Nonprofit Leadership - Coursework Example

Nonprofit Leadership Nonprofit Leadership Introduction It often d that the success or failure of any organization depends on the leadership style adopted by business managers. An organization’s leader is charged with the responsibility of making key decisions such as those related to planning, organizing, controlling, and ensuring that everything is done in accordance with the organization’s mission and vision (McCormack, 2010). This is particularly applicable to nonprofit organizations. It is noted that the world has in recent years, witnessed unprecedented growth of nonprofit making organizations. This certainly provides a new opportunity for leaders to discover and apply the best leadership styles to cope up with the demographic and socio-economical shifts witnessed in such organizations. This implies that upcoming as well as the veteran nonprofit organizations must rise up to the challenge to ensure effective management and service delivery to their target populations. This paper will examine critical issues pertaining to nonprofit organizations. More specifically, the paper will discuss the demand forecast for leaders in the nonprofit sector, how the responsibilities of nonprofit leaders differ from those of commercial sectors, and the various skills and traits required of nonprofit leaders. It will also examine whether there are any differences between business and nonprofit leaders with regard to demographic variables, and diversity issues in nonprofit organizations. Finally, the paper will conclude by analyzing how the skills of nonprofit leaders may lead may lead to future organizational change. It is vital to understand what nonprofit organizations are and what they do. Generally speaking, a not-for profit organization is any entity that is formed with objectives other than making of profits, and in which no director, officer, or member is entitled to receive incomes generated by the organization. They may come in the form of an individual enterprise, corporation, foundations, unincorporated associations, or partnerships among others. The law requires these organizations to be designated as not-for profit when being formed. They are required only to pursue those objectives permitted by the laws governing nonprofit organizations (Deitrick et al., 2008). The nonprofit sectors are said to play a critical role in the US at all levels, be it in cities, nation, states, and region (Deitrick et al., 2008). This is because they play a role in improving people’s living standards across the country. Majority of nonprofit making organizations in the U.S. provide services aimed at assisting people who are less fortunate in society. This include providing food to hunger stricken areas, shelter to those displaced by calamities be it natural such as earth quakes, and landslides, tsunami or conflicts among others. Others does the work of empowering people in the society by promoting education by providing training facilities and services, as well as heath care facilities to better the lives of the people (Deitrick et al., 2008). There are several examples of nonprofit organizations, which includes public clinics, churches, political organizations, volunteer services, museums, labor unions, research institutes legal and aid societies and hospitals, just to name a few. The Projected Demand for Leaders in the Nonprofit Sector What many business leaders and economist agree on that many organizations nowadays are faced with many challenges than ever before. Among the challenges, notes among business leaders and theories are stiff competition for talented employees. As a result, since the strength of many organizations are on their workers, this implies that these organization must make every effort aimed at fin ding, attracting as well as retaining talented leaders irrespective of the economic situation the organization finds itself at. Nonprofit making organizations are arguably the most affected by this challenge of leadership deficit (Tirney, 2006). Tirney (2006) revealed this fact in which after conductive a survey on nonprofit making organizations in 2006, the survey discovered a looming leadership deficit in the not-for profit sector. The study concluded that nonprofit sectors would have to attract and develop a leadership population of 2.4 times the number that was being absorbed then. The research is indeed a confirmation that leadership deficit a big issue in the past few years with the situation likely to worsen in the future. This deficit was mainly attributed to the retirement of the baby boomers. Nevertheless, current increase in demand for leaders in the nonprofit sector is attributed to new roles emerging from the growth and complexity of the organization. Another challenge is that many leaders will be required to cover the deficit created by those retiring and resigning, there is likely to be a shortfall especially in finding the right people within the nonprofit sector to take up the vacancies created. It is projected that not-for profit organizations would be compelled to look for talented leaders with exceptional functional skills from the for-profit organization, otherwise filling the deficit would not be easy. Tirney (2006) reveals that in 2009 alone more than 24,000 new job openings were created for senior management positions but there were no enough people with the requisite skills to take up the jobs. These are among the reasons that necessitated the establishment of the American Express Nonprofit Leadership Academy by the American Express working together with the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) in a bid to promote the sector’s emerging leaders (Tirney, 2006). How the Roles of Leaders Differ in the Nonprofit And Commercial Sectors Organizational leaders generally play a vital role in an organization whether in for-profit or nonprofit sectors. In non-profit sectors, leaders are mainly seen in the form of executives, donors, board members, and partners. Nevertheless, many leaders who have worked in both organizations attest that there are certain differences in roles between for-profit and not-for profit organizations according to Sylverman and Taliento (2006). One of the differences noted by Novelli is that leadership in nonprofit organizations is behavioral as opposed to for-profit organizations. He says that this makes management in nonprofit organizations difficult. He also notes that many business leaders within the non-profit sector tend not to take their board members serious as seen with the profit making sectors. Sylverman and Taliento (2006) note that nonprofit leaders have fewer powers and control as regard the management of the business than their profit making counterparts. This is because their scope to make decisions is greatly limited. Moreover, they note that unlike in for-profit organizations, leaders of not-for profit are answerable to so many stakeholders. This makes their work more complex than their profit oriented counterparts. The other difference is that nonprofit organization leaders lack instruments for measuring their performance as there are no requirements of profit which would otherwise be used to determine their performance even as they are often under close scrutiny by the media and politicians. Skills and traits required of an effective