The Relationship Between the Collaborative Efforts of Volunteer Organizations and the Management Philosophy of Their Organizers

• Main Authors: HSIU-YEN WANG, 王秀燕
• Other Authors: Professor Hua-Yuan Tseng
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2003
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/67710510483009258699

碩士 === 東海大學 === 社會工作學系 === 91 === ABSTRACT The primary goal of this study is to understand the role of volunteer organizers’ collaborative efforts with volunteer organizations, particularly how their individual qualities, management philosophies, and incentives to collaborate shape collaborative efforts. Individual qualities include sex, religion, educational background, age, marital status, region, expertise, years of volunteer experience, years as a volunteer organizer, and experience with collaboration. Management philosophy includes one’s emphasis on adaptability, efficiency, service, incorporatibility, or accomplishment. The major incentives comprise attainment of resources and power and enhancement of adaptability. The most critical variables discovered in this study may serve as a point of reference for volunteer organizations and their organizers, in their planning or promoting of volunteer projects. Hence, the aim of this study is to reduce the wasteful use of resources that results from redundant volunteer work. The intention is to stimulate volunteer organizers to adopt certain strategies that will benefit inter-organizational collaborations and, by doing so, maximize the efficiency and outcomes of volunteer work. The subjects of this study are the people who fill the top two positions--that is, the leaders (foundation president or secretary-general) and volunteer supervisors--of the registered volunteer organizations that fall under the category of social welfare in Taichung County, Taichung City, and Changhua County. A total number of 356 surveys were sent to these people, and the number of returned surveys was 222 (a 62% return rate). Among the returned surveys, 9 were invalid and 213 were valid (usable). The methods used in this study are factor analysis, reliability nalysis, frequency distribution, T-test, single-factor differential analysis, and correlation analysis. The results show that, overall, personal qualities are not significant in subjects’ management philosophies, incentives to collaborate, and the ways in which collaboration is carried out. However, the emphasis on degree of service is different in each region; Taichung County’s is higher than Taichung City’s and Changhua County’s. The differences in inter-organizational collaborative efforts are only partially reflected in religious backgrounds and collaboration experiences. The incentives to collaborate depend mostly on whether or not the organization collaborated with others in the past. Based on correlation analysis, the results are as follows: the younger the organizer, the more relevance between individual qualities and management philosophy, while little significance was indicated by collaboration efforts. Age and the incentive to gain power are closely correlated. Volunteer organizers’ individual qualities, incentives to collaborate, and the collaboration efforts are all correlated. Certain emphases in the management philosophy significantly dictate the efforts to collaborate; the emphases are integration and efficiency, and others, such as the incentive to increase adaptability and the years of experience as an organizer, are also important. In conclusion, this study proposes two recommendations: 1. Volunteer organizers should be people who have a professional background in volunteer service and who are competent in managing human resources. A) The idea of organizers having professional training and planning abilities must be promoted. B) Venues for the training and education of volunteer organizers must be promoted. C) The education and training of current organizers must be enhanced. 2. To value the management philosophy of organizers, the following can be done: A) Cultivating the idea of integrated collaboration by : a) establishing information databases, b) seeking to share these resources with other organizations, c) joining the regional union organizations and promoting Internet communication between organizations. B) Promoting the idea of efficiency by a) establishing a service protocol, b) instituting systems of evaluation, c) designating specialized personnel for service projects. 3. The collaboration efforts between organizations can be enhanced. The methods include: A. A well prepared plan which encompasses: a) the collecting of information regarding inter-organizational collaborations, b) preparing the team members by explaining to them the benefits of collaboration, c) the inclusion of collaboration in volunteer projects, d) expressing the willingness to collaborate at volunteer work meetings. B) Exploring various possibilities to promote inter-organizational collaborations: a) holding meetings to express intentions and to invite more organizations to join projects, b) promoting the idea that any collaboration project offers such possibilities, c) establishing a pattern of collaboration with partner organizations, d) making efforts to overcome obstacles to collaboration, e) by establishing a volunteer service committee, raising the status of organizations that play a negotiator role.