[petard]

I'm not sure if working for an NGO is necessarily better in terms of culture. It seems to me you can have good or bad culture and management either way, regardless whether the purpose of the organization is making profits or not.

[hinkley]

Getting talked into working late because your boss is persuasive and his bonus is on the line happens all the time here.

Working late because people are dying is a much better justification, but you will burn out just as fast. People who are too earnest about a cause have difficulty pacing themselves. Every org has people who burn the candle at both ends.

[sho_hn]

Definitely. However, by and large in NGOs you will work with people who are intrinsically motivated, and not by their paycheck.

[petard]

From my interaction with people from NGOs, mostly from foreign aid organizations, there seemed to be as many people genuinely trying to make a difference as the ones that are only interested in their own agenda. I would like to think the smaller an organization the easer it is to maintain certain standards and not the other way around.