Volunteer and Staff Relations

Macduff, Nancy

doi:10.1002/9781118386194.ch11

Cited by 12 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Another managerial implication emerging from this study is that organizations need to be proactive about assessing the quality of relationships between volunteers and staff. Macduff () argues that organizations should regularly survey volunteers, staff, and clients in order to stay abreast of the volunteer‐staff climate and make changes should any of these symptoms of poor volunteer‐staff relations or other red flags emerge. We also encourage organizations to collect both qualitative and quantitative data to describe these relationships; many important comments emerged in our interviews and open‐ended survey questions that would not have been apparent in the quantitative survey data alone.…”

Section: Discussion: Managerial and Policy Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In fact, conflict is the second theme we find in the scholarly literature (Macduff ). Perhaps due to the altruism implied by the nature of volunteerism and the general feeling that organizations should be appreciative of unpaid labor (Brudney ), we note an apparent reluctance to acknowledge and address volunteer‐staff conflict.…”

Section: Dynamics Of Volunteer‐staff Interactions: From Satisfaction mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Wandersman and Alderman () conduct a case study of a state division of the American Cancer Society in which they identify lack of communication as one of the most commonly reported conflicts described by interviewees. Other studies describe specific communication deficiencies that contribute to antagonistic relationships between volunteers and staff, such as insufficient acknowledgment of volunteer contributions and unclear definition of organizational goals (Studer and von Schnurbein ) as well as structural barriers due to lack of physical or organizational proximity (Macduff ). Garner and Garner () utilize Hirschman's () theory of exit, voice, and loyalty to examine connections between volunteers' ability to communicate feedback to their organization and indicators of volunteer satisfaction and turnover.…”

Section: Dynamics Of Volunteer‐staff Interactions: From Satisfaction mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Engaging volunteers requires investments of effort, time, training, and fiscal resources so that both organizations and volunteers benefit. Nancy Macduff (, 256) argues that “the relationship between volunteers and staff can influence the success or failure of a program … and the ability to make positive organizational changes.” As such, a purposive volunteer‐staff relationship is critical. Despite the importance of these working relationships, many organizations fall prey to the misperception that volunteers are a source of “free labor” (Handy and Mook ).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Exploring the Dynamics of Volunteer and Staff Interactions

Rimes

Nesbit²,

Christensen

et al. 2017

Nonprofit Mgmnt & Ldrshp

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The quality of the relationships between volunteers and paid staff can have far-reaching consequences for organizations that utilize volunteer programs to support service delivery. We utilize a mixed methods case study design to explore volunteer and staff perceptions of their mutual interactions within a large library system in the southeastern United States. We consider which areas of these interactions might be vulnerable to conflict. Our findings suggest that conflict is likely to arise due to communication problems, behavioral or attitudinal issues, perceptions of job vulnerability, divergent expectations, lack of trust, and workflow integration hurdles. We argue that to avoid these tensions and promote effective service delivery, staff members must have appropriate training and preparation to interact successfully with volunteers.VOLUNTEERS SERVE AS key sources of human capital for many organizations in the public and nonprofi t spheres, often working in conjunction with the paid staff in those organizations (Gidron 1985 ). Engaging volunteers requires investments of eff ort, time, training, and fi scal resources so that both organizations and volunteers benefi t. Nancy Macduff ( 2012 , 256) argues that "the relationship between volunteers and staff can infl uence the success or failure of a program … and the ability to make positive organizational changes." As such, a purposive volunteer-staff relationship is critical. Despite the importance of these working relationships, many organizations fall prey to the misperception that volunteers are a source of "free labor" (Handy and Mook 2011 ). Such organizations may inadequately invest in the management of these valuable human resources (Hager and Brudney 2004 ;Machin and Paine 2008 ). Too often, paid employees fi nd themselves inadvertently directing and supervising volunteer labor, rather than being trained and prepared to take on this role (Nesbit et al. 2016 ). Th is situation can be particularly challenging when organizations increase their use of volunteers, such as during times of fi scal constraint when increased reliance on volunteers is often utilized as a strategy to reduce personnel costs (Brudney

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Section: Discussion: Managerial and Policy Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Dynamics Of Volunteer‐staff Interactions: From Satisfaction mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Dynamics Of Volunteer‐staff Interactions: From Satisfaction mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Exploring the Dynamics of Volunteer and Staff Interactions

