New Styles of VolunteeringIdentifying and Managing Volunteers

Objectives

• Describe the Multi-Paradigm Model of Volunteering

• Describe four forms of volunteer service

• Describe implications for managing non-traditional volunteers

• Teach participants to tailor recruitment or recognition efforts based on different volunteer styles

Multi-Paradigm Model of Volunteering

Objectivism

SU

BJE

CTIV

ISM Radical

Change

Stability

Entrepreneurial Volunteer

Social Change Volunteer

Serendipitous Volunteer

Traditional Volunteer

Traditional Volunteering

• Work done is predictable

• Identified lines of supervision are expected

• Volunteers are comfortable with incremental change

• Volunteers prefer to be included in decisions to make change

Implications for Management

• Defined job responsibilities

• Screening

• Supervision/Contact

• Recognition-welcome outward expressions of appreciation for their service

• Regular communication - newsletters, e-mail and phone calls

Serendipitous Volunteers• Prefer stability and incremental

change

• Serve on an occasional basis

• Have little patience with those who dictate to them

• Act in unconventional ways in response to a perceived need, based on beliefs in the power of communal responses

Serendipitous Volunteers

• Organize teams of people to address an issue or problem

• Work with an existing organization, but under a loose connection

• Need to have an idea about service and then figure out how to provide it on their own or with a small group

Managing Serendipitous Volunteers

• Volunteers need to design their own tasks or service, in consultation with the organization

• Tasks need to be available when the volunteer is available - Be Flexible

• Group interaction is important toward the contribution of the work project process

• Gentle guidance, mostly in the form of questions and sharing of information is the preferred method of supervision

Social-Change Volunteers

• Seek something radically new —based on his/her perceptions of the unmet needs of members, clients or communities

• Do not need a specific job assignment in an organizational context to begin working

• Seek change and action• Seek to create new systems and solutions

for existing problems and contributing to the larger society

Social-Change Volunteers• Are motivated by innovation and change• Prefer participating with groups of people

to revolutionize the way in which programming or services are implemented

• Have a desire to adjust and experiment with new approaches, products and services that will make the final outcome better than it currently is

• Are cause-oriented

Managing Social-Change Volunteers

• Passive activities that require sitting or repetition are of little or no interest to them

• Conflict is expected and can serve as a strong motivator for these volunteers

• It is helpful for them to creatively address conflict to better the goals of the work

• It is helpful that they are given a chance for the development of new strategies and tactics for social change

Managing Social-Change Volunteers

• SCV can bring vitality to a stale program.• Individuals and groups must be organized to

address what they consider to be pressing needs and move to gather others to address the issues.

• Most often they are leaders of like-minded volunteers.

• The manager must be comfortable with conflict and the promotion of social causes.

Entrepreneurial Volunteers• Regard themselves as self-appointed

doers of good• Act outside of the boundaries of organized

or formalized volunteer programs• Have an intense personal desire to do

justice their way• Work to facilitate radical change one

person at a time

• Enact change by working independently without personal gain

Managing Entrepreneurial Volunteers

• Typically EV cannot be easily managed and will be unhappy in traditionally organized volunteer programs with forms, applications and discussions about service.

• It is possible to recruit an entrepreneurial volunteer for special tasks that involve independent work and substantive change.

Reference

• http://www.volunteertoday.com/ARCHIVES2007/4Q06%20Workshop_Macduff.pdf