Staff and Volunteers Management - Term Paper Example

MANAGING A NON-PROFIT ORGANISATION SCOUTING ASSOCIATION ment of Originality I, the undersigned, declare that this is my original work and has not been submitted to any other college, institution, or university. Signed: __________________________ Date: _____________________________ Executive summary Non-profit organizations have recently grabbed the spotlight on a national and global scale (Edward and Hulme, 1995), Lewis, 2001). The trend has been attributed to the increasing commitment for organizations to offer social services by involving voluntary organizations (Billis 1993); Salamon and Anheier 1999). Several explanations have been attributed to the rise of the non-profit sector such as the disillusionment felt informal organizations that characterize high levels of corruption. Non-profit sector growth brought about management with management issues in regard to their policies and procedures. Governance and organizational structure, non-profit organizations operate on a system where they encourage flexibility and idealism within the firm. They abolish rigid structures of organizations such as hierarchy of authority. Communications breakdowns are evident in non-profit organization due to operation of the headquarters in one area and the field offices in another. The organizations pay little attention to employee problems, their human resource management structure is simple thus are unable to monitor staff performance. Non-profit organizations experience governance issues especially due to lack of empowerment among the board members. Marketing, branding and corporate identity, non-profit organization engages various marketing tactics that promote their brand awareness, perception and image to their shareholders. Shareholders include clients, staff, volunteers, management staff and the community. The organizations motive is to build and maintain a good corporate image that can attract donors and position their products in the market appropriately. Staff and volunteers management, the organization, should have mechanisms in place to recruit and retain top staff. Structures should also be available to hire volunteers who assist paid staff to complete set tasks. Organization should also motivate staff and volunteers; recognition only spurs to motivate further performance. Training and orientation of volunteers is critical to ensuring that they are aware of the organizations goals and visions and what the organization expects of them. Contents Statement of Originality 2 Executive summary 3 Contents 4 1.0 Management Issues in Non-Profit Organizations 5 1.1 Staff and volunteer management 5 1.1.1 People and relationships 5 1.2 Volunteer Management 6 1.2.1 Volunteer motivation and recognition 6 1.3 Marketing, Branding and Corporate Identity 7 1.3.1 Planning and positioning 7 1.3.2 Communication 7 1.3.3 Building Donor Constituency 8 1.3.4 Branding 8 1.4 Governance, Organization Structure and Role of Trustees 9 1.5 Conclusion and Recommendation 9 1.5.1 Conclusion 9 1.5.2 Recommendations 10 APPENDIX A- IMPACT EVALUATION AND SOCIAL ENTERPRISE 11 Reference List 14 1.0 Management Issues in Non-Profit Organizations 1.1 Staff and volunteer management Oster (1995) argues that non-profit sectors differ from profit sectors on how they handle their staff. Staff management in modern organization is called Human Resources Management. This is the design of formal systems in a firm that promotes efficient utilization of the workers skills, knowledge and expertise. Non-profit organizations face myriad of challenges in ensuring proper staff development. They also differ from other organizations in that they have lowly paid employees and management staff thus depends heavily on volunteers. They are reliant on part-time staff; volunteers are largely young people who turn up to perform tasks when available. The Scout Association should look into the following management issues; 1.1.1 People and relationships People who comprise a non-profit organization include employees, board, volunteers, management staff and the community (Drucker, 1990 pp 111). Creating a relationship of mutual benefits among the parties who make up the organization goes a long way in ensuring sustainability of the Scout Association in the long term future. Management should ensure that there is good coexistence among the employees, solving employee’s problems promptly whenever they arise. Fowler (1997) argues that, non-profit organizations are not closed entities enclosed with definite boundaries; he says they are open systems; they should interact with the external environment. The Scout association is highly dependent on the events and resources in the environment; it can also influence the environment. The Scout organization can identify opportunities to influence change as well as respond to changes to economic and political processes. It should support sustainable development initiatives, through volunteering or providing expert opinion and assistance, so that they can strengthen social capital of the community members. 