World Vision in Australia - Case Study Example

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction………………………………………………………….1 World Vision…………………………………………………………2 History……………………………………………….2 Mission/Aim………………………………………….3 Achievements………………………………………..4 Plan (International) Australia………………………………………..5 History……………………………………………….5 Mission/Aim…………………………………………6 Achievements………………………………………..7 Comparative Analysis………………………………………………..9 Organisational Culture…………………………….…9 Leadership Style…………………………………….10 Marketing and Promotion…………………………...10 Diversity Management………………………………11 Conclusion…………………………………………………………...12 Recommendations…………………………………………………...13 References……………………………………………………………14 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1………………………………………………………………..8 Executive Summary Corporate Social Responsibility was previously a niche investment strategy but currently is a major priority for many institutions and investors worldwide. Investors have begun to look seriously at the social, environmental, and corporate governance risks that exist in their portfolios. As a result of this investor interest, companies are paying more attention to the way their companies handle these issues. This in turn enhances their reputation with investors, clients, staff and the general public, which is good for business. This Case Study will take an in-depth look at World Vision (Australia) and Plan (International) Australia which deal with children’s issues and determine which is deserving of the $200000 that the company wishes to donate. It will outline the companies’ histories, aims or goals, size, job description and achievements with the aim of determining the recipient of the donation. This analysis is based on four aspects of management that will be outlined. World Vision Australia strives to decimate poverty and disadvantage by using the transformational improvement method. There are aboriginal programs that focus on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, the KIDS HOPE AUS which centres on children who are at-risk. The Board of World Vision Australia will put in a long term outlay to expand the Australia Program through the next three years. Plan International is one of the oldest and biggest organisations that focus on children’s development. It has no political or religious plan but works in the grassroots of more than forty-nine developing countries. The aim is to empower the people to escape from poverty so the children can have a better life. It encourages full participation from the children. Chapter 1: Introduction The global financial crisis and other local changes in the Australian Non-Governmental sector have brought new challenges for the non-profit organisation. There have been noteworthy effects on both the developed and developing worlds as a result. A World Bank report stated that as many a ninety million more people were downgrade to below the poverty line in 2009. This is slightly less than the 130-155 million who were declared poor in 2008 due to the increased prices of food and fuel. There will have to be more effort by the developed world to achieve the Millennium Development Goals that are scheduled for 2015 considering the credit crunch and slower economic growth that is compromising government revenue. This scarcity of funds has extended to aid and development organisations in Australia and worldwide and thus affected long term strategic planning. Chapter 2: World Vision This is one of the largest and best known organisations in Australia. It is a non-denominational, Christian humanitarian aid agency. It began in the States in 1950 and expanded to Australia in 1966. The focus is mainly on children and that is its main source of funding. This is in form of backing that is given as a monthly commitment to a specific child. (Abboud, 2010) 2.1 History From inception, World Vision was designed to avail the opportunity for people to uplift themselves and improve their lives; especially children. It began in 1947 when Dr Robert Pierce who was an American missionary, went to China and Korea and met with a population that regularly battled hunger, lack of clothing and shelter or healthcare. When the war in Korea resulted in abandoned and orphaned children, he helped establish orphanages there. On his arrival back in the States, Dr Pierce conducted a funds drive to enable the continuation and growth of his work. The reaction to this from the public was quite fervent leading to the establishment of World Vision in September 1950 with Pierce as president. In 1966, the Australian branch was opened. Within those ten years, the work of World Vision grew its operations to cater for the requirements of refugees in Indo-China as well as persons recuperating from catastrophes in Bangladesh and other African countries. In situations where prolonged help was required, Americans, Australians and others began to sponsor them. The focus of World Vision expanded in the 1970s to encompass community development in addition to assistance of individual children. This ‘welfare’ attitude died out in the 1980s, replaced by a more collaborative affiliation. The recipients of assistance from World Vision work together with them to uplift their lives and take control of their destiny (World Vision Australia, 2009). 