nonprofit leader Based on the complexities and challenges facing nonprofit organizations today, one may argue that these organizations need less than a miracle leader at the top to propel the organization to glory. In this regard, successful nonprofit leaders are expected to have certain skills and traits to enable them achieve the organization’s set objectives. Most important is that they must be excellent organizers, and posses managerial skills of how to raise funds from donors. The reason being, most non-profit organizations not supported by government of the day mostly depend on donor findings. As such, the manager at the helm must have the skills of raising funds (Non Profit Leadership alliance, 2011). Secondly, a nonprofit leader must be a team builder. The resource being, majority of nonprofit organizations depend on volunteering for delivery of services. As such, the leader at the helm must be an individual who can unite people to assist in the delivery of services. A manager who lacks such qualities is more likely to fail a nonprofit organization (Non Profit Leadership alliance, 2011). Thirdly, such a leader must be visionary. It is reported that one reason many not-for profit organizations fail is poor leadership or management. As Peter Drucker once noted, a leader should know what is desired of them and plan effectively towards the attainment of that objective but still end up failing because of poor communication of those visions to the staff, volunteers and to other fellow leaders. As such, he concluded that being able to mesh with other members of the organization is vital for any leader who wants to move forward (Non Profit Leadership alliance, 2011). Fourthly, since leaders are responsible for planning the activities of an organization, a nonprofit leader must have the requisite skill needed to direct the organization into the future. This certainly requires someone exceptional planning skills otherwise the organization may not be able to achieve its set targets. As such, the leaders must be able to plan well all the activities of the organization, which should then be communicated effectively to the organization’s volunteers, staff, and fellow leaders (Non Profit Leadership alliance, 2011). Conflicts are very common in organizations whether commercial or not-for-profit. Nevertheless, what matters is the ability of the leaders at the helm to deal with such conflicts without negatively affecting the the organization’s image. It is in this regard that a good nonprofit leader should have the skills of how to deal effectively with conflicts within the organization. Organizations that do not have leaders who can deal with conflicts are likely to fail because of their failure to effectively deal with conflicts (Non Profit Leadership alliance, 2011). Do business leaders and nonprofit leaders differ with respect to demographic variables? Is there more or less diversity among nonprofit leaders than among business leaders? Demographic variables refer to factors such as religion, income, family size, ethnicity, education, race, nationality, and age. It is seen that both businesses tend to divide the organization into such groups, a feature seen in mainly among business leaders. This is not common among nonprofit leaders because diversity issues are considered very sensitive in a not-for-profit organization. What is seen is that there is more diversity among nonprofit leaders than business leaders. Most business leaders tend to employ based on tribe, race, ethnicity, religion, and nationality among other demographic factors. This explains the reason as to why there is less diversity among business leaders. In fact, one may enter an organization and find that all the leaders in the organization either come from one ethnic group or share the same religious background. Certainly, this is never the case with non-profit organizations. Most of these organizations employ staff based on merit irrespective of nationality, religion, political affiliations, and race among other factors. In fact, it is very rare to enter a not-for profit organization and find that it is only composed of leaders from the same background. How will the skills of nonprofit leaders successfully lead to their organizations change in the future? The world is changing at very first pace thus bringing a lot of challenges to many organizations. These changes are inevitable and must be acceptable in order for the organization to keep pace with competition that is posing a threat to many nonprofit organizations. Therefore, the only way to drive an organization to future change is by leaders making good use of their skills at every management levels. For instance, leaders must be able to use their skills to plan well and effect change in an organization (McCormack, 2010). It is noted that many people tend to resist change and will always do everything within their means to resist that change. This implies that a leader who is not skillful enough will not be able to mobilize those who are resistant to change to accept inevitable changes in the business market. Skills can also foster future change in that it will enable the organization to position itself for such changes in advance and these calls for a visionary leader with the skills to forecast on the future prospects and put everything in place to achieve such future prospects (McCormack, 2010). Conclusion Nonprofit organization certainly plays a big role in the U.S. and need to be provided with the necessary support from the government. This is because the government may not be in a position to reach everybody with vital services. For instance, nonprofit organizations have immensely contributed toward the welfare of the less fortunate people in society as they supply them with basic items and services that they may not acquire themselves especially during disasters. Despite the noble role that it plays, the challenges of leadership seem to affect this sector. There are few experts who can effectively take up leadership positions that arise for various reasons in not-for profit organizations. Nevertheless, it is important therefore for government should collaborate with nonprofit organizations to set up tertiary institutions to train business leaders on how to manage nonprofit organizations. This will see the country acquire more expertise to spur the sector into the future. With enough nonprofit leaders, certainly the country will see an improvement in service delivery that many Americans are yarning for. References Deitrick, S., Briem, C., Collins, K., & Xie, H. (2008). The nonprofit sector: An economic and community asset. Tropman Reports. Vol. 7, No. 1. McCormack, K. (2010). Nonprofit leadership, Introduction: Miracle Workers at the helm. New Ways of Exercising Leadership. New England Journal of Public Policy. Vol. 23, Issue 1, pp. 135-137. Non Profit Leadership alliance (2011). The skills the nonprofit sector requires of its managers and leaders. A Research Report. Silverman, L., & Taliento, L. (2006). What business execs don’t know-but should-about nonprofits. Stanford Social Innovation Review. Retrieved from: http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/what_business_execs_dont_know_but_should_about_nonprofits Tirney, T. (2006). The nonprofit sector’s leadership deficit. The Bridgespan Group. March, pp. 1-3. Read More