COMMUNICATION WITH VOLUNTEERS: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS FOR CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATION (original) (raw)
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Journal of Community Psychology, 2020
Retaining productive volunteers is an essential issue nonprofit organizations face, as volunteers help extend nonprofits' services to their target populations. The current study examined two facets of communication, perception of voice (i.e., upward communication) and satisfaction with communication (i.e., downward communication), as well as training, as important volunteer management practices with respect to facilitating volunteer engagement and commitment using both psychological contract and social exchange theories as the framework. One-hundred and seventy-one volunteers from two nonprofit organizations were surveyed to assess their satisfaction with the communication processes at their respective agencies, as well as their level of engagement, commitment, and perception of the training they received for their volunteer roles. Volunteer perceptions of both upward and downward communication were found to be indirectly related to organizational commitment through engagement. In addition, results indicated that volunteer training practices moderated the effects of upward and downward communication on engagement and commitment. Findings suggested that upward and downward communication are important predictors of volunteer engagement and commitment. Furthermore, providing training may help to strengthen these indirect effects.
The Roles Volunteers Can Fill in Community-wide Efforts
2007
Community-based organizations are often asked to meet the complex needs of their communities by joining with other organizations to address these issues at various levels of engagement. As Gray (1989) has noted, this is often a "process through which parties who see different aspects of a problem (issue) can constructively explore their differences and search for solutions that go beyond their own limited vision of what is possible" (p. 5). The coming together to address complex community problems often requires a great deal of time and commitment on behalf of each organization. Volunteers can be an important link between the home organization and these community-based initiatives. This article examines the roles volunteers can play at different levels of community-based efforts, the responsibilities of volunteers in diverse roles, and the extent to which volunteers can represent the organization at each level. The article concludes with the discussion of the implications ...
The Management of the Volunteers
ANNALS OF THE ORADEA UNIVERSITY. Fascicle of Management and Technological Engineering., 2011
Between the existing production factors, the human resources reprezents an important resourse of any organisation; this resource having a particular specificity, being unique, enjoying particular qualities, which make them indispensable.In NGOs, besides with hired staff, are operating, also, the the volunteers, who have both rights and obligations within the organization. Paper aims to analyse a range of issues related to management of the volunteers. The methodological approach was based on using the field sociological survey, based on a questionnaire.
Volunteers: An Essential Building Block for a Society of Shared Knowledge
In The World Summit on the Information Society: Moving from the Past to the Future, 2005
This Article is part of "The World Summit on the Information Society: Moving from the Past to the Future". It was published by the ICT Task Force, introduced by H.E. Kofi Annan and edited by Daniel Stauffacher and Wolfgang Kleinwächter. It was at the African Regional Conference in Bamako in 2002 that the volunteer sector first became involved in the process of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Since then, volunteers and volunteer organizations have actively contributed both to the preparatory process of the WSIS, the Geneva Summit and the Tunis phase. As one of the families of the International Civil Society Bureau, the WSIS Volunteer Family brings together organizations working with volunteers both locally and at an international level, as well as volunteers themselves. In this article, I would like share some of the outcomes of the work and active participation in the WSIS of a sector that is often underestimated, or even overlooked. The concepts presented in this paper synthesize the outcomes of a collaborative effort of the Volunteer Family. They also outline some of the challenges before us for the future of a society of knowledge accessible to all.
Volunteer Areas from the Perspective of the Future
Volunteerism and Working with Volunteers, 2022
With each passing day, the need increases for social actors outside the state mechanism to solve global problems including environmental pollution, climate change, poverty, flood disasters, financial crises, human rights violations, and forced migration. NGOs and volunteer organizations come to the fore in this context as dynamic, dominant actors in the field who are in touch with the community and take on the role of key, effective stakeholders of states in solving problems. The basic roles and contributions of civil society and volunteerism are being discovered more and more both in the field and in scientific studies, and an attempt is made to penetrate social problem areas using volunteerism. The scope of volunteer activities has expanded in parallel with this. Volunteering's contributions both to the individuals who volunteer as well as to the community it aims to benefit are addressed separately. Having been placed at the center of global development and sustainability goals, the mission that has been given to volunteering expands the scope of intervention in the target group and problem areas, and pioneers the development of innovative methods. This section will discuss volunteerism's alternating roles and areas in the changing world, as well as how to take the pulse of past and present trends in order to better predict what volunteering will look like tomorrow. In this context, the concept of civil society and the historical adventure of NGOs will be mentioned first, followed by discussions of the transformations in volunteering that have occurred in the world since the 2000s. Finally, this section will examine the vision that will be formed for volunteering in the future and the areas on which activities will focus.