2.2 Mission / aim World Vision has a vision that every child should live life to the full, and pray that they have the will to make it so. Their mission is to change the lives of children and the communities they live in by dealing with the roots of poverty. Their values are a commitment to the poor and value of people. They stand as stewards and partners who are responsive Christians. The same standards that inform World Vision’s foreign programming are utilised to management of business in Australia. There is a strong belief in keeping stakeholders in the loop about operations within the organisation and obtaining feedback. There is also a strong belief that sustainability and poverty alleviation are connected and therefore this reinforces commitment to sustainable development as the core of all WVA work. Sustainable development is defined as that which caters to the present needs of the population without compromise to the capacity for future generations to provide for themselves. This is done by developing programs that encompass pressing needs such as clean water, agriculture, education, disaster preparedness and health. This all contributes to attainment of MDGs (World Vision, 2008). This system of management is the unified global theory, which is not a real theory but an amalgam of different theories under one umbrella. This includes an experiential management approach; application of structures of judgment and approach for improving and setting up and running of management responsibilities; coming together of inspiration and direction theories, etc. (Koontz et.al. 2004). 2.3 Achievements World Vision has a volunteer programme that has registered 2500 volunteers clocking 75,000 man hours annually to the work that World Vision do. Recruitment is so successful that a quarterly magazine name Pulse is published for volunteers (Volunteers with vision, 2004). There are also trained volunteers who man the quality control aspects of the work. Volunteers are drawn from the National Office, The Body Shop, National Australia Bank and ANZ bank as part of paid community work. Other volunteers are drawn from students. World Vision is very open to community involvement in their activities. Australia views World Vision as an icon of humanity and charity because of its reputation and the work it does. It is also associated with many Christian bodies and churches, for example the Christian City Church in Melbourne and the Hillsong Church (World Vision Australia, 2003) According to Ernst & Young audited report of 2005, World Vision raised $106.4million dollars in the wake of the 2004 tsunami through various calls for help for the survivors. There was also an increase to 12.6 million helpers, up from 10.4 million the year before. The Australian public increased donations by 23%. Number of children sponsored by Australians rose by 38,080. According to the 2006 report, there was a campaign to Make Poverty History which was a collaboration of various aid agencies and other stakeholders, in which one hundred thousand Australians took part. In the same year, there were cost saving initiatives that saved $ 1 million in overheads and administration. There was also a rise in universal vaccination from just 5% in the 1970s to about 70% today. Almost half a million Australians assisted over 12.4 million people in 57 of the world’s most poverty-stricken nations through 678 projects. Chapter 3: Plan (International) Australia Plan is an organisation that works with children to improve their lives by alleviating poverty and providing opportunity and sponsorship for them to succeed. They also attempt to encourage development in the communities from which these children hail by providing opportunities for them to receive education and other basic services. Plan works to make lives of children better, and recently, knowing that girls face inimitable challenges they have placed gender equality at the forefront of their goals. These barriers include discrimination in school attendance. Many communities favour the education of boys over girls. Furthermore, they are subject to early marriage, pregnancy, greater risk for sexual transmitted disease, sexual and physical violence, amongst other challenges. Gender disparity is one of the root causes of poverty for children. In addition, children’s rights must be safeguarded, in order for them to grow and develop their full potential. Plan is dedicated to deal with gender inequality and the various ways in which the girl child’s rights are violated or minimised. The ‘Because I am a Girl’ campaign was launched in 2007 which was created to achieve these aims and assist millions of girls to escape from poverty. This prominent drive is founded upon the most intensive group of reports available illustrating the reasons behind disparity and paucity for girls. 