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Volunteer Management Academic Essay

By Alexey Bogatov (77085913) 22.04.2011 Word count: 2660

In the recent decades the use of voluntary workforce has become one of the milestones of social policies. Its become essential to most of the sectors of the economy, predominantly, social, non-profit, tourism, charity, sport and event. The number of volunteers used has significantly increased and volunteer activity is worth over 40bln. to the UK economy annually [Volunteering England, n.d]. Therefore the topic of volunteer management and retention is being widely researched by scholars within various disciplines [Allen and Shaw, 2009; Bussel and Forbes, 2001; McCurley and Lynch, 2006]. The challenges of volunteer satisfaction and retention are studied across all sectors dependent on voluntary workforce. Event management industry research is a relatively modern field of study having to rely on interdisciplinary research [Allen, 2009; Getz, 2009]. That is why it is vital for the event study to apply the existing volunteer research to its field. The aim of this essay is to analyse the existing research relevant to the statement the management of volunteer efforts for events is considerably different from managing continuing or permanent volunteer positions [Getz, 1991, cited in Fairley et al., 2007, p.42] to support or reject it. According to the statement, the aim of the work can be split into two research questions to be answered: 1) 2) Are all the volunteers for events one-off volunteers (as opposed to permanent in the quote)? Is there a difference in managing of permanent and one-off event volunteers?

The objectives to answer the research question will be as following: - Define volunteering and volunteer management - Find the distinctive features and specify the types of the events sector volunteers - Compare the research of managing long-term and short-term volunteers, including work with motivation, expectations, and retention. - Based on the research draw the final conclusion and agree or disagree with the statement under study. The research method according to the work specificity will be extensive secondary research, in other words critical review of the existing literature on the subject and its critical analysis. The literature review shows, that the term volunteer is hard to define due to the vast variety of roles taken by volunteers, their level of expertise, motivations and expected outcomes. Broadly the definition of volunteering that will be used in this work is taken from the National Volunteer Survey Helping out [Low et al., n.d. p.11]: Giving unpaid help through groups, clubs or organisations to benefit other people or the environment. Classification of volunteers can be based on different criteria: freedom of choice, remuneration, structure, motivation [Wadsworth, 1996 quoted in Holmes and Smith,

2009, p.4]. They can also be classified by situation they volunteer in, their actual input in terms of their time, qualifications, money, or anatomic parts, the organisations they volunteer for etcetera [Bussel, 2001]. According to the aim of this work volunteers will be classified on the time basis long-term continuous volunteers and those taking one-off temporary positions. Among the latter following groups can be listed: regular volunteers, taking roles frequently, occasional ones, volunteering from time to time, and episodic, who have volunteered once or several times and dont have any intention to volunteer any further [Low et al., n.d.]. Volunteer management includes all the stages of volunteer involvement, from recruitment and training to follow-up and retention [Tailor et al., 2006]. Effective management is characterised as meeting the expectations, fostering the motivation, sufficient and clear communication, training, creating environment that helps increase the working effectiveness [Tailor et al., 2006]. The study of volunteering in tourism sector shows, that there are certain organisations providing flexible positions, thus encouraging stable volunteering and pulsating organisations hiring short-term one-off volunteers. The event sector belongs to the latter type, providing episodic roles that reoccur systematically. However these organisations types often overlap as well as the opportunities for the volunteers [Lockstone et al., 2010]. This fact is underpinned by the research of volunteers of 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. It showed that many of them considered volunteering a part of their lives. The candidates were interviewed by other long-term volunteers, proving that ongoing volunteering exists in the events sector and managing of the voluntary human resource should consider the motivation of volunteers to carry on for the upcoming events [Ralston et al., 2004]. For example, the volunteers involved in these games will be most likely used in the London 2012 Olympic Games. The approach to managing volunteers in events is also linked to continuous workforce administration. Human resource management practices are widely used in volunteer management. Hence Allen and Shaw suggest the use of matching strategy for sports events volunteers, based on matching of volunteer expectations with the positions theyre given within the event [Allen and Shaw, 2009]. Volunteer motivation and satisfaction are proven to be major challenges of effective event volunteer management in health and events sectors [Reeser et al. 2005]. The overlap of volunteer management theory in events sector and health and tourism shows that it is hard to differentiate event volunteers from the ones in the mentioned above areas. The one-off nature of event volunteering is also arguable as the volunteers can take different roles, including the on-going or recurring ones. In tourism management short- and long-term volunteer recruitment are often interlinked, thus giving the occasional volunteers chance to get a role on a continuous basis [Holmes, 2009]. According to Macduff, cited in Lockstone et al. theres an increase in occasional volunteering, which creates more flexible relations with hiring organisations

