Most business people feel that Non Profits are highly inefficient like government agencies. Few would deny that government agencies are inefficient, yet many hold short when criticizing non-profits; why is this? Well we know from watching disaster response that many non-profit groups operating on a shoestring get the job done. They are often much more efficient than government throwing huge amounts of money at each problem. Are all non-profits inefficient or just the large organizations? Are non-profit groups inefficient in all nations? One business management consultant recently spoke of the situation in Canada; Rather, I have seen governmental and non-profit agencies around us here in Canada that are wasteful and inefficient. That happens everywhere bureaucracy is. So, NGOs, Government and the largest non-profits are always having this problem. But on the flip side look at GM, IBM, etc. Corporations also are often inefficient; even cheat to hide that fact to keep up shareholders equity and quarterly profits by calling in favors from government regulators, switcheroos on book-to-bill ratios or even cooking the books. Many are top-heavy, slow to get out of their own way and such. You know the school systems, United Nations, even the US Military has its moments and you just look and say; "Oh my gosh, can't they do better than that?" All bureaucracies of humans stagnate. Sports teams, which get too cocky, legislatures, committees? Our Canadian Business Management Consultant is right; I see it too. Nevertheless many non-profits are much more efficient than Government Agencies and it is good to see that government agencies realize this and subsidize them with funding rather than trying to do it themselves. Most businesses with a profit motive run more efficiently than both non-profits and governments. This should be discussed in all Business Management Schools even those which are the most liberal in thinking. Consider all this in 2006. |
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