3.1 History John Langdon-Davies was an English reporter during the Spanish war and encountered an orphaned boy holding this note in 1937: “This is José. I am his father. When Santander falls I shall be shot. Whoever finds my son, I beg of him to take care of him for my sake.” This was not the only child affected by war. The Spanish Civil War disrupted the lives of many children in Spain. Many were left alone and orphaned, their parents perishing in the war or from the pestilence that followed. Therefore, in 1937, Plan was founded as the ‘Foster Parents Plan for Children in Spain’. In the 1940s, the Second World War caused Plan to expand its scope to the rest of war-torn Europe. After the war, in the 1950s, with things quieting down in Europe, Plan had to look further afield to help orphaned children. Progressively it began to reach children in Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean. In 1971 the then Foster Parents Plan of Australia was born. It began with a basic but motivated staff of five and has grown to one of the biggest organisations for child sponsorship in Australia. In the 1990s, the Foster Parents Plan of Australia became Plan International to reflect its goal of fostering a positive change in the lives of needy children worldwide. Today, Plan is one of the major aid agencies present in sixty countries and sponsoring over 1.3 million children. (Plan International Australia, 2010) 3.2 Mission/Aim Plan has been in operation for a long period of time, being one of the oldest and one of the leading children’s development organisations worldwide. It is now operational in forty nine developing countries serving communities there through various projects. Funding for these projects is obtained via appeals for sponsorship in twenty one other countries including Australia which support the work carried out by plan. There is a slogan that only $1 a day is enough to feed one child for the month. Advertisements are placed online as well through television and radio adverts. The children who are beneficiaries are encouraged to fully participate in their rehabilitation right from the grassroots. Plan follows no political or religious ideology but only seeks to foster growth and development through unification. This is done in order to transform the planet for the sake of the children. 3.3 Achievements There has been a fund for girls developed to back projects that promote gender parity and promote girls’ rights. This is because addressing gender discrimination is a key tool in fighting root causes of poverty. One way of doing this is through the ‘Purse Project’ which is an initiative that entails putting a foam purse with all the traditional contents at the centre of Martin Place square in Sydney. This will be done from 7am-3pm on the 8th of March 2011. The purpose is to highlight the services attained by the women of Australia, which they may take for granted. These services may be lacking in developing nations, and this should serve to emphasise the disparity (The Purse Project, 2011). Plan was selected Goodwill Partner of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games. This was the first time a Goodwill Partner had been chosen in the record of the games. By initiating projects such as water and sanitation in Laos, Plan aims to uplift the status of the girl child by raising the ease of use and safety of household toilets; decreasing time and resources spent in water collection; and building distinct toilet amenities for girls in schools. Figure 1: Children learning in a Laos pre-school Chapter 4: Comparative Analysis 4.1 Organisational Culture Clark and Wilson (1961) contend that social and solidarity motivations stem from political participation. There is a desire to spend time with people of like mind and to have friends and family pleased with one. The culture at World Vision is one of camaraderie with an attitude of politeness encouraged between employees and towards donors. Although the pay may be lower than more commercial ventures, employees still derive motivation from working there due to other compensations such as verbal rewards, an atmosphere of tolerance, and common religious affiliation. These values are incorporated within corporate policy, making them the official guidelines for company culture. There has been the odd incident of religious intolerance and policies could do with some reinforcement from time to time. The marketing and promotional aspects of the organisation may not completely gel with the management policies but overall, they are attempting to keep relatively high standards of behaviour (Abboud, 2010). Plan International is a slightly less substantial organisation but with the same corporate culture of politeness towards others and decency in dealing with colleagues, clients, donors and other stakeholders. 4.2 Leadership Style Tim Costello, the chairman of World Vision Australia is a very hands-on type of leader, with a significant impact on the growth and development of World Vision. During the tsunami disaster of 2004, his presence impacted on the amount of funds raised for relief. World Vision uses a transformational developmental framework guided by certain beliefs i.e. The belief that the developmental needs of communities must be defined by them and they should be empowered to enable them to do so. Participatory methodologies are used to guarantee the local community involvement in their own management. The belief that it is essential to focus on community strengths and function within prevailing structures to grow community participation and facilitate local leadership. The belief that the foundation of strategy is not finance provision but more technical support for prolonged projects, facilitated via effectual corporation. The policy of World Vision is neither to impinge on pre-existing structures nor to imitate them. Plan International’s structure is similar in outlook with the exception that they are unaffiliated to any religious grouping and seek to unify the world strictly from a secular perspective in order to make life easier for children. 