1.2 Volunteer Management Volunteers help workers to accomplish the organization’s mission and strategic plan. Volunteer management requires the development of policies and procedures to help them adjust to the organizations operations. In a non-profit organization, there are three levels of staff force; professional employees, paid staff and volunteers (Anderson & Baroody, 1992; Selby 1978). In regard to volunteer work to issues crop up, oversight and coordination of the volunteer effort and how the organization employees work with volunteers (Farr, 1983,pp 18). The output of the employees in the Scout Association is contingent on how well they are in the organization. Volunteers should undergo extensive training and orientation to gain insights of the organization’s mission and vision, strategic plan, history and accomplishments and firm’s expectations from them (Alexander, 1991). On job, training should be extended to volunteers as opposed to management assumption that they are. Guides in the Scout Association should provide instructions and answer queries raised by volunteers to facilitate easier and faster absorption into the activities of the Scout Association. Volunteers acquire necessary skills through capacity building. 1.2.1 Volunteer motivation and recognition Individuals volunteer to gain intrinsic rewards such as satisfaction and sense of accomplishment. Others volunteer as a means of career exploration and development, concern for people and external recognition (Dailey, 1986, Pearce, 1993). The Scout Association should recognize efforts by awarding medals and certificates as a form of extrinsic rewards. Bozeman and Ellemers (2007) suggests that providing feedback about the success of their efforts is a means to enhance pride, respect and motivation. Profit making organizations invest heavily in identifying new talent, developing the talent and retaining it. Organizations that are profit motivated hold seminars, participate in conferences and exhibitions with the aim of giving the employee exposure to other work environments. Instead of having volunteer work they have internship programs that they use to tap new talent. Profit making organizations also have a good established reward system and performance appraisal procedure. The firms also have a board of governors composed of professionals. 1.3 Marketing, Branding and Corporate Identity Marketing in the non-profit sector is used to build and maintain the organization’s image and reputation. Marketing approach in such organizations helps to communicate the organizations cause, build relationships, and attract donors and volunteers. Marketing tactics used by non-profit organizations include, Advertising and public relations. Non-profit marketing involves different dimensions; 1.3.1 Planning and positioning Management staff develops and create strategic plans that are crucial towards achieving set goals and objectives. The non-profit organization should position itself in a manner that will make it widely known in the society. They should identify their market, communicate the problems they face and then provide solutions to the problems cost effectively. Non-profit marketing should influence society member perception about non-profit organizations and how they exploit the plight of the poor to gain access to main market segments. 1.3.2 Communication Non-profit marketing communicates to its stakeholders with the aim of achieving set market goals. The information is communicated to clients, board members, volunteers, staff, government, other non-profit organization and grant foundations. Effective communication must exist with the organizations client to establish if the organization has developed effective solutions to the problems they encounter. Successful organization develop strong bonds with their stakeholders eventually, they establish a very good working relationship. The Scout Association which offers services such as mountain climbing should communicate reliable information to their clients to ensure their safety during a climb. They should also fore warn clients of adverse weather conditions prior to the climb. Such action of not withholding information with customers helps to maintain good will. 1.3.3 Building Donor Constituency Attracting resources is paramount for non-profit marketers. They attract donations ranging from, time by volunteers and funds from individual donors and organizational donors. Donations from organization may be in the form of products or monetary donations. Donors can be categorized according to; amount they contribute (large and regular donors), frequency of contribution (monthly, annually, regular), event donors (special event donors) and duration of donation (long term or short term). Non-profit marketers should create a donor constituency to secure the sustainability of the organization. The Scout Association marketers should attract donors who will sponsor its activities. 1.3.4 Branding Branding in the non-profit sector involves building an organizations image and reputation. This is how people perceive the organization. Established organizations have credibility because people have identified with their goals and objectives e.g. During the tsunami in Asia, USA’s Red Cross raised funds from the American citizens to help people rebuild lives, people donated because they knew the activities of Red Cross (Brand awareness). People felt safe to send donations because they knew the funds would be for the intended purpose (Brand image). They perceive Red Cross as well established and a trusted disaster relief organization. Non-profit organizations that are well known attract large and regular donations. The Scout Association should ensure that they have a cause to promote and protect. They protect the environment, assist if called upon to. People will identify their brand with good causes and they may attract donations. Profit making ventures allocate huge funds for advertising through; TV adverts, billboards, e-marketing. Advertising reminds customers of the existence of the products and persuades them to buy. They are usually big brands that customers want to be associated with and often they grow to become multinationals. 