Question

As organization evolve and business practices are adapted, what are some forces that you believe have implications for managing change within public and nonprofit organizations?

(200 words or more)

Answer 1

The Public or Government organizations & Non-profit organizations operating in a country do face situations in which they are bound to adapt several unwilling changes. Some of them are good while some of them require major overhauling of the organizations. The modus operandi i.e. the way of operation, of the public & non-profit organizations differ in a varied manner because of their rules, regulations, objectives, monetary & non-monetary concerns.

The factors affecting can be:-

External - Globalization, Economic, Legal, Technological & Competitive forces.

Internal - Management changes, Restructuring of organizations, Policies & regulations of the organization.

Non-profit Organizations -

• A non-profit organization or NGO operates for welfare purposes to serve the society & nation.
• They have limited resources from which they can garner funds, human resources, technology, etc. Thus, compared to public organizations there exists many constraints in the path of non-profit organizations.
• Internal policies & rules of non-profit organization demarcate how they perform, as they are the guidelines followed by the staff, managers, etc. Transparency & efficiency in their functioning depends on how they manage to operate within the constraints of resources.
• In case of a rapidly changing economic scenario, they have two options - either to cut costs or prepare to shut down/fold. Cutting cost is a feasible option that can be done via reducing the stationary cost, low-cost marketing, use of technology in service delivery & in meetings, conferences rather than lavish traveling.
• 2008 global recession, 2017 European crisis & economic crunch in developing countries limited the capabilities to spend for non-profit organizations. As they could not hire highly skilled talent, neither they could afford big offices to run their operations, etc.
• Legal changes pose new challenges for such organizations as they have to change their process & schemes as per the new law which is more cumbersome on their pockets. Example - India in 2016 canceled the registration of many such organizations due to changes brought to the foreign funding rules. Also, In the USA, after the election of Donald Trump as President, new policies were formed that adversely affected the non-profit organizations.
• In terms of technology, Cloud computing & artificial intelligence & other important applications help non-profits organizations to spend reasonably.

Public Organizations -

Public organizations have the privilege of support in various dimensions - funds, human resources, technology, infrastructure, etc.

• All the changes in law, policies, budgeting norms are brought by the government which takes into consideration the public organization because ultimately it is the government that has to bear the sweet or sour fruit of resulting profit or loss if the public organizations perform well or unwell.
• Taxes paid by such organizations are huge that affects the government finances. Public organizations are competent to evolve as per the external factors of economy, law & technological challenges & if they dwindle then they get the help of the government.
• The internal infrastructure of public organizations is well-organized & has a hierarchy following which the people operate thus, a chain of command is present to manage the functions. The infrastructure & ample access to resources provide leverage to them to operate with effectiveness & efficiency.
• However, the public organizations have to deal with the dynamics of government when the government gets replaced by the new leader or party via the election. Example - the funding for health organizations in the USA was altogether different during the Obama government & today it is different in the Trump government.

Thus, several factors either external or internal combinedly bring the organizations to change & affect the ways in which they operate. A single factor is crucial & can be vital for both non-profit or public organizations. Therefore, proper planning, budgeting & execution strategies are required in the changing times.