Managing for Change: Leadership and Strategy in Asian NGOs

This book is about how some of the most successful non-governmental development organisations in the world are managed. It deals with issues of growth, leadership and context, and questions the usefulness of Western management doctrine.
The case studies highlight the important role of learning for the success and growth of NGOs. But the book questions the myth that NGOs are intrinsically learning organisations. This is no simple process, and neither a formulaic one, readily adaptable from blueprints and manuals. Rather it is seen as an ongoing informal process of action learning supported by formal training, research and other management systems. Organisational learning is described as a dynamic process that integrates the informal (dialogue, reflection and learning by doing) and the formal (training courses, seminars, commissioned research, evaluations and documentations), with learning as both an incremental and an experiential process.

In terms of the development of strategy, it is pointed out that fundamental strategies frequently take sharp turns in directions as the result of a catharsis within the organisation, or one created by external forces, and also in some cases as the result of opportunistic and entrepreneurial strategies. The emergent and adaptive reality of strategy-making notwithstanding, NGOs everywhere are pressed, especially by donors, for explicit, long-range strategic plans. This is a throwback to the rationalist school of planning, and the authors emphasise that formal strategy is not the magic bullet many have made it out to be, largely due to the volatile environment in which NGOs operate as well as the trade-offs that exist between processes and individuals.