Introduction
Capacity development may be defined as a process that intends on improving group, organisational, individual, community, or institutional skills in order to implement critical functions, solve problems, define objectives, and deal with issues in a sustainable manner.
Main perspectives on capacity building
Organisational capacity building centres on four principal components and these include organisational development, resource development, community linkages, human resources, and services and programming. Organisational development covers, boards, administration and staff. With regard to boards, organisational capacity building ensures that the board functions serve a company’s mission.
They also ascertain that boards consider a company’s linkages with communities, as well as the programs that it may be engaging in. Furthermore, boards need to think about the administrative and resource issues in their organisation during organisational building (Morley et al., 2001). Organisational development also centres on administration.
Here, organisational capacity concerns itself with the administrations’ ability to strengthen procedures, practices and policies so as to make significant progress. Additionally, organisational development in capacity buildings also covers staff. Employees need to complement a company’s efforts by improving their skills and supporting company initiatives (Smilie, 2001). These efforts must all be aligned with a company’s mission.
Capacity building also concerns itself with resource development. Here, a firm needs to consider fund development, operations budget and communications. Under fund development, the organisation needs to have a fund development approach that facilitates sustainable and realistic growth (Edwards, 2000).
Communications issues are essential in any organisation that needs to develop. In this regard, capacity building allows companies to maximise their attractiveness as well as their visibility within the right segment of the targeted community.
In resource development, an organisation must focus on the operations budget. Organisational capacity building entails increasing financial support in order to carry out company operations effectively.
Community linkages are a vital component of capacity building, as well. Here, one must concern oneself with strengthening relationships between various parts of the community and the organisation. Community linkages also involve leadership skills. Organisational capacity building gives companies the ability to increase their leadership expertise.
This means that the organisation can be better able to meet its goals and its missions. Lastly, community linkages in capacity building facilitate momentum increments and increases in support thus leading to progress in company missions (Kaplan, 2000).
Services and programming are also another essential part of organisational capacity building. They involve program design, strategic activities and company practice. In program design, the company can improve the utilisation of its programs. This allows it to bring value benefits to the program’s targeted users.
Strategic activities involve creating a portfolio of support activities, grants and projects that will allow one to achieve full impact in a certain part of the company. Additionally, capacity building causes many firms to strengthen their approaches towards projects or issues that the company had done before.
Human resources involve improving the standards and quality of the human resources in a company. This encompasses developing the skills, attributes, perceptions, values and common sense of the personnel (Ubels et al., 2010).
Traditional and modern approaches of enhancing capacity building
Senior managers in both traditional and modern companies consider resources as critical components of capacity building. However, the major difference between in these schools of thought is the nature of interventions that companies take to build capacity. The classical approaches advocate for the provision of more resources such as staff, equipment or tools, and finances as interventions in resource use.
These adherents believe in quantity or expansion approaches. Modern organisations do not just focus on increasing resources; they also focus on proper management and use of the existing resources. For instance, a company can train its staff members, the board members or volunteers that work with the firm.
Rapid changes in technology and human resource skills necessitated this changes in technology and human resource skills hence the need to train organisational members (Chabbott, 1999). Furthermore, dwindling resources caused many companies to think of innovative ways of maximising their resources. Changes in technology allow companies that to alter resource use.
One method is the use of computer software to handle company routines and internal management. Alternatively, some modern companies use accounting software to handle their transactions. This has eliminated the need for additional staff and time needed to complete paper ledgers. All these issues are causing modern organisations to focus on the quality of resource use rather than quantity.
Traditional organisations previously focused on strengthening their capacities through economic methods. In this regard, they believed in using their product mix, their sources of revenue and their marketing activities to boost their stability. However, this may not be the only approach for modern organisations. Several of them are embracing political strategies to strengthen themselves.
In other words, economic methods are not the only alternative. When doing this, some organisations participate in elections by contributing towards campaigns. Alternatively, others may use lobbying strategies. This focuses on legislators who can then change some of the public policies that affect them.
Other firms are working on mobilisation of public opinion. Therefore, modern approaches to capacity building are becoming politically oriented, rather than economically oriented (Hula & Jackson-Elmoore, 2000).
The rapidly changing competitive landscape has caused modern companies to alter their structures. This means that instead of using hierarchical structures as was the case in traditional firms modern organisations now have heterogeneous approaches (Eade, 2007).
This allows companies to maximise the autonomy of their employees as well as their skills and abilities. Such an approach is in line with the need to provide quality rather than quantity in organisational development.
Modern organisations differ from traditional companies because the latter only focused on organisational development while modern ones now combine organisational development with sustainable development. They dwell on strengthening themselves while at the same time preserving the environment. This involves performing one’s economic activities alongside ecological support systems.
These concerns do not just reflect manufacturing companies’ orientations; companies in different segments have embraced them and are changing the way the do business. When including this term in their endeavours, companies normally focus on natural, economic and social capital. The three kinds of capital are often not substituted, and when consumed they might not be reversible.
Therefore, these three kinds of capital often substitute one another. The biggest challenge to organisations is to strike a balance between resources that are both economical and natural. Many of them use environmentally friendly processes and facilities to meet this challenge.
Conclusion
Capacity building involves the development of organisations and resources, establishment of community linkages and development of services and programming. Companies can develop these areas differently depending on whether they use classical approaches or open system approaches.
The former entities believed in expanding or increasing resources while modern firms advocate for better management of resources. Furthermore, current businesses believe in implementation of fewer structures and use of uneconomic approaches to strengthen themselves.
References
Chabbott, C. (1999). Constructing world culture. Stanford, SUP.
Eade, D. (2007). Capacity building: an approach to people-centred development. London, Oxfam.
Edwards, M. (2000). Enthusiasts, tacticians and sceptics: Civil society and social capital. Kettering review, 39-51
Hula, R. & Jackson-Elmoore, C. (2000). Organisational adaptation to changing environments in three policy areas. Westport, Quorum Books.
Kaplan, A. (2000). Capacity building: shifting the paradigms of practice. Development in practice, 4(10), 517-526
Morley, E., Scott, B. & Hatry, H. (2001). Comparative performance measurement. Washington DC, The Urban Institute Press
Smilie, I. (2001). Patronage or partnership: local capacity building activities. UNFCCCCC report, 12.
Ubels, J., Acquaye-Baddoo, N. & Fowler, A. (2010). Capacity development in practice. Capacity, 3, 45-52