Organizations - Organisms in the Food Chain

Ebrahim and Rangan (2010)state, "Our normative argument is that it is not feasible, or even desirable, for all organizations to develop metrics at all levels on the logic chain"(p.4).The authors divide organizations into four categories--explaining that the service provided by these organizations are different, and therefore so should the way they measure their results. I created a chart (below) that makes it easy to see the break down of how the authors categorize organizations and what they believe is reasonable for each type of organization to measure.



This article and the authors break down of organizations, sheds light on just how important each organizations is in creating an impact. After reading this article, I now think of organizations much like organisms in a food chain, in which each organism needs the other to survive and if one doesn't exist the rest die. The larger organisms cannot live without the smaller ones who feed them. For example, a food kitchen may provide a meal to a homeless person (I will call her Jane for the purpose of my example) but that meal does not stop Jane from being homeless. A homeless shelter may provide Jane with a safe place to sleep, but Jane will continue to be homeless without the homeless shelter's support. These services provide a necessary immediate fix, but they do not actually change Jane's economical situation, which is why she is homeless. Jane may need to seek additional help from an organization that will provide her with the education and the skill set to hold a job. She may also need to work with an organization that will help her find a job. Together, all of these different organizations play a role in making an impact on Jane, and ultimately getting her out of poverty and homelessness. In looking at organizations this way, I see a much greater need for organizational collaboration. An organizations should be thinking about what else it needs, beyond what it already does, to impact the people it serves and that means knowing what organizations are part of their "food chain." I think organizations would make a greater impact if they worked together instead of individually--serving Jane and sending her on her way. A food kitchens may provide Jane with referrals to other organizations who address a need that they cannot help with, but this is not the same as collaborating with each of these organization to make sure that Jane gets all the service she needs to change her situation. If organizations together tracked Jane's progress I could only imagine the impact that would have on her life. How often do organizations really think about their role in the chain? And, how often do organizations think about how what they do affects other organizations?