(introduction...)

This section tackles the various internal impetus and imperatives for effective organizational performance and change management as shared by Mr. Karel S. San Juan, Development Management Consultant.

Figure

THE INTERNAL IMPETUS and imperatives for change management are the "pressures to perform, sustain and learn".

The "pressure to perform" refers to the need for NGDOs to deliver results, and to demonstrate effectiveness, efficiency and impact while doing so. A greater consciousness by an NGDO to achieve a strategic focus in its work could translate to a more well-defined role or niche for it within the development community. Such an outlook is not only and mainly in consideration of an NGDO's accountability to its funders but also because of its commitment to the communities they work with. To deliver results is something they owe their beneficiary-partners who deserve no less.

The "pressure to sustain" means the need for NGDOs to have continuity in leadership/management and sustainability in monetary terms. Three factors bear upon continuity in leadership/management. These include the increasing strains confronted by first line leaders/managers, their sincerity in giving up their positions and developing second liners and the need for the successors to demonstrate their own commitment and willingness to eventually take over leadership/management. Financial sustainability means lessening NGDOs' dependence on external/foreign funding, and generating independent funding for long-term operations.

The "pressure to learn" requires adequate documentation of NGDO efforts and experiences.

The three sets of imperatives are mutually-reinforcing, interdependent and complementary. High performance sustains the organization. But to achieve a high level of performance, learning from past and current experiences is necessary.

There is a need for NGDOs to be more strategic in terms of perspective, i.e., their vision, mission, goals (VMGs). Equally important, however, is translating these VMGs into their operational dimensions by installing organizational and management mechanisms such as program, performance, resource (human and financial), and information, systems and processes.