Critical Dimensions of Organizational Capacity: An empirical study on NGOs in Vavuniya District of Sri Lanka

Abstract

The Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) exist commonly for the purpose of humanitarian oriented support to reduce vulnerability created by humanitarian emergencies and promote humanitarian values. As NGOs play increasingly important roles in Sri Lanka, it becomes even more critical for them to perform effectively in providing better services to the vulnerable community. In response, managers and consultants of NGOs have demonstrated growing interest to develop organizational capacity that will help them build high-performing organizations. Traditional foundations and venture philanthropists have also professed a new commitment to investing in the organizational capacity of the NGOs that they fund. Despite this new emphasis on the importance of non-governmental “capacity building,” the sector lacks a widely shared definition for critical dimensions of organizational capacity. Therefore the objective of this study is to find out the critical dimensions of organizational capacity to help the nongovernmental organizations. This will lead to place the resources effectively to the healthy performance of the organizations. Hence, the present study is initiated on “Critical Dimensions of Organizational Capacity: A Study of Nongovernmental Organizations” with the samples of seventy two employees from twenty four NGOs in Vavuniya District. It is represented by 18.5% of the population. The Stratified random sample technique was used to select the sample. A primary data collection method, self developed and structured questionnaire was used to conduct the study. An Exploratory Factor Analysis Technique; Multivariate analysis using „Varimax Rotated Factor Analysis Method‟ has been used to analyze the data. The results show one factor extracted from the analysis that accounted for 66.822 percent of the total variance. The factor was labeled as Management Capability. The study recommends the development of „Management Capability‟ as the first priority for NGOs for the better performance