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New and young NGO's are often characterised by a pioneer attitude: everything is done by everybody, no model exists, the organisation knows hardly any structure, rules or regulations, a lot of time is spent on consulting together.
Main characteristics of a pioneer organisation:
THE FOUNDER. The founder has a central role accepted and appreciated by the others.
CLIMATE. The climate is characterised by feeling connected and by solidarity: we are a big family. The leader knows everybody personally and knows details about personal background and circumstances.
CULTURE. The organisational culture (social intercourse, common norms and values) of the pioneer organisation is characterised by commitment to the goals, to the people and to the organisation, and by hard working and making overtime.
THE LEADER. The leader knows all the nitty gritty of the organisation, did all the various activities him/herself, and is capable to demonstrate how things should be done.
COMMITMENT. People are committed by ideology. A strong engagement exists, aimed at changing the world. The demands of change are equally applied to themselves and to the way in which the organisation is functioning. Theory and actual behaviour should be congruent: horizontal, responsible, equality etc.
ABSENCE OF STRUCTURE. No rules, no job descriptions, no descriptions of authority. In other words: no formalised communication.
DISTRIBUTIONS OF TASKS. Everybody in the organisation does the work that suits him or her. The decision what tasks shall be done is dependent on the qualities and preferences of the workers. (Instead of deciding which task has to be done and looking which person is fit for it). The factual organisational structure is an invented one, but it works all right.
WORKING STYLE. People are improvising, the level of flexibility is high, the organisation is capable to offer tailor-made solutions.
RELATIONSHIP WITH CLIENTS. There is a strong relationship with clients.
In such organisations the spirit of pioneering prevails. No models exist, except those produced by the organisation itself. No beaten roads, only paths invented by the organisation itself. A self confident scouting mentality exists. People belief in the own mission and success will be obtained in a non conventional manner. There are no specialists, only those who became specialist by doing the work in the organisation, for instance the founders or the people who joined in at an early stage. The work is continuously innovative, because of lacking models. But the organisation knows what it wants. There is a lot of reflection. Trial and error is the main working method. The members of the organisation feel unique.
If the organisation happens to live for a longer time the pioneers continue to outbalance the others, sometimes partly because the leaders cannot stand other person equalling them. Sharing the power and handing over the organisation to new members is often a painful process.
It is hard to keep the quality of the output on the same level, especially in a growing organisation in which the output is realised value driven, by personal motivation, commitment and willingness for action (inspired by the charismatic leader). The complexity of the work increases, a need for specialists develops, people who started the organisation are no longer in the majority and new ideas about how to work arise. The monopoly of the founders is waning.
The increasing complexity, the expanding size of the organisation and the growing quality demands of the outside world are reasons to take steps in the direction of professionalisation.
Professionalisation shows itself in the fact that all functions and positions in the organisation develop the tendency to consider themselves as a real profession, including the claim to be autonomous. Management, middle management, technical and supportive staff, all of them professionalize. People start to see themselves as professionals, with all the belonging qualifications, rules, standardisation and so on. Quality because of commitment will be gradually replaced by guarantees because of high education of the workers, standardisation of skills and procedures. This professionalisation leads to the streamlining of the organisation. The identity of the workers will gradually shift from being connected to the organisation towards being connected to the profession. The intuitive behaviour of the founders is regulated, everything will go more and more by the book. Such professionalisation is seen in practically all organisations stemming from an ideological movement: feminist women organisations, organisations of volunteers, action groups, environmental organisations, aid organisations etc.
A main trait is that values and ideology are replaced or supplied by acting business-like. Norms on how things should be done are no longer only derived from the founders but are also related to an external source.
Pioneering has big advantages: sharing the goals of the organisation is self-evident, the talent to improvise is big, there is a strong commitment to the clients, the members of the organisation are alert, motivated, they all want to dedicate themselves to the organisation. The organisation is vital and sparkles with energy. The working attitude is catching, the members are proud of the organisation, congruence between goals and behaviour is strong, ideals prevail.
Disadvantages of pioneering: there is hardly any routine, everything is invented again and again. The investment-output rate is unbalanced (often the organisation delivers a relatively small output with the effort of lot of people), the organisation often exhausts the human potential, the organisation depends too much on the leaders, their ideas are not open to question.
Working professionally has big advantages: quality is more or less guaranteed, knowledge and expertise from the outside world can contribute to quality by means of specialisation. There is less dependency on persons. Efficacy and efficiency can be pursued.
Disadvantages: dedication and motivation are not self-evident, innovation is enclosed in structures.
One is not by definition better than the other, but is only good or better related to a specific objective.
The way the organisation is structured, is it blocking the realisation of the goals or the output? Or does it fit just fine.
The desirability of a certain development has to be weighed by the possibilities of an organisation to react adequately. If for that sake the pioneering organisation should make a step towards professionalisation, the organisation should consider to do so. If a bit more of pioneering would be profitable for the professional organisation, than the organisation should look for an artful manner to return some of the pioneer mentality back again in doing the work.
For pioneers the question arises which advantages can be kept and combined with the advantages of the professional organisation. Sometimes it could be wiser not to strive too hard for professional characteristics. Sometimes it is important to strengthen the pioneer characteristics. Sometimes it would be in the interest of the organisation to shift a bit in the direction of the professional organisation, sometimes it is just a matter of survival to change radically towards being a professional organisation. No general rules exist.
Nowadays one can notice some planned design of organisations. Big bureaucratic organisations try to put in a pioneering attitude in some parts of the organisation, because of flexibility, innovation power and company spirit. Sometimes they succeed, but often one can notice tensions and problems on the borders between the mother organisation and the pioneering part. The same border collisions can happen between the established organisation and projects designed to operate in a pioneering way.
Problems (from the angle of the pioneer):
This picture may seem very cheerless, caused mainly by summing up all possible problems The solution is: try to keep in contact with the mother organisation, keep communicating, make her co-responsible for the success of the pioneering project, not in an offending way, but in a cooperating way. Look for allies within the mother organisation, start alliances with potential allies. Keep communicating on obstacles, pitfalls, possibilities and resources. Try to involve others in analysing the situation.
A process of strategic positioning may contribute to the choice which level of pioneering or professionalism should be obtained or maintained.
Future developments demand something of the organisation. Would it be possible to adapt to future conditions by some characteristics of the pioneering or the professional organisation?
The crucial question in planning the organisational design is the possibility to get rid of the disadvantages while keeping the advantages.
For those who want to learn more about strategic positioning: read: strategic positioning.