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Martti Muukkonen, TD, MSS, researcher, University of Joensuu
Organisational models are resources that facilitate the work of an organisation.
Some organisations in any organisational field are more central than others
and others are looking them as models for their work and organisational
practices. In different eras, different organisations occupy these central
positions. In the case of youth organisations, much of organisational resources
have been developed in the Young Men’s Christian Association from where
they have been diffused to other youth organisations and to institutions
of society. All organisations reflect to some degree the problems of their
founding dates or critical periods of their history. Organisational solutions
to these problems are not only practical answers but ideological statements
as well. Later, when diffused, the solution becomes legitimised and taken-for-granted
model. Therefore it is important to understand in what kinds of situations
different organisational practices have occurred and what kinds of ideological
impact the solution carries. This paper focuses on the early development
of the organisation models and practices of the World Alliance of Young
Men’s Christian Associations. The YMCA is one of the largest (45 million
members) and oldest (150 years) contemporary youth organisations and a
source of many organisational practices. It emerged as a network of local
Bible clubs. Soon it expanded and created an effective international organisation
and profound youth work. This development will be reflected from a multi-dimensional
perspective, which focuses how the organisations ideology was used to meet
the new challenges during its first hundred years.