Organisational Development and Maintenance Resources from the Change Agency

Skills required to establish and maintain sophisticated organisational structures associated with effective community action.

The Change Agency provides online effective, practical and relevant resources for community organisers, workers and activists.

Organisational Development and Maintenance Resources include:

• Alternative Dispute Resolution Processes: Presentation by Claudia Baldwin designed to: introduce ADR processes; outline the characteristics of mediation; identify skills useful for preventing and resolving conflicts; and to identify the benefits of mediation for environmental dispute and policy resolution [ppt 31 slides - 0.4 mb]
• Conflict Resolution Skills and Techniques: Presentation by Claudia Baldwin covering the skills (communication and listening) and techniques (reframes, transitions, role reversals, paraphrases and roundups) involved in effective conflict resolution [ppt 10 slides - 0.1 mb]
• Decision Making and Group Processes: Resources to help community action groups work together, make tough decisions and attend to the maintenance as well as task dimension of group life [pdf 10 pages - 0.2 mb]   
• Effective Facilitation: Resources for developing effective facilitation skills. Topics covered include: tipps for facilitators, running effective meeetings, forming agendas, testing for agreement, decision making models. [pdf 14 pages - 0.3 mb]
• Fundraising Tips: Presetnation covering advanced fundraising, including: communications, resources, membership, mail appeals, donations, merchandising and promotions, plus links to useful fundraising resources [ppt 21 slides - 0.3 mb]
• Mentorship and Peer Support:  Simple institutional arrangements, like the three options outlined here, can make a huge difference to campaigners’ sense of support and their long-term sustainability [pdf 2 pages - 32 kb] 
• The Role of a Critical Friend in Organisational Learning: Summary of the different types of facilitation roles (e.g. observer, critical friend, fishbowl, vibes watcher) with links to some useful internet resources [pdf 1 page – 0.1 mb]
• The Tyranny of Structurelessness: An article by Jo Freeman first written in the 1970s articulates insights into grassroots dynamics and politics surrounding orgamisational structure(s). Freeman highlights the inequitable power issues in so-called structurelessness.

The Change Agency offers other online resources in:

• Big Picture Political Analysis
• Social Action Skills
• Personal Development and Life Skills

The resources are available on The Change Agency Website (opens in a new browser window)

For further information

Contact	:	The Change Agency
Address	:	c/o Australian School of Environmental Studies Griffith University, Nathan QLD 4111
Phone	:	(7) 3875 4030
Fax	:	(7)3875 459

WWW

:

http://www.thechangeagency.org