The Value of Agile Ways of Working in a Non-Profit Network Organization

Abstract

Agile ways of working have been applied to single organizations and corporations. But cases on agility for non-profit associations dealing with a multitude of members, geographies and their own boards are scarce. Can agility also be applied in a non-profit networked organizational setting in a way that creates value, rather than destroying it? The focus of this article will be on the outcomes of piloting agility with a virtual long-distance team across Europe, including benefits and pitfalls. Value should be created through virtual teams of the association: both for the benefit of members and the association itself. If there is no or little value created there, the members will be unlikely to participate in these groups, undermining the added value of the association. Currently, these teams do not all create value for the membership, and sometimes even destroy value by costing the membership time and money and not delivering relevant output. In this pilot study, one virtual group was followed, interviews with the group members have been held and the members of the association were surveyed about the existing situation in the focal organization. We found that an agile way of working is beneficial for a virtual team and implementing this in an ailing virtual team can give it new élan. This way, the teams can deliver value to the membership, and thus to the association, instead of the groups not functioning well leading to value destruction for the association, as members might turn away from the association for their sought added value. Further, the network organization itself partially shows traits of organizational agility, which could be improved to fully support virtual teams.