Degree and Direction of Paid Employee/Volunteer Interchange in Nonprofit Organizations

Chum, Antony; Mook, Laurie; Handy, Femida; Schugurensky, Daniel; Quarter, Jack

doi:10.1002/nml.21072

Cited by 25 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…The most basic distinction that these professionals need to make in working with volunteers is whether the tasks assigned to volunteers are the same as, or different than, those performed by paid staff in the organization. As Handy, Mook, and Quarter (2008) and their colleagues (Chum, Mook, Handy, Schugurensky, & Quarter, 2013) observe, some interchangeability between the work performed by paid staff and volunteers is endemic to work life in many organizations and is to be expected. To the extent that volunteers perform the same tasks as paid staff, the universalistic practices, which are rooted in the metaphor of the workplace, would seem to apply, including job descriptions, written policies and procedures, and orientation and supervision, among others (see Tables 1 and 2).…”

Section: Discussion: Applying Principles To Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Models of Volunteer Management: Professional Volunteer Program Management in Social Work

Brudney

Meijs

2014

Human Service Organizations Management, Leadership & Govern

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Several trends are leading to increased and broader involvement of volunteers in social work practice. As a consequence, social workers need to be able to manage volunteers in different settings, based on organizational/program factors and characteristics of the volunteers. Contemporary research on volunteer management can be divided into universalistic and contingency approaches. This article presents an overview of leading concepts in both perspectives and offers recommendations for social workers to select appropriate approaches to manage volunteers professionally across different contexts.

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Section: Discussion: Applying Principles To Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Models of Volunteer Management: Professional Volunteer Program Management in Social Work

Brudney

Meijs

2014

Human Service Organizations Management, Leadership & Govern

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“…Several recent studies have tackled the question of whether volunteer labor and paid labor are substitutes or complements (Chum et al ; Handy, Mook, and Quarter ; Simmons and Emanuele ; Stine ). Although these studies report mixed results, the mere perception of job vulnerability may have the potential to incite volunteer‐staff conflict.…”

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

confidence: 99%

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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“…A study of Canadian nonprofits found that the interchange of volunteers and paid labourers was widespread among nonprofit organizations, but that it was limited to a specific set of tasks related to customer service and to tasks requiring general skills (Chum et al, 2013). This accounted for about one-eighth of all tasks in one study (Handy et al, 2008) and about one-quarter of tasks in another (Chum et al, 2013).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is a growing body of literature that examines the prevalence of interchange between volunteers and paid staff and the characteristics related to this phenomenon in various settings, including hospitals (Handy, Mook, & Quarter, 2008;Handy & Srinivasan, 2005), nonprofit organizations (Chum, Mook, Handy, Schugurensky, & Quarter, 2013;Handy et al, 2008), and public sector and government agencies (Brudney, 1990;Brudney & Gazley, 2002;Brudney & Kellough, 2000). A key driver for research on interchangeability is the concern that the substitution of paid staff by volunteers over the long-term could result in a decrease in paid jobs within an organization and thus be viewed as a form of labour exploitation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While previous studies (Brudney, 1990;Brudney & Gazley, 2002;Brudney & Kellough, 2000;Chum, Mook, Handy, Schugurensky, & Quarter, 2013;Handy, Mook, & Quarter, 2008;Handy & Srinivasan, 2005) have illuminated some organizational and individual factors associated with the interchangeability of volunteer and paid staff, they 1) rely on convenience or purposive samples, 2) have an exclusive focus on either the nonprofit or public sector without comparisons across sectors, and 3) have not looked at the extent to which replacement is permanent or temporary. Drawing on a random sample of Canadian volunteers, this is the first study that investigates the human resource interchangeability phenomenon across nonprofit, for-profit, and public sectors to quantify and compare the extent to which temporary and permanent replacement of volunteers by paid staff (and vice versa) occurs in the Canadian context from the perspective of the volunteer.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Individual and Organizational Factors in the Interchangeability of Paid Staff and Volunteers: Perspectives of Volunteers

Mook

Farrell

Chum

et al. 2014

CJNSER

Self Cite

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This study builds upon earlier studies of the degree of interchangeability between volunteers and paid staff in nonprofit organizations. While these earlier studies were from an organization perspective, this study is from the perspective of volunteers, and looks at individual and organizational characteristics in all types of organizations—nonprofits, for-profits, government agencies, and others. The findings indicate that 10.8% of volunteers reported replacing a paid staff member, 3.1% permanently. Volunteers also reported being replaced by paid staff: 7.6% reported being replaced, 2.1% permanently. The study suggests that organizations utilize a co-production model and appear to interchange their paid staff and volunteers when needed in tasks requiring higher-level skills. RÉSUMÉ Cette étude se fonde sur des études antérieures qui portaient sur le niveau d’interchangeabilité entre Cette étude se fonde sur des études antérieures qui portaient sur le niveau d’interchangeabilité entre bénévoles et salariés dans des organismes à but non lucratif. Tandis que ces études antérieures adoptaient une perspective organisationnelle, cette étude-ci adopte celle des bénévoles et examine les caractéristiques individuelles et organisationnelles de toutes sortes d’organisations—à but non lucratif, à but lucratif, gouvernementaux et coopératifs. Elle se fonde sur deux sous-échantillons provenant d’une enquête aléatoire par téléphone avec 768 individus provenant de partout au Canada. Les résultats indiquent que 10,8% des bénévoles disent avoir remplacé un salarié, 3,1% en permanence. Les bénévoles disent d’autre part que des salariés les ont remplacés : 7,6% ont ainsi été remplacés par des salariés, 2,1% en permanence. L’étude semble montrer que les organisations utilisent un modèle de co-production et paraissent échanger leurs salariés et bénévoles au besoin pour des tâches requérant des habiletés de haut niveau.

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Degree and Direction of Paid Employee/Volunteer Interchange in Nonprofit Organizations

Abstract: This study builds on an earlier one (Handy, Mook, and Quarter 2008)

Cited by 25 publications

References 17 publications

Models of Volunteer Management: Professional Volunteer Program Management in Social Work

Models of Volunteer Management: Professional Volunteer Program Management in Social Work

Exploring the Dynamics of Volunteer and Staff Interactions

Individual and Organizational Factors in the Interchangeability of Paid Staff and Volunteers: Perspectives of Volunteers

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