Organizational Structure on ScoutmasterCG Archive

Troop Organization Chart

Thu, 29 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Scout troops are built on patrols, and patrols are built on the natural way boys for a gang of friends, that small group is where Scouting happens. We have categorized and complicated this simple principle with overlays of military discipline, management science, job descriptions and flow charts that put the Scoutmaster at the top and the boys on the bottom; opposite of the order intended.

Turning the troop organization chart upside down better represents the roles of leadership and our central focus; The Scoutmaster is the base of a pyramid of shared responsibility and service to the apex of the pyramid; the Scouts.

Scout Unit Leadership Structure

Wed, 27 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

BSA Scout Troops, Packs, Crews and Teams are currently administered by separate committees under a chartering organization. (Chartering Organizations are the entity that ‘owns’ the unit such as a Church, Civic Organization or similar group).

Scout Units, even under the same chartered organization, are required to have separate administrative infrastructure.

I think that this tends to make Units into islands that makes sharing resources difficult. The United Kingdom’s (Great Britain) Scout Association has a much different structure that bears some examination. (Don’t plotz on me and scroll down to the comments yet!

B-P's Blog - Decentralization

Mon, 25 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

OUR principle of decentralization is the accepted method for the administration of the Boy Scout Movement.

Scoutmasters are given a free hand in the management and training of their Troops under the general supervision of the representative of Headquarters, viz. the Commissioner, whose business it is to see that the lines of policy on which our charter was granted are not departed from.

These Commissioners also act as the representatives to Headquarters of local needs. For committees we substitute individuals as responsible heads of the different departments of administration. Then the Local Association gives the necessary backing and help that may be needed by the Scoutmasters in their work. Thus these officers are not bothered with committee or office work, as is so often the drawback in other societies, but are free to devote the whole of their spare time and energy to the main work, namely, the training of the boy.

Top-Down Organizations

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Frank Maynard’s blog Bobwhite Blather is a must-read resource written form the perspective of a troop committee chair. Here’s his take on top-down organizations: The problems with a top-down organization are that its leaders never get the real picture because people tell them what they want to hear. They don’t get the benefit of the wisdom and initiative of the group.

Followers in top-down organizations are slaves to the hierarchy of the system; they don’t have the freedom they need to find their own way toward the understood goals. If our troops become hierarchical, top-down organizations we’ve missed the whole point of the Scouting idea. Our initiative does not come from the top of the pyramid on an organizational chart but from the base, the Scouts. via Final thoughts on improving leadership skills | Bobwhite Blather .