4.3 Marketing and Promotion World Vision is very prominent within the press and online. Whenever there is a disaster that occurs, they are on the mass media appealing for funds. The Hillsong church has a link to the World Vision donate page featured on their website as do several other Christian organisations. The operations of World Vision are kept open to the public and the public is encouraged to participate in the activities and programmes of World Vision. In this way, trust is built between the organisation and the public. An NGO’s reputation is crucial to its operations and any scandal can cause a drying up of funds therefore maintaining a trustworthy mien is important to them. World Vision’s Chief Executive Officer is a prominent figure who is a high profile figure in the press. The Plan International marketing strategy is less flamboyant, concentrating much more on online promotions and advertising. They rely much more on partnering with other stakeholders and coming up with programmes and projects that raise awareness about their functions and what difference they are attempting to make. Both organisations have websites that disseminate information on the workings of the organisations and what projects they are working on. Annual Reports can be read free of charge and other information obtained as required. 4.4 Diversity Management World Vision is a Christian centred organisation. Studies have consistently found that people of religious bent are more likely to be both more involved in volunteering as well as contribute more money and time toward it (Gibson, 2008; Regnerus et.al. 2003; Smith, 2005). Therefore, most of the volunteers who work for World Vision tend to be Christians. The World Vision Company policy does point out the requirement that discrimination is not to be tolerated however, and the staff does attempt to abide by this. Plan International, being more secular, will attract a more diverse population of volunteers. This is facilitated by its partnerships with other organisations from different backgrounds and orientations. Chapter 5: Conclusion Both Plan International and World Vision are doing essential work throughout Australia and around the world. There are crucial programmes being carried out that will be of long-term benefit to many disadvantaged people within developing countries. World Vision assists with development of communities by providing technical support and assisting communities find solutions to their needs. Plan International has projects and programmes that create awareness about different issues affecting people living below the poverty line. World Vision is far ahead of other Australian NGOs in terms of market share. It is one of the most well known and trusted organisations operating in the region. Plan International is less well known, although its reputation is also good. Chapter 6: Recommendations World Vision is the bigger organisation with more resources available to it, and more sponsors who fund it. They are performing a vital role in the development of individuals living under the poverty line and caught in disaster stricken situations, such as the tsunami of 2004, the earthquake in Japan this year, and many other catastrophes that have occurred around the world. Plan International is assisting the girl child to escape from her disadvantaged state by facilitating programmes and projects that facilitate their attainment of an education by enabling them to stay in school as well as easing their situations so that they have more room to develop. They also indulge in other projects that foster education, development and transformation in the lives of the child. Both organisations are deserving of the funding, however Plan International would probably have more need of it, simply because its income is less than that of World Vision. I would therefore recommend that World Vision be the recipient of the $200000. References Abboud, P. (2010). An Ethnographic Study of the Work Environment of an Aid Organisation. Australian Catholic University, Fitzroy, Victoria. Clark, P.D., & Wilson, J.Q. (1961). Incentives Systems: A Theory of Organisation. Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol 6 (2): 129-166 Gibson, T. (2008). Religion and Civic Engagement among America’s Youth. Social Science Journal, Vol 45 (3): 504-514. Koontz, H., Weihrich, H., and Aryasri A.R. (2004). Principles of Management, Tata McGraw-Hill, New Delhi. Plan International Australia. (2010). Our History. Retrieved 13th May, 2011 from www.planinternationalaustralia.com Regnerus, M., Smith, C., Sikkink, D. (2003). Who gives to the poor? The influence of Religious tradition and political location on the personal generosity of Americans towards the poor. Journal for Scientific Study of Religion, Vol 37 (3): 481-493 Smith, C. (2005). Soul Searching; The religious and spiritual lives of American Teenagers. Oxford. Oxford University Press. The Purse Project. (2011). Plan International Australia; How does Plan work with Women? Retrieved 13th May, 2011 from file:///F:/mgmt/plan-international.htm World Vision Australia. (2003). Island Nation or Global Citizen? Reporting on Australia’s Attitudes and actions toward solving global poverty. Melbourne. World Vision Australia. (2009). History of World Vision. Retrieved 13th May, 2011 from www.worldvisionaustralia.com Read More