Supposeyoubecomealeaderinanorganization.It'sverylikelythatyou'llwanttohavevolunteerstohelpwiththeorganization'sactivities.Todosoitshouldhelptounderstandwhypeopleundertakevolunteerworkandwhatkeepstheirintere

Supposeyoubecomealeaderinanorganization.It'sverylikelythatyou'llwanttohavevolunteerstohelpwiththeorganization'sactivities.Todosoitshouldhelptounderstandwhypeopleundertakevolunteerworkandwhatkeepstheirinterestinthework.

Let’sbeginwiththequestionofwhypeoplevolunteer.Researchershaveidentifiedseveralfactorsthatmotivatepeopletogetinvolved.Forexamplepeoplevolunteertoexpresspersonalvaluesrelatedtounselfishnesstoexpandtheirrangeofexperiencesandtostrengthensocialrelationships.Ifvolunteerpositionsdonotmeettheseneedspeoplemaynotwishtoparticipate.Toselectvolunteersyoumayneedtounderstandthemotivationsofthepeopleyouwishtoattract.

Peoplealsovolunteerbecausetheyarerequiredtodoso.Toincreaselevelsofcommunityservicesomeschoolshavelaunchedcompulsoryvolunteerprograms.Unfortunatelytheseprogramscanshiftpeople'swishofparticipationfromaninternalfactor(e.g.“Ivolunteerbecauseit'simportanttome”)toanexternalfactor(e.g.“IvolunteerbecauseI'mrequiredtodoso”).Whenthathappenspeoplebecomelesslikelytovolunteerinthefuture.Peoplemustbesensitivetothispossibilitywhentheymakevolunteeractivitiesamust.

Oncepeoplebegintovolunteerwhatleadsthemtoremainintheirpositionsovertime?Toanswerthisquestionresearchershaveconductedfollow-upstudiesinwhichtheytrackvolunteersovertime.Forinstanceonestudyfollowed238volunteersinFloridaoverayear.Oneofthemostimportantfactorsthatinfluencedtheirsatisfactionasvolunteerswastheamountofsufferingtheyexperiencedintheirvolunteerpositions.Althoughthisresultmaynotsurpriseyouitleadstoimportantpracticaladvice.Theresearchersnotethatattentionshouldbegivento“trainingmethodsthatwouldpreparevolunteersfortroublesomesituationsorprovidethemwithstrategiesforcopingwiththeproblemtheydoexperience”.

Anotherstudyof302volunteersathospitalsinChicagofocusedonindividualdifferencesinthedegreetowhichpeopleview“volunteer”asanimportantsocialrole.Itwasassumedthatthosepeopleforwhomtheroleofvolunteerwasmostpartoftheirpersonalidentitywouldalsobemostlikelytocontinuevolunteerwork.