Read: organisations 5: Summary of From pioneering towards a professional organisation

1.Pioneer phase: the first years

1. there is a clear ideal, one goal and one strategy,
2. friendship, common values and culture, same way of doing things,
3. often an initiator, informal leader of a strong personality,
4. often strong separation from 'mainstream' ('we are different'), pride in that,
5. decision-making in the group by consensus without clear procedures,
6. assignment of duties based on individual wishes (and on the assumption that everybody can do everything), not on qualification.

2. Growing in size, projects, ideas: after some years

7. more (and sometimes different) goals and strategies are discovered
8. new people arrive, with different ideas and ways of doing things
9. more people with leadership qualities emerge or arrive
10. more co-operation with other groups/organisations is possible
11. sometimes more means (money, space, time) become available.
12. different groups/projects emerge, different types of decision-making.

3. Developing need for clarity in goals, strategies, organisational systems

13. reconsideration of goals, strategies and policies is necessary
14. central values and culture of the organisation needs attention/care/direction
15. clarity about division of responsibilities/leadership is needed
16. relationships with outside organisations need to be defined (strategies!!)
17. decisions about division of money, time, space etc. are necessary
18. a need for systems of communication, running meetings, decision making, organisation of the work, ways of planning and evaluation work etc.
19. discussion about the right quality of the work and learning capacity of the organisation and the individuals within it are needed.

4. Making the choice: what kind of organisation do we want to be, and why?

20. historical or cultural reasons or reasons of size
21. reasons related to the kind of people inside
22. reasons related to the nature of the work or the type of products
23. reasons related to the kind of relationship with the outside world

NGO's often experience a critical phase with internal tension when they are somewhere between the pioneer and more professional stages because performance of the organisation and it's internal organisation do not match with what is expected from insiders and sometimes from outsiders as well. Therefore this analysis- where are we - should be made.