1.4 Governance, Organization Structure and Role of Trustees Non-profit organizations are in their preference to engaging in participatory development rather than a direct focus on issues such as recruitment of the right staff, planning and budgeting (Ditcher, 1989). Stark Biddle (1984) argues that non-profit organizations lack leadership and management capacity. They also experience internal communication hitches because of the location separation of head offices and field offices, poor financial and organizational planning, governance’s issues in relation to board functions and poor attention to human resource. Stark (1984) states that non-profit organizations viewed themselves different from other types of organizations since they advocated highly on flexibility and idealism, thus they opposed things such as being organized and hierarchy structures. Management issues in non-profit organizations are complicated by the need to equalize expressive aspects for normal compliance. Fowler (1997), states that the main impediment for development is a challenge to link vision and strategic plan clearly. Strategic alignment of non-profit objectives and goals are important if the organization is to achieve its vision. Organization may broaden and strengthen the board to increase the effectiveness by bringing organization leaders with shared interest in tasks together, building capacity via training and developing leadership and governance mechanism. An effective board avails basics of good management of a non-profit organization. The board also facilitates in the development of good organizational structure. A good board should assist in the execution of tasks within the organization through setting of effective criteria of recruitment, membership, hiring support groups. The board should also establish a structure to monitor and evaluate performance and activities undertaken by the organization 1.5 Conclusion and Recommendation 1.5.1 Conclusion From the issues identified above, non-profit organizations lag far behind their profit motivated businesses. On issues if governance, they encourage flexibility and idealism. Poor communication channels, employee welfare, is not looked into, a weakened board of directors. Non-profit organizations sustain their activities through donations from Volunteers (time), individuals and groups (monetary donations and product donations). Organizations have to maintain a good reputation to ensure the funds do not stop flowing. They have poorly trained employees who earn a little income. They rely on volunteers to assist their employees’ complete set tasks and organizational goals. 1.5.2 Recommendations Non-profit organizations should invest in training and development of staff and volunteers. Proper orientation of volunteers makes them familiar with organizations vision, goals and strategic plans this provides them with the required skills to combat situations as they arise. Training of paid staff ensures continuous development of their career and skills. Non-profit organizations should also develop a framework to reward and recognize employees and volunteers this encourages further performance and continuous improvement in task handling. A clear recruitment policy should also be in place to ensure that only the right staff is. The organization should broaden and increase the mandate of the board of directors. Empowering them equips them with the necessary power and mandate especially since they share common interests. APPENDIX A- IMPACT EVALUATION AND SOCIAL ENTERPRISE Impact Evaluation Evaluation is an important aspect in each and every organisation. Impact evaluation is a major of evaluation. According to International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), impact evaluation focuses on measurement of net change experienced by a group of people that can be directly attributed to a program or a project employing appropriate methodology. Impact evaluation refers to the process of assessing changes and developments caused by projects undertaken by organizations. Unlike outcome evaluation that examines and determines whether organization’s targets are achieved, impact evaluation focuses on determines how organization activities such as projects cause or influence changes in outcomes. In general, impact evaluation concentrates on identifying changes that are directly associated by a project or program undertaken by an organization (Perrin, 2012). Organizations implement impact evaluation by using a counterfactual analysis which involves the use of a comparison group. Counterfactual approach involves determining outcomes of an intervention in a certain group and comparing them with unaffected group of people. Counterfactual approach to impact evaluation has both strengths and weaknesses. The counterfactual approach provides reliable information since its clear show the impact of a project or program on the treated group of people. Comparison of outcomes between the treated or affected group and unaffected group show clear differences an impact of the program. However, the approach maybe faced by a problem of double difference. During the analysis of the difference, double differences may arise thus