Specific Diseconomy of Nonprofits
My great-uncle NC Surya wrote often about the topic of 'specific diseconomy' -- a measure of the degree to which systems are self-undermining. In his case, as a doctor, he was interested in the degree to which the medical system contributed to people's sickness, and thereby perpetuates itself. The concept applies anywhere -- degree to which legal system contributes to injustice or IT systems contribute to inefficiency -- but it happens gradually so systems get more stuck over time... This recent SSIR article entitled The Nonprofit Paradox (freely available for another week, until the end of July 2010) has a similar flavor I thought worth sharing focusing on non-profits. In this case, he talks about how nonprofits can take on the personality of the problem they try to solve.
