Concept OF MANAGEMENT
We turn now to the concept of management, in order to consider its various meanings and the ways in which it might be applied to NGOs. There is a distinct academic field of management studies with diverse themes and debates, as well as a bewildering range of popular ‘self-help’ hooks on management. NGOs of course face a set of management problems which they share, at least in part, with all other kinds of organizations. It therefore follows that NGO management can in part be understood by exploring relevant ideas from within the wider world of management. However, we must bear in mind that there are two strong elements of bias in the wider management literature. The first is the fact that management studies has usually been concerned with the management of commercial businesses, while most NGOs see themselves as not for profit organizations. The second is that there has been a tendency for mainstream management to focus on Western ideas and models, while NGOs work predominantly in non Western cultures and contexts. There will therefore be considerable areas of NGO management where such ideas may not apply.