provide false information. Impact evaluation is important to the Scout Association in various ways. First, it will determine whether various projects carried out by the Scout Association are working or not. Therefore, impact evaluation will enable the management in determining whether to continue investing in the project or abandon the project. Secondly, impact evaluation serves as accountability function in non-profit organizations. Impact evaluation acts as accountability function by identifying and determine whether development assistance is functional or inactive in a project. Harnessing social enterprise Organizations play a significant role in harnessing social enterprises. The Scout Association harnesses social enterprise through their participation in various social activities. As they participate in different social events, organization tend to have recognition and support from the society thus leading to the development of social control and monitoring in various areas. Motivation is one of the major factors through which an organisation can harness the power of social enterprise. Motivation will enable the Scout Association learn from various activities they undertake in the society. Donors’ contribution motivates non-profit organizations to carry out various social activities like environmental conservation and public awareness. Government support may also motivate the Scout Association to improve their training programs and involve more participants in various projects, in the society. APPENDIX B- STRATEGY AND GOVERNANCE Strategy The Scout Association is an organization involved in various activities involving young people between six and 25 years. The main objective of the Scout Association is engaging and supporting young people actively in various activities in order to enhance personal development, self-empowerment and make positive social contributions in the society. The organisation faces competition from different organizations. Similar non-profit organizations based on youth development and empowerment such as The Boys &Girls Society, Boys Scouts of America, European Scout Federation, Girlguiding, G & Y, FZY and others provide huge competition for resources, participants, activities and recognition by the public. For instance, the organization has faced high competition from numerous youth based organizations which are also based in United Kingdom. Due to the stiff competition, the Scout Association should implement healthy strategies. The association should implement innovation strategies in the projects and management. For example, it should encourage and motivate youths to participate in their activities by providing awards, incentives, grants and financial help. Youth empowerment exchange programs between scouts members in different cities, counties and countries is one of the most appropriate approaches that an organization can implement to attract more participants and donors. The Scout Association can increase its public awareness through active participation in social and community work like environment conservation events. Governance According to Renz (2007), governance refers to the provision of strategic leadership to non-profit organisations. The process involves setting directions, policy making, monitoring and overseeing organization performance, strategy decision making, and provision of accountability. Non-profit governance is viewed as both organizational and political process that involves various activities that engage multiple stakeholders. The Scout Association is led by the Chief Scout. The Chief Scout is assisted by a team of Commissioners who are responsible for a scout division. Commissioners are responsible for monitoring various Scouting programmes in their divisions. Scout divisions are further divided into counties/areas/regions. Counties are further divided into districts and further to groups. All levels are governed by executive of trustees who are volunteers. Reference List Anderson M. & Baroody, B. (1992), Managing volunteers, 23, 43-45 Bozeman, B, & Staussman D. (1990), public management strategies, guidelines for managerial effectiveness San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Brock, J. (2005), evolution of a government/ non-profit relationship, retrieved from www.nonprofitresearch.org Boris, T.(1999). Non profits and government, Washington: Urban Institute Press. Dailey C. (1996), Understanding organizational commitment for volunteers, Journal of Voluntary Action Research, 15, 19-130. Ditcher T. (1987), Development management, public administration and Development, pp 381-93 Drucker P. (1990) Managing the non-profit organization, New York: Collins. Eade D. (1997) Capacity building, an approach to people centered development, Oxford: Oxford publication. Farr C. (1983) volunteers, managing volunteer’s personnel, Washington: International city Manager Association Fowler A. (1997), striking a balance, A guide in enhancing effectiveness of NGO’s in International development, London: Earthscan. Jones F. (1996) Understanding organizations, sociological perspective, Toronto: Copp Clark National Non-profit leadership and Management journal, volume 18, Number 1, January/ February Nelson P. (1995), World bank and non-governmental organizations, New York: Macmillan Press Renz D. (2007), Nonprofit Governance and the Work of the Board, Kansas City: University of Missouri Press. Stark B. (1984) Management of private voluntary organizations, Washington: USAID. Read More