Why join an organization?

by John Tiratsoo, Editor, Pipes & Pipelines

Many readers of this may be members of the UK-based Pipeline Industries Guild. Probably well over half are members of one or other (or a number) of the major engineering institutions, such as the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management, and so on. Others, or even the same ones, will also be members of the UKSTT (or another country’s Society for Trenchless Technology), the Pipe Jacking Association, the Pigging Products and Services Association, IPLOCA, the Institution of Water Officers, or another of many similar organizations in the UK and world-wide. The business of joining industry-based groups is booming.

• Why do so many of us bother to join so many organizations?

• Why do so many organizations exist with apparently very similar purposes, let alone titles?

In one sense, the answers to these questions are similar and simple: to provide opportunities for individuals to network with their peer group and, ultimately, to obtain self-aggrandisement and promotion in their chosen career. As people are undoubtedly gregarious, they may also obtain comfort and security from aligning themselves with others in their industry sector, putting aside the fact that the ‘others’ may be competitors.

On another level, the answers to these questions are more challenging, particularly to the organizations themselves.

People become members and pay their subscriptions in order to receive either a service, or an acknowledgement of status, or both. Traditionally, a number of the major UK-based engineering institutions have monitored their professions (from their Victoria or Great George Street addresses in London), and sought to uphold standards of those practising civil, mechanical, electrical, or structural engineering. To younger members, this role has often been seen as conservative and demonstrative of an unwillingness to accept change of any type - whether within the institution itself, or within the discipline it represents.

However, membership of an engineering institution continues to be a sought-after proof of achievement and status, particularly relevant to younger engineers in the highly-competitive international job market.

After the initial hurdle of professional membership has been overcome, it is a regrettable fact that the importance of the institution in the eyes of the majority of its members begins to fade, provided they keep their annual subscriptions up-to-date. Whilst acknowledging the institutions’ importance in maintaining high standards within the professional disciplines they represent, members find that the institutions’ roles as forward-thinking standard-bearers and lobbyists on behalf of the engineering professions are often well concealed.

The plethora of secondary organizations and associations has grown up partly as a consequence of this, and partly to satisfy the equivalent needs of those to whom professional membership is not available. The Pipeline Industries Guild is a typical association of this type, having among its members a wide range of companies and individuals, all of whom have as a common bond their involvement in construction and operation of pipelines of all types.

When asked, the majority of members will give as their main reason for joining the Guild (or the many other similar organizations) the ability to ‘network’ and to maintain informal contacts with clients, suppliers, and others in their industry. This, however, provides the paradox which is at the heart of the organization’s future success: how can this ability to network be quantified, and how can it be related to membership charges and benefits?

While the reputation of a well-run and influential association should precede it, it is nevertheless necessary for some tangible benefits to be supplied to the membership in order to maintain their interest, to justify their membership fees, and to keep the association alive in the minds of the membership. Such benefits are often in the form of publications; in the Pipeline Industries Guild’s case, members receive copies of this journal, a regular and less-formal newsletter, and the annual yearbook, renamed this year as the Pipeline Industry Directory. The Guild should also be able to provide its members with the less-tangible, though arguably more-beneficial, advantages of influencing industry regulators, promoting pipelines within government organizations world-wide, and providing a single source of information for problem solving. Within the Guild, these issues are kept constantly under review; doubtless similar organizations follow the same philosophies.

The Pipeline Industries Guild is an association with general interests across the whole industry. An alternative organization is characterized by the Pigging Products & Services Association (PPSA), whose members’ interests focus directly on issues dealing with pipeline pigging. In common with the Guild, the PPSA also has various tiers of membership, the two most populated being individual and corporate. Also in common with the Guild, the PPSA publishes a regular newsletter (Pigging Industry News). Another of the benefits the Association provides to its members and others is its technical advisory service: not only can problems to do with pigging be solved, and advice on which procedure to use offered, but project managers can have rapid access to all the suppliers of services or products, thus avoiding the costs of a considerable amounts of research and information-gathering when tenders are being prepared.

The PPSA has also recently negotiated a special rate for its individual members to use the web-based pigging reference source at http://www.pigsource.com. This site provides a unique and rapid reference to over 400 conference papers and two pigging-industry textbooks, and provides an invaluable source of information to anyone with a pigging problem. Individual PPSA members obtain use of the site at no extra cost; non-members have to pay a fee for an annual password, in common with many similar web sites.

As can be seen, the PPSA works hard to maintain the interests of its membership, and to justify their support. Associations such as this will only prosper and survive by continuously reviewing their structure and what they provide. It is very easy for any of us as individuals not to be bothered to renew a membership when the form arrives each January; every association has to be prepared regularly to earn its membership.

So, why join an industry organization? Career advancement and successful business links are probably the two main reasons, followed by simplified access to industry information and associated benefits. Pipes & Pipelines International is a strong supporter of the aims and intentions of both the associations mentioned above, and encourages readers to investigate both further. Comprehensive information on both is available on their web sites (at www. pipeguild.co.uk, and www. piggingasssnppsa.com), as well as by phone; both are headquartered in the UK, the PIG at (+44) 020 7235 7938, and the PPSA at (+44) 01235 760597.

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