.

Recommendations on the Improvement

The critical evaluation of the organizational model and the effectiveness of the performance of the National Federation of Voluntary Bodies has allowed providing the following recommendations that would allow it to improve both the work and the quality of provided services. Thus, it is recommended to develop a personal list of the performance evaluation criteria. The recommendation is based on the fact that there is no one or several defined criteria for assessing the performance of any organisation, especially for non-profit organisations, which have more significant differences among each other. Another recommendation is to develop a deeper analysis of the operational performance based on a monthly, quarterly and semi-annual evaluation, which would allow it to add more client-oriented features and tools to reach a more advanced level of the service provision that can serve as an example for other non-profit organisations that operate within the same area.

Conclusion

The conducted functional-structural analysis of the management of organisations has allowed conducting that the administration of non-profit organisations has many similarities with the administration of profitable companies, however, it has some differences too. In particular, the evaluation of the effectiveness of the performance of such organisations is generally based on four criteria. These are the quality management, the ability to innovate, the ability to attract and develop high-quality human resources, as well as the responsibility to the society and the environment. The National Federation of Voluntary Bodies has managed to build an effective organisational model of management that allows successfully operating within the area of proficiency. At the same time, it has been recommended for the organisation to develop a personal list of the performance evaluation criteria to improve both the work and the quality of provided services. The development of a deeper analysis of the operational performance based on a monthly, quarterly and semi-annual evaluation are recommended as this feature would allow the institution to add more client-oriented features and tools that could help it to reach a more advanced level of the service provision, serving as an example for other non-profit organisations that operate within the same area.

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