What particular kinds of problems, issues and constraints do managers in the pub

Question

What particular kinds of problems, issues and constraints do managers in the public and non-profit sectors have to confront in conducting basic management processes e.g, in budgeting, planning and decision-making, managing human resources, designing and organizing work, leading and implementing organizational change, and participating effectively in policy-making and political processes?

How do theses constraints vary with the type of agency or program and with levels of government and what can they do to overcome these constraints?

Explanation / Answer

Changing trends have forced public non-profit organizations change their goals and objectives at regular intervals. Apart from securing the financial resources, wok in this sector is pretty demanding and requires a unique set of traits to come out as a successful manager or leader. They should always remain humble to receive assistance and should be able to strike the right balance between high productivity and great creativity.

Some regular problems or issued faced by them and the way they can overcome can be listed as follows:

1.       Limited Assistance and Help – Non-profit organizations (NPOs) do not have the same proposition as for-profit companies and requires them to be dependent on others and in case of a Public NPO, this would primarily be the government – which is often entrenched in bureaucracy. Managers should be open to help and should get a board in place in order to focus on the areas of weaknesses and requires immediate attention.

2.       Striking the balance between creativity and productivity – Enabling Innovation and high productivity go hand in hand, however in cases of NPOs maintaining this is a great issue when it comes to planning and decision-making. Innovation certainly requires time and focus, however when budget is constrained, the focus automatically goes to activities which need prior attention instead of the long-term goals. Firstly, it is important for NPOs here to leverage on industry partnerships and get processes and tools created with the help of players in the industry. Secondly, the focus should be on coaching and creating programs for the employees in order to instill a culture of innovation. It is important to give the employees the time to think and consider ways to grow the organization.

3.       Coping with the Complex Model of Operation – Most NPOs are service organizations that operate under a separate tax code. However, the expectations from a NPO is pretty different from their for-profit counterparts. The services should have very low overheads and the service staff is to be paid minimally and look for more ‘free’ labor that volunteers. This is where a manager or leader needs to inspire and motivate both the volunteers as well as the paid staff. They must be aligned with the work at hand and also be open to the changes coming along.

4.       Unclear deliverables and deadlines to meet them – Often the task deliverables are vaguely described and to add to that the timelines itself are not pretty clear and is often extended or terminated indeterminately. This is a big challenge for the industry leaders. Emotions are involved when it comes to the volunteers and staff and often donors opt to fund programs instead of the operating costs, this creates a constant rift. It takes a lot of effort to refuse a certain task and omit tasks which are not critical

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