Challenges in Volunteer Management - Essay Example

Rewarding Volunteers Rewarding Volunteers Program directors being part of the HR department also have to ensure that they follow these rules and enhance the productivity of the company. Creating a good relationship with staff members is critical for such a position to create a lasting effect on the company. Since the core duties of a director are promote the overall accomplishment of the program, this means staff members who work within the program parameters are also important. The staff, whether volunteers or in the payroll system of the organization have to be treated with respect. Their value to the success of the program is just as important regardless of their status within the company (Badger, Royse and Webster, 2009). The director .has to understand the importance of their inclusion to the program and value that it is in accordance with the organizations objectives. Human resource is essential to any organization’s plans and should, therefore, reflect the highest possible standards and ethics to their staff members. Causes of understaffing Understaffing has been a recent phenomenon in many organizations looking to adjust their business models or frameworks to favor the opportunity to make profit. This rationale has raised questions as to why many organizations prefer to create a situation for understaffing. Remarkably, it is significant to understand the reason behind understaffing that faced the university. At the online University, a number of reasons could have lead to understaffing. An analysis of the situation brings into light the following grounds. Financial constraints usually bring major hurdles in any organization and also hinder the completion of the company’s goals and objectives. At the Online University the fact that they are hiring volunteers rather than putting them on payroll sheds light on the financial situation within the organization. Volunteers although qualified are usually a cheaper solution towards the completion of the company’s goals. At this situation, the organization is forced to hire volunteers to offer much needed support to finish working on the programme. Another reason for hiring volunteers could be due to the lack of qualified work force. Understaffing could be brought about due to the lack or shortage of qualified personnel. Sometimes an organization could hire volunteers who are necessarily not yet qualified for the position they are being offered. This could lead misunderstandings between the volunteers and program directors as seen at the Online University. Poor roles and duties coordination among HR staffs is another cause for understaffing at the company (Liao-Troth, 2008). This can be seen with the often resignation witnessed in both volunteers and the program directors. It is essential for a company to ensure that a relationship blossoms between staff members. When HR department is not able to smoothly ensure transition responsibility between the volunteers and the program director it could lead to understaffing. Additionally, the volunteers ought to feel appreciated on the work they are doing within the company. It is the work of the program coordinator to ensure this happens with his or her team members. Importance of a compactible leadership Creating a volunteering management strategies is an essential and core aspect for every director of any organization. Volunteers offer credibility and accountability to an organization. Their contribution is likely to be more fulfilling and satisfying to the organizations vision and mission than that of paid staff members. Volunteers require leadership to increase their effectiveness to the workforce. This is made harder since they are not paid and, therefore, requires certain technical skills and knowhow from their supervisors. A good management and leadership criteria for volunteers has to connect them with the core values of the organization. Connecting them to the mission of the company is one way of managing volunteers. This makes them feel part of the company since their contribution is needed and in demand within the organization. Staff members feel part of the company through continued monthly salaries among other things. For volunteers to feel the same way, they have to feel emotionally invested to the success of the company, which is done by involving them in exiting tasks that attract their attention. When they feel, they are doing real work they feel ethically motivated to continue working for the company. Roles performed by the volunteers have to match their expertise, interest and talents. One reason that volunteers keep joining organizations in such capacities is increase their knowledge on what they prefer to practice in the long run. They become more invested in the company when they are able to share and acquire knowledge close to their talents. This will increase the workforce efficiency of the company rather that making them take photocopies and distribute tea. An organization’s objective is to create a workforce that produces professionals in their field of expertise. Recognition of volunteers work and rewarding it within the organization is another important leadership and managing trend, which gives them a feeling of pride and fulfillment as well as appreciation from their senior staff members. Also, a sense of belonging is cultivated within the organization. When such volunteering programs are established within an organization, they are likely to remain open to future volunteering opportunities. Reward system to maintain volunteer enthusiasm Rewarding volunteers calls for the formulation of strategies that recognize their contribution to the company and reward them appropriately. The form of the reward should be essential also and not just materialistic. It has to add value and knowledge on the individual receiving it as well as being directly linked with the vision and mission of the organization. Monetary rewarding systems often bring about enmity and too much unhealthy competition amongst the volunteers. It is, therefore, not usually used as a reward system as it is deemed ethically inappropriate in mentoring volunteers to become a productive workforce. A manager has to ensure the strategy covers the following vital aspects of the