Tapping the potential: Learning and development of community volunteers
New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education
Maintaining vital and productive organizations where the energies and talents of staff can find constructive expression is not a challenge only for corporations or government agencies. It is also a concern of organizations created or served by volunteers. In all these organizations, members must learn and adapt as they encounter new challenges or assume new responsibilities. The demand for such learning is always increasing. This chapter focuses on the special opportunities, challenges, and new directions for learning and development of members of voluntary or volunteersupported organizations. Organizational Crisis and the Voluntary Sector As described in Chapter One, sweeping changes are creating a need to question "business as usual" in today's organizations. Bennis and Nanus (1985) claim that organizations "are experiencing a crisis of governance, the incapacity to cope with the expectations of their constituents. . ." (p. 2). In this time of crisis, the voluntary, nonprofit sector demonstrates some unique approaches to both organizations' and members' learning that may be of use to all organizations. 37 V J Marsick (cd) Enhnnonq Sfaff Dcvrlopmmt In fhnsc Settings New Dimlions for Continuing Zduration. no SR San Francisco J a x y Bas, Summcr 1988 Volunteer Renaissance. Over the past two decades, America has witnessed a "renaissance of interest in volunteerism" (Langton, 1982). This growing interest has generated an ever-deepening analysis of the meaning of volunteerism and of the nature, scope, and functions of the nonprofit sector. For the purposes of this discussion, two concepts will be treated as partially overlapping: volunteering and the nonprofit sector. Thus, volunteering refers to freely chosen, unpaid individual activity carried out for a variety of motives. Volunteering occurs in all sectors of society but prevails in the nonprofit sector. The nonprofit sector refers to nongovernmental activity that serves useful social purposes without competing for profit in the marketplace. The Voluntary Nonprofit Organization. This sector is extremely diverse, spanning artistic, educational, environmental, health, consumer, civil rights, and religious organizations. Some groups are small and informal; others are large, well financed, and organized through national, state, and local chapters. Many volunteer organizations are attached to and support larger nonprofit or governmental agencies or even commercial firms. Two general purposes characterize voluntary organizations. Some exist exclusively to satisfy the needs or interests of their members. These are called expressive organizations. They provide friendship, status, recreation, self-help, spiritual expression, creative outlets, or advancement opportunities for members (Mason, 1985). Instrumental organizations pursue broader social goals. In either case, members typically work for personal agendas or ideals, rather than for profit. While the organization may be instrumental, an expressive aspect is also important, particularly in the personal motivations of members. In this way, voluntary organizations often serve as extended families or communities (Mason, 1985). Volunteer organizations often place more emphasis on pursuing their missions, and less on efficiency of operations. They are typically pluralistic in their goals (Wortman, 1982), while government and forprofit organizations are likely to focus more selectively on parts of the problems. Voluntary organizations also have more open, participatory, nonhierarchical, and nonauthoritative structures and styles of operation. Relationships are close and personal, rather than impersonal. Finally, they tend to operate on a small scale, with closer proximity to their clienteles (Wortman, 1982). Volunteer Motives and Actions. What about volunteers themselves? How do their motivations differ from those of paid and professional workers? Historically, a sharp distinction has been drawn. Volunteering has been viewed as a self-chosen, intrinsically satisfying activity. Recently, however, the motives for volunteering and for paid employment have become more alike. Workers seek greater opportunities for creativity. Conversely, volunteers and employers alike recognize that volunteer experience can develop job-related skills. White, 0. "Professionalization of Volunteer Organizations as a 'Problem' in the Theory of Human Action." In J. Harmon (ed.), Volunteerism in the Eighties.
Using volunteer centres to build civil society
2008
Since the 1970s in different countries initiatives arise to promote and support volunteering in general. Literature on volunteering explodes since the 1990s. Volunteering receives attention because it stops to be self-evident and because new values are ascribed to volunteer or civic involvement. (Traditional) volunteer involving organizations are confronted with a decrease of volunteers they cannot stop on their own. At the same time 'welfare states' discover their limitations and acknowledge the meaning of a civil society.
Priming the role of Volunteers in National Development
Because voluntarism adds value to programmes, substantial gains to organisational endeavours, including community goodwill and other intrinsic benefits adds value to services, promotes social harmony, and creates public trust; providing a real economic cost savings and interjects public participation into the decision-making processes. Volunteers enrich citizenship and serve as an effective conduit for civic education. Volunteers add to the quality and capacity of programmes and provide enthusiasm, extra resources and, many times, much needed skills.
СONCEPTUAL BASES OF REGIONAL VOLUNTEERS' MANAGEMENT AS HUMAN RESOURCES
This article is dedicated to development of an effective approach to volunteering governance in a region. The study focuses on the Russian volunteers as a social community. Capabilities of public administration of volunteering development is investigated by casestudy realized in the Sverdlovsk region. The regional volunteering management system, its basic stakeholders and objective description of regional volunteers' community are described according to a survey of volunteers, expert interviews of regional NGO leaders and public officials. The analysis shows that volunteers can be considered as a resource of the regional management, however, volunteers as a social community have their specific resources. The research methodology is based on the theory of crosssectoral interaction and the stakeholder theory. We assume that the resources of volunteer social community should be taken into consideration in the process of regional management, also we should focus on the capabilities and interests of the volunteer social community members. The regional executive authority can influence volunteers by stakeholders. The third sector plays the most important part in this process: it should involve and integrate people, business, media, social service agencies, educational institutions and local governments. The article proposes a conceptual framework for regional volunteering management.