[Lockstone et al., 2010]. However, most researchers distinguish between handling continuous volunteers and that on a one-off participation basis. From the organisational perspective, study of volunteer management in charities delivered by Hager and Brudney showed a significant difference in the approach to short and long-term volunteers. Organisations invest in training, insurance of the long-term ones and do the regular assessment of their impacts. On the other hand, the short-term volunteer management is characterised by less communication and data collection. The roles given to short-term volunteers also differ the positions they normally get are low-skilled and service-orientated, compared to the administrative ones given to the long-term volunteers [Hager and Brudney, 2004]. This conclusion is supported Atckinsons theory of peripheral and core volunteers which also shows the different approaches to long-term and episodic volunteers: he distinguishes the levels of vulnerability of volunteers depending on the frequency of their involvement, saying, that core, in other words regular ones, are more secure in their positions then the peripheral ones taking roles more rarely [Atkinson, 1987 in Lockstone et al., 2010]. Its necessary to mention, that this approach is not encouraging volunteers to work on episodic basis, and is an example of poor volunteer management hence a lot of 2002 Commonwealth volunteers claimed the inadequate assessment of skills when distributing roles and lack of communication throughout the event [Ralston et al., 2004]. These findings show that there are some incentives for the volunteers to take roles on a continuous basis, such as more important positions, clearer communication and health insurance. However, a lot of volunteers tend to choose time and role flexibility, so unless an organisation can provide them with it on a continuous basis they will be hard to retain. In the sources analysed event volunteering positions are not differentiated from the ones in other sectors. In the events sector volunteers can be split into two main groups: regular and one-off ones. Key difference between the two is that the members of the latter withdraw from volunteering after performing their roles. Therefore withdrawal factors are essential to understand the difference in managing and retaining continuous volunteers for the events [Locke et al., 2003]. Withdrawal factors are often related to a job, study or change in family circumstances on the contrary, stability in life or personal history of commitment to volunteering can make them carry on volunteering. Role satisfaction is the milestone of volunteer retention dissatisfaction with the organisation, attitude, communication, responsibilities or outcomes causes volunteers to drop off. However, most event organisers are keen on keeping the trained and experienced volunteers rather than look for the new ones for every coming event [Locke et al., 2003]. Multifunctional analysis of senior volunteers in social service agency has shown that high value of community service and having close relationships with co-workers were core motives for the respondents. The research concludes that best retention strategies should be based on recognition of the social psychological motives of volunteers to effectively meet the needs of organisation and provide high level of volunteer satisfaction [Carlton et al., 2007]. This work suggests, that the problem that events organisers face with occasional events is the general mistake of volunteer managers who fail

to consider the volunteer expectations of ongoing training, support and appreciation, on the pre-, during, and post-event stages [Ralston et al., 2004]. Therefore, understanding of the volunteer motivations and expectations is essential for the management, as it serves the basis for recruiting process, allocating roles and creating adequate reward scheme to retain the volunteers [Holmes, 2009]. Mirvis and Hall mention some personal factors, such as age, personality, culture and family situation [Mirvis and Hall, 1994, cited in Taylor et al., 2006]. It is worth considering these factors from volunteer management perspective as the factors that affect the expectations to be met, which cant be managed directly. According to the functional analysis the core motive for volunteering is to satisfy one of the six needs: values, career, social, understanding, protective and enhancement. Functional theory states that people tend to volunteer until they satisfy these needs [Finklestien, 2009]. Out of the six, protective motives can be characteristic of ongoing non-event volunteers, being caused by desire to help the less fortunate, and the rest can be applied to both long-term and one-off volunteers. As the motives can overlap when an individual takes a volunteer role, it is possible to say that the motivational base for ongoing volunteering is wider. These motivations lead to the expectations of volunteers which are to be met, and adjusted by the companies/event organisers. It can be proved by the research of college student volunteers in Maryland, US, based on the person-environment fit theory. Study of 199 volunteers from one of the largest eastern university showed that maximisation of fit between organisation and volunteers can increase individual satisfaction and level of attachment, consequently diminishing aversion [Sergent, 1990] These expectations establish role identities of the volunteers (in other words their perception of themselves and their position) which should be considered when distributing the roles for one-off volunteers [Piliavin et al. cited in Finklestien, 2009]. Furthermore, working with volunteers is often complicated by organisations inability to fulfil the psychological contract the role characteristics or rewards perceived as explicitly or implicitly promised by the organisers. In psychological contract the compensation awaited by the employee is considered the most important factor. It can be measures in economic currency/tangible benefits, or socio-emotional currency, which is characterised by more profound involvement and motivation [Taylor et al., 2006]. Due to the nature of volunteering, the psychological contract expected rewards in volunteer management are of the latter type. Helping Out survey and Manchester Commonwealth Games analysis have shown the minor breaches of the psychological contract from the volunteers perspective such as bad organisation of volunteers, lack of training and communication on the pre- and post-event stages [Ralston et al., 2004; Low et al., n.d.]. These issues are not common for the long-term volunteers, due to the constant supervision and good communication. Their intrinsic motivation is stronger and they show higher commitment level. The problem in this case is the on-going fulfilment of their expectations that might change (increase) with time. It can be dealt with by implementing new management strategies and rewarding schemes, as mentioned in charities research by Hager and Brudney [Hager, 2004]. Its evident, that managing volunteers on the first stages - recruitment, training and role distributing process is the most important and difficult process for volunteer

