Organizations And Crowds In The Clouds

The present culture's perception tends to hold us back. The concept that a business needs a bricks and mortar location with people working there still dominates despite more people free lancing and working at home. Indeed, certain business endeavors stake their hope for success on location, hence the famous marketing mantra: "location, location, location."

The automobile is a good example undergoing a paradigm shift.. If you life the hood on today's automobile, you can find different power configurations. You can find the traditional combustion engine that has been around for a long time. You can find a hybrid power source that combines the combustion engine with an electrical power source. We are just beginning to see the full paradigm shift to the fully electrical automobile engine.

 
When we lift the hood of today's organization, we can see a similar migration playing out. The evolution to the new organizational paradigm is playing out on two levels. One is the makeup of the organization itself in how it is structured. The other involves the people who do the work of the organization.

It is fair to say organizational tweaking on both these dimensions has been going on for a long time. The traditional hierarchical structure of the organization still tends to be prevalent today. It has been tweaked to try to improve communication, get teams to work across the various functions on various matters and to try to get more people involved in the quality of output and customer concerns. Nevertheless, the hierarchy, by its nature, has built in barriers.

When people work in the hierarchical organization, their perception tends to be "I do my job and all the rest of it is none of my concern." This can obviously inhibit progress and strain positive development in a rapidly changing world.

Clearly, the biggest driver that is laying the foundation for organizational paradigm shift is technology, specifically the computer and the Internet. Work tasks can be immensely seeded up by computer numerically machines that add flexibility and increase quality output at the same time. The Internet has opened up the vast potential of the human side providing the portal for social interaction. The way we organize work and do work is undergoing a paradigm shift.

Two key parts of the shift that is occurring have evolved from computing and the Internet. One is the "cloud," and the other is the "crowd."

The cloud is a technological platform outside the organization's location where the nuts and bolts of computing technology can be placed. Placing computer hardware, software, applications and processing ability outside the organization's location allows for flexibility and accessibility not possible when located inside the organization. It allows organization members to access work information from anywhere, anytime (at the beach, airport or home). The concept of the cloud is a stratification of the largest cloud of all, the Internet.

The crowd pertains to people assembled through the Internet to do work tasks that can range from very simple to very complex. It is like outsourcing on steroids. Crowds are an evolution of outsourcing but because it is done utilizing the technology and accessibility of the Internet, it allows for infinite scaling and incremental use in time.

Crowds are a way of maximizing the value of social networks. The social network is the technological advance of water cooler communication. The water cooler in the organization has been a place for less formal communication. While groups can be established on social networks, crowd groups are more formal. Crowds have purpose, need structure and willingness to contribute. Roles need to be defined and results evaluated.

In combining the cloud and crowd, the organization becomes devoid of boundaries and relevant information and collaborative work can flow back and forth with ease. The work is not controlled by time constraints.

While the technology platform of clouds and the concept of work done by crowds are evolving concepts, the human side of this paradigm shift needs to be considered. Are those inside your organization ready to play in this kind of arena? What will motivate them to make the transition? Perhaps the biggest motivator will be the realization that the organization is providing help for them to learn how work will be performed in the future. Is the organization's leadership seeing the emerging value of clouds and crowds and is leadership helping the members to see it and embrace it, as well?

Clouds and crowds are pushing the envelope of organizational structure and operation. These realities are bringing us to the brink of a real paradigm shift in concept and action. In looking to the future.

The Choice Of A Charitable Organizations

The initiative to buy a charitable gift will go a long way in helping a charitable organization as well as yourself.
Organizations are often looking for charitable causes that they can support. Many of the businesses use their mission statement to guide their operations.

Clarifying the mission will help generate the connection between the business and the potential charity partner. It is important to choose a charity whose mission statement complements the business's values. The factors to consider when choosing a charity include:

· Personal experience

People donate to charitable organizations based on the past and current personal experiences. A traumatic event or illness may have arisen in the life of a person causing them to seek help from a charitable organization and they now wish to give something back.

· Individual interest

The choice of a charitable organization in which to give to is based solely on the likes and preferences of an individual. Therefore, a religious person will often choose to make donations to the local church while a lover of pets may choose to make donations to an animal shelter within the locality.

· Popularity

Most of the time, the choice of a charity is based on the popularity of the charity. Therefore, events that are endorsed or organized by celebrities will often achieve greater success. Virtually everybody knows a charity. Some charitable organizations are small while others are large. In case you are looking for an opportunity to support a charity that is well known you can expect to rip the benefits. Many of the well known charities have been around for many years.

· Effectiveness of the organization

It is important to determine whether the programs, services or advocacy are making a difference. One of the ways of determining whether a charity is effective is by considering getting involved. You can be participating in a fundraiser, volunteer your time, become a member and work in the charity's committee.

When you get involved in the charity you will be in a place to learn more about the organization including the commitment of the volunteers and staff, efficiency of the charitable organization and impact of the charity in the community. Philanthropists contribute significantly in transforming communities to become a bearable place.

Fundraiser For Non Profit Organizations

Many non profit organizations in our communities. Each organization is providing a unique service or goods that are greatly needed in our society. All of these organizations are holding fundraisers to help them pay for the goods or service they provide. All of the money needed to keep these organizations running must come from members of the community who are willing to give. Let's face it, not every one in the community is willing or able to give money to fundraisers held by non profit organizations. 

Those who are willing to give are unable to donate to all the organizations asking for their money. It becomes a challenge to hold fundraisers that will attract people and raise the amount of money they need. People like to be entertained and will be more likely to support fundraisers that are fun and unusual. It is also important to keep the cost of the fundraisers as low as possible. After all you are trying to raise money. Here are some suggestions for fun, low cost fundraisers that may help your non profit organization attract more supporters.

Spelling Bee

This is a great, low cost fundraiser for non profit organizations. You can invite either children or adults to be the spellers. If you invite children you know their families will support them. If you invite adults their families and friends will come to support them or to heckle them. Either way you are able to raise funds to meet the financial needs of your non profit organizations. Each of your spellers gathers pledges for specific amount the supporter will donate for each word spelled correctly.

For a spelling bee you will need a room, preferably with a stage for the participants, forms for participants to collect pledges, a spelling list, and a prize or a ribbon for the winner. You may have audience members who have not had the opportunity to make a pledge. Since this is a fundraiser for your non profit organization you will want to give all audience members the opportunity to fill out a pledge form before the spelling bee begins. I addition to the host you may want to have a panel of judges to help determine if a word is spelled correctly and keep track of how many words each speller spells correctly. 

Since this is a fundraiser for your non profit organization you may want to allow the spellers to bribe the judges in order to increase their number is "correctly spelled" words. All bribes go to the non profit organizations. It is best to have volunteers collect the money from the pledges immediately following the spelling bee. You may also want to ask volunteers to help provide refreshments. People are more likely to come to an event when they know there will be refreshments.

Dog Show

This is a great, almost free, fundraiser for any non profit organization. Dogs are very lovable animals and dog owners love to show off their pets. You will need a park or large, grassy yard or a large room in a building that allows dogs. All interested dog owners sign up and pay an entry fee. Funds raised by the entry fee go to the non profit organization. In order inspire more participation you will want to have several categories for the dogs to compete in, including, smartest, cutest, smallest, largest, most talented, etc. A panel of judges will determine the winner. Since this is a fundraiser for a non profit organization you may want to allow people to bribe the judges. All bribes go to the organization. All winners receive a ribbon. Providing refreshments for the human participants is optional.