Identifying and measuring management deficiency in non-profit associations.

Identifying and measuring management deficiency in non-profit associations.

The need to measure the performance of non-profit committees has been recognised for over 30 years primarily because of the direct relationship between committee performance and association performance but also because identifying management strengths and weaknesses across a range of performance factors forms the basis for an effective management development programme. The results of past studies are generally inconclusive leading to a lack of consensus as to which is the best approach. The objective for this study was to demonstrate that a heuristic methodology does produce an acceptable, approximate solution to the measurement of individual management performance in a non-profit committee. Testing established that the heuristic model produced a satisfactory solution and was able to provide a detailed assessment of management strengths and weaknesses across a wide range of factors. The solution produced by the model was validated by demonstrating that there was an alignment of the results produced by the heuristic model and those obtained by an alternate method.

Analysis of the results obtained from a sample of non-profit committee members provided clear evidence that management skills, management experience, relevant knowledge and commitment are key competencies for non-profit committee members. The level of deficiency in these factors will directly affect the level of individual and committee management deficiency. A direct, positive relationship between age and management performance was also identified. The findings suggest that, in general, the competencies required to manage the affairs of smaller non-profit associations are concentrated in one or two individuals. Within these individuals, a high level of experience gained from years of serving on the committee, combined with the accumulated knowledge of the association’s culture, norms and management processes, forms the means by which the association is managed.

This research provides a platform from which the scope of the model can be extended to make it applicable to larger associations and provide global access to the model through the development of an on-line application. The heuristic methodology employed in this study could be used to find a solution to another important problem in the non-profit field: measuring the performance of a non-profit association in achieving its objectives.