managers and the mistakes made on this stage lead to dissatisfaction and withdrawal of volunteers. That is why in organisations and events volunteer managers are implementing strategies to retain the trained and valuable volunteers. In terms of differences between volunteer retention of the events sector and on-going volunteers no evident difference was found in the strategies and approaches. The main difference is the actual implementation of the retention strategies in the continuous volunteering sectors and frequent failure of the event volunteer managers to put efforts into retaining process [Ralston et al., 2004; Hager, 2004; Holmes, 2004]. Volunteer retention is a complex phenomenon, and the secondary research delivered by Locke and colleagues showed, that theres no single reason for people to continue volunteering or withdraw from it. However, they state that explicit and professional volunteer management is essential for the successful volunteer retention, acknowledgement of peoples personal objectives and values. Congruence between them and those of organisations seem to create stronger links between the organisation and individuals [Locke et al, 2003]. Studies also show that companies tend to focus on the tangible rewards rather than the intangible, which are more valued by the volunteers [Goodlad and McIvor, 1998]. Some of the volunteers may carry on working even being dissatisfied and spread negative attitude among the others. This unwanted retention of creates different opportunities for volunteer managers working with on-going and one-off volunteers. It causes serious problems with ongoing volunteers, especially in the groups characterised by strong emotional connections. That issue can be easily dealt with in the events sector these volunteers are simply not invited to take part in the next event. Holmes and Smith find it a poor volunteer management, diminishing the volunteers input [Holmes, 2004]. However this work suggests that the recurring or one-off nature of volunteering for events in this case provides flexibility and freedom of choice for the volunteer managers as well as for the volunteers themselves and the recruitment of volunteer workforce has to benefit the event in the first place. In conclusion this essay would claim that event volunteering is not necessarily characterised by occasional participation, and there exist recurring positions as well as ongoing positions in the events sector. The strategies applied in volunteer management for events are those used in HR management practices, which relates event volunteers to core employees, ongoing workforce. Therefore event volunteers shouldnt be considered as a temporary one-off workforce as opposed to regular continuous volunteers. The evidence has shown that there are different management practices concerning the ongoing and short-term volunteers. The first group has a longer history and is therefore better researched. It still remains more valued and its needs are recognised by the organisations they work for (hence the charities study and Helping Out survey). Their motivation base is wider and commitment stronger. They get clear communication and important roles, tangible benefits, like insurance, they are secure in their positions and volunteer managers implement the retaining reward and incentive strategies to satisfy their

expectations and keep them within the company. This suggestion is underpinned by the Farrel et al. analysis of volunteer motivations and expectations, involving over 300 volunteers for Womens Curling Championship in Thunder Bay 1996. Strong management, addressing variety of motivations communications and organising special activities were found to be major challenges in managing volunteers [Farrel et al. 1998]. Occasional volunteers widely represented in the events sector are proven more vulnerable in their positions; the retention strategies applied to the long-term volunteers are not implemented, causing the recurring recruitment process. Due to the analysis, insufficient understanding of motivation and expectations on this stage can cause most of volunteer dissatisfaction and withdrawal. Thus it can be concluded that now the short-term volunteer management, is poorer compared to that of continuous volunteers. So, according to the analysis, D. Getz was right, claiming that volunteer management for the events is different from that of the long-term volunteers. However, this work states that it is due to ineffective volunteer management, as no clear theoretical evidence was found to underpin the lack of retention practices and volunteer expectations consideration in the short-term voluntary workforce management.

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