Maung Maung Myint Thein (University of Technology) - Management of Non-Profit Organizations

Part (1)

Chapter (1)

Promised work

Charitable organizations are non-profit organizations . They are voluntary organizations. They are also called charitable organizations. In essence, a charitable organization is an organization that is established to make a difference in an individual or a community. The first thing to discuss is what kind of action is beneficial and what kind of action is not beneficial. The next thing is how to define the term “action”. The final proof of an action is not the beauty of the action. The ultimate test of an action is the correctness of the action.

The most common question I get from executives in charitable organizations is what qualities make a leader. This question assumes that leadership is a skill that can be learned in a school. But there is also a tendency to assume that if you have leadership, the game is over. This is a misunderstanding of leadership. Basically, a leader who is only concerned with himself is a misunderstanding of leadership. The three most charismatic and influential leaders of this century have caused more suffering to the public than any other three in human history. They are Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. What really matters is the actions of the leader. Therefore, the first task of a leader is to first consider and define the organization's mission and actions.

Strong practicality is setting goals.

I would like to present a very simple and everyday example. This is the case of a hospital.

It is our duty to comfort those who are sick.

The explanation of the matter is simple, clear, and to the point. It is direct.

The responsibilities of the Girl Scouts of the United States

The announcement is -

To raise girls with dignity, self-confidence, and integrity.

To help others grow.

On the East Coast, there was a church called the Immaculate Conception, and its mission was to establish Jesus as its head and chief executive. Consider the Salvation Army's mission, which was to raise up the outcasts of life to become good men. Arnold of Rugby, one of the greatest English scholars of the 19th century who created the English public schools, declared that the mission of the school was to raise up the savages to become good men.

But my favorite definition of responsibility is not that of a charity. It is that of a business. It is that philosophy that has transformed the company from a struggling mail-order retailer at the turn of the century to one of the world’s leading retailers in less than a decade. Their philosophy is that our responsibility is to be a responsible consumer. First, it was for American farmers, then it was for American families.

Every hospital I know says that our job is to provide health care. That is a false interpretation. Hospitals do not provide health care. They provide care for illness. You and I take care of our health by not smoking, not drinking too much alcohol, going to bed early, being careful not to gain weight, etc. It is only when health care breaks down that the hospital comes into play. The more serious misrepresentation of this responsibility is that no one can say what the words “our job is to provide health care” mean or what the actions or behaviors are.

A mission statement needs to be actionable. Otherwise, it's just a good intention. A mission statement should focus on what the organization is actually trying to do and do what it says. Only then can each member of the organization say, "This is my contribution to achieving this goal."

Many years ago, I sat down with the hospital administrators to think about the theme of the emergency room in a large hospital. It took a long time to come to terms with the obvious and simple fact that the emergency room exists to provide relief to those who are sick. To provide that service, you need to know what’s going on in the emergency room. The doctors and nurses were amazed to find that the typical practice in a good emergency room was to tell eight out of ten patients, “It’s okay, just get a good night’s sleep and you’ll be fine.” You’re having a seizure or your child has the flu. Your child isn’t seriously ill. The doctors and nurses reassured them.

We thought about that. But it seemed so obvious. Yet the practical application of that mission statement is to have a doctor or nurse on duty within a minute of the patient’s arrival. That is the main mission. That is the goal. The rest is just implementation. Some patients are rushed to the emergency room. Some are given a lot of tests. Some are even told, “Go home and sleep, don’t worry about taking a headache medicine, and if you’re still in pain, see a doctor tomorrow.” But the goal is to see everyone almost immediately. Only then can we provide comfort, provide reassurance.

The task of the charity manager is to refine the mission statement of the organisation into a coherent whole. The mission may be eternal or it may be for an indefinite period of time. As long as there is a human race, there will be sick people. There will be alcoholics, drug addicts, and those with low karma. For hundreds of years we have had schools trying to instill a modicum of knowledge into the minds of seven- or eight-year-olds who want to play. But the goal may be short-term.

The task will change dramatically if it is implemented. The greatest invention of the 19th century, more than a hundred years ago, was the eradication of tuberculosis. In developed countries, that task has already been completed. We know how to treat tuberculosis with biological drugs. So the management of charitable organizations also systematically implements recycling, transformation and disposal. The task is eternal, the goals are temporary.

The biggest mistake we make is to make a mission statement into a well-meaning sandwich. The mission statement needs to be simple and clear. As you add new responsibilities, you need to eliminate old responsibilities. That's all you can do. Look at what we're trying to do in colleges. The mission statement is complicated. We're trying to do fifty things. That's not going to work. That's why traditional colleges attract so many young people. Their vision is very narrow. You and I are fighting against each other, and that's too narrow. But it's simple. It gives students the ability to understand. It also gives teachers the knowledge. It also gives the administration the ability to say, "We're going to teach accounting."

You have to add and you have to discard. But how much can we do? We have to think about what is really important and what is not. The best service that hospitals have provided in the past hundred years is obstetrics.