Rimes

Nesbit²,

Christensen

et al. 2017

Nonprofit Mgmnt & Ldrshp

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Instead, volunteers may be viewed as a threat to the quality of care when they solve core tasks in contrast to complementary ones. Such threat perceptions among nursing home professionals may eventually harm the quality of care delivered to the end users since threat perceptions have been shown to lead to tension and conflict between volunteers and service professionals (Kreutzer & Jäger 2011;MacDuff 2011).…”

Section: Implications For Provision Of Health Care Services and Direcmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving Service Provision - The Health Care Services' Perspective

Winter¹,

Thomsen²,

Schreyögg³

et al. 2019

SMR

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How to improve service provision in the health care sector is a question of high economic and social relevance, as the health service industry represents a major part of developed nations' economy and health care is a service virtually everyone is touched by in their life. The topic embraces different perspectives or levers, including the (re)organization of service provision, a stronger focus on the patient in the service delivery process, and the crucial role of employees in health service provision. We invited a group of well-renown scholars from different academic fields to share with us personal observations, empirical evidence, and interpretations of how to improve service provision in health care in the form of individual commentaries that cover the different perspectives. The resulting special research article includes motivations on why changes in the health care sector make service management research (smr) more relevant, it depicts implications (of smr) for health care organizations, and it outlines suggestions for future research. This article is designed to offer avenues for further service research on different perspectives for the improvement and professionalization of health care -a discipline in which joint efforts of service and health care researchers can have great societal impact.Health services are similar to other services in that they are characterized by intangibility, inseparability, perishability, and credence service. Yet health care also has uncommon characteristics that merit attention in service research, highlighted in the following.Customers are sick: Health care customers are usually ill and under stress. Under those circumstances, medical customers can be far more emotional, demanding, sensitive, and/or dependent than they would normally be as consumers. The combination of illness, pain, uncertainty, and fear and the one hand and relief, jubilation and thankfulness on the other influences their ability to make choices. Hence, decision-making is likely to be incomparable to other service situations. Customers are reluctant:In contrast to most other services, health care is a service that people need but do not necessarily want. Customer reluctance may affect quality of care, due to customer unwillingness to perform the coproducer role necessary for successful service provision, as well as service quality perceptions as customers might evaluate desired and dreaded services differently.Customers relinquish privacy: Health care services are inherently personal but not private. To receive the best possible care, patients may not only have to disrobe, but they may also have to discuss highly personal matters such as psychosocial issues, even with staff they are meeting for the first time.Customers need "whole person" service: Health care services need to be customized to fit not only a patient's medical condition but also the patient's age, mental condition, personal traits, preferences, family circumstances, and financial capacity/insurance status. Additionally, health care customers...

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Organizational Factors Affecting Volunteers: A Literature Review on Volunteer Coordination

2012

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While volunteer literature presents diverse insights into the motives, personal dispositions, and sociodemographic characteristics of volunteers, researches comparatively seldom focus on the incentives and organizational context affecting volunteers. This review aims to shed light on the organizational factors affecting volunteers collectively and to discuss the coordination of volunteers. Systematic research of the literature revealed 386 publications that are relevant to volunteer coordination. Their abstracts were analyzed in a process of open and selective coding, which led to the identification of three main clusters. This literature review produced the following propositions: it is argued that the practices and instruments of volunteer management (Cluster 1), and, even more strongly, the organizational attitudes towards volunteers as well as the organizations' embedded values (Cluster 2), co-determined by social processes (integration and production of meaning), are crucial factors affecting volunteers. The review also deals with structural features that limit the action space of volunteers and volunteer coordination (Cluster 3). It concludes by discussing the limitations present in the current volunteer research and provides implications for future research endeavors. Thus, this piece of work presents a holistic view on volunteer coordination and theory building by carefully synthesizing information about the organizational context of volunteering from different disciplines and research traditions, resulting in different intervention logics, and by integrating these data in an analytical framework.

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Volunteer and Staff Relations

Cited by 12 publications

References 4 publications

Exploring the Dynamics of Volunteer and Staff Interactions

Exploring the Dynamics of Volunteer and Staff Interactions

Improving Service Provision - The Health Care Services' Perspective

Organizational Factors Affecting Volunteers: A Literature Review on Volunteer Coordination

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