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Best Regards,
Suzanna Windon, Ph.D.
Volunteer Management
Photo credit: Windon, S. 2024 Sicily, Italy
Motivating Event Volunteers
Yudhaputr & Fatimah (2020) examined the motivations and benefits of event volunteering in contrast to the recruitment of permanent employees. Through semi-structured interviews with volunteers across seven events in Jakarta, Indonesia, the study explores the diverse reasons people volunteer at different events. The findings indicate that the primary volunteer motivations varied depending on the event. However, some common themes emerged across all the events studied, including:
A desire to contribute to the overall success of the event.
Opportunities for networking and building professional connections.
Gaining practical work experience and developing new skills.
Deriving non-material benefits, such as a sense of purpose or personal satisfaction.
For major national events, a sense of patriotism and pride.
The authors suggest that event organizers need to strategically align their volunteer recruitment and management practices with these varying volunteer motivations to effectively leverage the benefits that volunteers can provide while ensuring a positive experience for the volunteers themselves.
Source: Yudhaputri, E. A., & Fatimah, N. (2020). The important role of volunteers in events. Asia Pacific International Events Management Journal, 1(2), 33-40. https://ejournal-medan.uph.edu/apiemj/article/view/345
Photo credit: Windon, S. 2024. Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, Canada
Measuring the Costs and Benefits of Non-Profit Organizations' Volunteer Investments
Manetti and colleagues (2015) explore the application of Social Return on Investment (SROI) analysis to quantify the costs and benefits of non-profit organizations' (NPOs) investments in recruiting, training, and managing volunteers. The researchers present a case study of the Italian association Dynamo Camp, which provides recreational therapy for children with serious illnesses through summer camps. They worked with Dynamo's staff and surveyed 29 volunteers. The main elements of this methodology include thoroughly mapping volunteer activities, employing a participatory approach to assess outcomes, utilizing financial proxies to assign monetary value to the social benefits generated, and making necessary adjustments to pinpoint the impact of the organization's volunteer investments. Here is a summary of the key steps of the proposed methodology:
Contextualize the organization's mission, activities, and internal structure.
Map all the activities related to attracting, selecting, recruiting, training, coordinating, and supervising volunteers.
Identify and assign monetary values to the inputs used for these volunteer-related activities.
Identify the corresponding outputs of these activities.
Engage stakeholders to map the outcomes, identify indicators, and qualitatively and quantitatively estimate the outcomes.
Determine appropriate financial proxies to value the identified outcomes.
Adjust the outcome valuations to account for potential displacement effects, deadweight effects, attribution issues, and drop-off effects.
Calculate the final SROI (Social Return on Investment) index based on the total value of impacts produced relative to the total inputs.
Sourse: Manetti, G., Bellucci, M., Como, E., & Bagnoli, L. (2015). Investing in volunteering: Measuring social returns of volunteer recruitment, training and management. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 26, 2104-2129.
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-014-9497-3
Leadership
Photo credit: Windon, S. 2024 St Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada.
Digital-age Leadership Competencies
In the digital age, leaders face both challenges and opportunities. Mirčetić and colleagues (2024) explore the essential competencies leaders must develop to thrive in the digital age, where new technologies and challenges significantly impact leadership. Despite existing research on leadership competencies, a gap remains regarding competencies needed in a digitally disrupted environment. The study identifies six key leadership competencies for this era and emphasizes embracing new challenges to lead organizations to success. The findings offer scientific and practical insights, helping leaders adapt to the evolving business landscape. Key digital-age leadership competencies include:
Agility – The ability to rapidly adapt to the constantly changing business environment and make timely, well-informed decisions to stay ahead of the competition.
Collaboration - The capability to cultivate cross-functional teamwork and the aptitude to work proficiently with diverse groups in person, remotely, or in a hybrid setting.
Data-driven decision-making - The ability to analyze, comprehend, and interpret large amounts of data to make well-informed and evidence-based decisions.