organization when coming up with a sound rewarding system. The roles of the organization have to be identified and categorized to the level of contribution attained (Anthonissen, 2008). Criteria for meeting recognition have to also be known and also include special recognition criteria. Additionally, promoting various awards and recognitions programs to cover all volunteers and finally, presenting the awards in an appropriate manner. An organization such as the Online University has to create a rewarding programme that must be competitive enough to ensure growth of its volunteers. Also, it must be a ceremonious occasion where all staff members has to be present to increase credibility of the system. Rewards may account to a number of different things such as special newspaper mentions, employment opportunity and honor boards among many other things. Such a program must uphold key values of integrity, fairness, and equity when recognizing the contribution of each volunteer to the organization. The Online University might even offer reduced fees on the students participating in the broadcasting station. The process also ought to be transparent as possible to reduce any criticism from the participating members. Appropriate communication or training program The situation at the Online University could be avoided through better communication and training strategies. An effective communication strategy that could be used by the Online University is one that is effective, accurate and efficient. The HR department should employ these communication criteria to detect early warning situations that lead to staff misunderstandings. It seems there is no clear communication between the director and the volunteers involved. The volunteers should be familiar with their roles and responsibility and complete them in a timely accurate manner. When staff members understand and communicate with each other on a regular and effective manner resignation tends to be minimized. Listening to the employees is an important aspect of communication. The program director has to create ways that enable a mutual communication with the volunteers on the situation at hand. Employee’s concern should be laid in the open and corrected within the shortest time possible if they hinder the company’s stability. A good communications plan should also be able to recognize employees’ achievements. In this case the programme director should identify his employee’s goals and objectives and keep track of how they are attained. A couple of training strategies are also important on curbing the situation at Online University. Internal resource training is important in this situation. This would help the University analyze their needs to understand what they require and need for productivity. Also, it identifies the skills gaps within the situation and tries to minimize the situation. In this case the skills gap witnessed in the volunteers could be avoided when detected early enough. Additionally, internal resource training tries to make the most out of the available resources within the company, which detects the flaws and strengths of the company and tries to add on the weak links of the company by creating a stable foundation on the excess resources. If faced with the situation like the one at The Online University, I would implement the above communication and training strategies in the following manner. First I would ensure I create effective communication strategies between the program director and the volunteers. This means that the responsibility between the two staff members has to be done in a time efficient and accurate manner. It is indispensable that there is a healthy communication channel between the two. Identifying volunteer’s works is also another important aspect of the implementation plan, which can be done by introducing a reporting system whereby the volunteers turn in their work accomplishments and their contributions to the program’s success. This will also be done with the inclusion of a reward system to complement their achievements. Finally, a regular organizational seminar should also help in the nurturing of the volunteer’s knowledge and attitude. This will also help minimize the knowledge gap at the Online University. Both volunteers and staff members, as well as management level staff sharing ideas is an important aspect and would go a long way in complementing the success of the 9implementation plan. In conclusion, the Human Resource department is a complex but important part of the day to day administration of the organization. It calls for effective communication and training strategies amongst its staff members to enhance productivity and minimize employee downsizing. Poor management strategies could hurt the performance of the whole organization. Problems however small in an organization ought to be handled in a strategic manner to minimize damage. The HR department illuminates the importance of volunteers as well as their disadvantages to the company if not properly managed. Although they are not paid their contribution tend to be as valuable to the company’s progress as paid staff members. Leadership styles also offer an incentive towards the management of such groups of employees. An organizations leadership and management strategy is as good as the volunteers they nurture. Compatible leadership ensures that employees are viewed as an important and core aspect towards the realization and achievement of the company’s goals and objectives. Volunteers should not be viewed any less in any organization and thus should be treated and managed with upmost integrity and respect. Their reward in the company should not be seen as meaningless and a waste of time but rather an important way of them realizing their full potential. Organizations should, therefore, value their importance and henceforth, include them in their long term strategy. References Badger, Karen, David Royse and Matthew Webster. Needs Assessment. OXford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2009. Anthonissen, Peter. Crisis Communication: Practical PR Strategies for Repuation Management and Company Surviva. London, UK: Kogan Page, 2008. Liao-Troth, Matthew. Challenges in Volunteer Management. New York, NY: Information Age Publishers, 2008. Read More