Theoretical Aspects Concerning the Management of Volunteers

AuthorSimon, M.
PositionDepartment of Social Sciences and Communication, Transilvania University of Brasov
Pages247-254
Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov
Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 6 (55) No. 2 - 2013
THEORETICAL ASPECTS CONCERNING
THE MANAGEMENT OF VOLUNTEERS
Marinela ŞIMON1
Abstract: The initial motivation in volunteering involvement is not a
guarantee of the activity continuity, and the reasons to disclaim this concern
might be various. The organizations, in which volunteers are working, can
prevent to a certain degree the volunteers leaving, by taking two steps:
understanding what volunteering and the group of volunteers generally
requires, especially (motivation, costs incurred and expected benefits)
respectively the assuming of an efficient management. The present paper
aims a short overview of the main elements of volunteer management, as they
are illustrated in the literature.
Key words: motivation, management, volunteers.
1Department of Social Sciences and Communication, Transilvania University of Braşov.
1. The need for management
Why is it necessary to address this topic,
related to the volunteer management? The
dominant idea is that the lack of attention
due to the problem of volunteer
management has as consequences a low/an
unsatisfactory level regarding the
recruitment and the retention of volunteers.
The first volunteer manager
establishment in the UK, in the 1960s, and
the call addressed by Noyes Campbell and
Ellis (1995) cited Rochester (2010) [7] to
institutions in order to take responsibility
for volunteers managing are both examples
of an increasing trend of a systematic
thinking regarding their organization.
Currently few people argue that volunteers
should not be coordinated, it is accepted
that in order to attract and retain volunteers
successfully, the organizations should not
abuse the time provided by volunteers, but
to use their time rationally, with careful
implementation and support effort.
But the way in which those should be
managed raises some questions. What is a
good practice in volunteer management
and to what extent can it be flexible
enough to be implemented in different
types of organizations? Is there more than
one pattern of thinking regarding volunteer
management?
There are some organizations, often the
small ones, and especially those that are
run by volunteers, which avoid the
management idea or at least they are not
aware of its relevance. However, it is
interesting to know whether this implies
the absence of any management or the
existence of an alternative form,
convenient for the organization.
The importance of this issue is
underlined by the conclusions of several
studies in the field, one of them
commissioned by the UPS Foundation in
1998, showing that two-fifths of the
volunteers stopped working for an
organization, at some point, because of one

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