Digital literacy - Having a deep, comprehensive understanding of emerging technologies, the challenges presented by the digital age, and the impact these have on the broader business landscape.
Effective communication - The ability to communicate efficiently and maintain strong connections with team members using various digital tools and channels.
Innovativeness - The capacity to foster creativity, develop fresh business strategies, and discover novel solutions to address modern-day challenges.
Incorporating these findings, the authors propose a new definition of leadership for the digital age: - Leadership is a nuanced and multidimensional process where individuals cultivate connections with their team members to accomplish organizational objectives. This involves thoughtfully accounting for the organization's evolving needs, changes in the broader business landscape, and the unique challenges the contemporary digital environment presents.
Source: Mirčetić, V., Mihić, M., & Kovačević, I. (2024). Unlocking Hidden Potential: Developing Leadership Competencies in the Digital Age. In Proceedings of XIX International Symposium SymOrg.
EXPERT SPOTLIGHT
Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/microphone-music-studio-1003561/ is in the Public Domain on Pixabay.com downloaded - 02.15.20
Leadership in the Digital Age
Gilli et al. (2024) examined the future impact of digitalization on leadership and team dynamics, 42 executive managers from Italy and Austria, representing both small and large enterprises, shared their perspectives. The findings revealed surprising consistency in their views, regardless of company size or the level of digitalization. Below, I summarized the authors’ recommendations:
Digital transformation requires leaders, not just technical specialists, to navigate complex changes.
Leaders' social, strategic, and conceptual skills are crucial for managing digital transformation.
Proactive leadership is essential to guide technological change and embed digitalization in organizational strategy and culture.
Leaders should foster a "digital mindset" through behavior and decisions while promoting knowledge flow and ensuring teams understand the change's purpose.
Onboarding, training, and leadership development in digital skills are critical for building a strong digital identity and successfully managing data transparency.
The authors suggested that conscious and transparent data management and active communication are essential to alleviate resistance to technological change and promote a collaborative culture of innovation.
Source: Gilli, K., Lettner, N. and Guettel, W. (2024), "The future of leadership: new digital skills or old analog virtues?", Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 45 No. 1, pp. 10-16. https://doi.org/10.1108/JBS-06-2022-0093
Additional Resources
Please review our latest Extension article by following the links below:
Building Trust with Ecosystem Stakeholders (Part 3) (psu.edu).
Aligning Motivations in Ecosystem Stakeholder Engagement (Part 2)
Creating Space for Ecosystem Stakeholder Engagement (Part 1)
See our latest peer-reviewed publications below:
Windon, Suzanna R.; Awan, Mariah K.; and Radhakrishna, Rama (2024) "4-H Volunteers Leaders’ Turnover Intention," Journal of Youth Development: Vol. 19: Iss. 1, Article 6. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/jyd/vol19/iss1/6
Windon, S. R., Buchko, O., & Falcone, L. (2023). Volunteers’ Stewardship Action-Taking Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic Predicted by Their Motivation Toward Engagement and Ability to Teach Others. Journal of Human Sciences and Extension, 11(3), 2. DOI: https://doi.org/10.55533/2325-5226.1416
Windon, S. R., Robotham, D.J., & Echols A. (2023). Importance of Organizational Volunteer Retention and Communication with Volunteers during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Community Development Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/15575330.2023.2186457
Windon, S. R., & Awan, M. K. (2023). Organizational Leader’s Leadership Competencies Assessment Technique. Journal of Human Sciences and Extension, 11(2), 9. https://doi.org/10.55533/2325-5226.1405
This Month’s Words to Ponder
"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock."
Thomas Jefferson
Thanks for reading! Be on the look out for next month’s volunteer management &
leadership tips!
Source: https://www.maxpixels.net/Thank-You-Pot-Thank-You-Card-Plant-Modern-Table-3690116 is in the Public Domain on MaxPixsel