Voluntary Bodies as Learning Organizations

Abstract

Tests the hypothesis that voluntary groups, generally, are learning organizations. Reviews the literature on non‐profit organizations and concludes that many of the well‐known charities, for example, have now become established hierarchies following an inital period of mission formulation and organizational evolution when they could be considered as learning organizations. Discovers that, once the primary objective has been attained and funds start to flow, the voluntary organization tends to become staffed full‐time with people and the volunteer tends to become an irrelevance. Gives examples from the steam railway preservation movement to suggest that only those voluntary groups with a primary mission incapable of being achieved in the short term and which demand a high level of volunteer input remain as learning organizations.