IndexVolunteer motivation and satisfactionVolunteer retentionReferencesVolunteers are an essential part of the workforce at major and major events, playing a key role in major events from the Olympic Games to community festivals local. Various events rely heavily on volunteers to run their operations and as such are gradually becoming a key factor in the success of events around the world. Volunteers play a vital role in reducing operational expenses and are extremely cost-effective. Furthermore, they can make a great contribution to visitor satisfaction through their passionate performance, diverse skills and diverse abilities to connect with visitors. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay According to Buric (2004) the key characteristics of volunteering include: activities performed voluntarily without exchange of any monetary profit. However, there are still expenses for the organizers as they are responsible for providing other services for the benefit of the volunteers, for example uniforms, travel expenses, etc. The third and last is mutual benefit which benefits both the organization and the volunteer. Some major sporting events may not be possible without the commitment of the volunteer group. Therefore, it is essential that these volunteers continue to work in the future and this would mean carrying on the legacy of the volunteers. Lynch (2001) defines this as the legacy of ongoing community support. The increase in volunteer support for different events in society and the improvement of volunteering in society in general, in terms of progressive attitudes towards volunteering, an increase in the rate of volunteering and an increase in the level of participation. There could be many different reasons for these volunteers to continue volunteering in the future. It can depend on several factors such as experiences, motivation, satisfaction, etc. One of the main factors that can determine their decision is the experience of the past event. Volunteer management is a key indicator that determines the start of the process of training, management and success of the event. The impact of this event and their experience can decide their choice on future volunteering activities. For example, major sporting events might represent someone's first opportunity to engage in volunteering. The experiences they have there can turn into more volunteering for different events or with different organizations that benefit the community. Many sectors of society have benefited from the support of volunteers. The sports and events areas, in particular, rely on volunteers to act as a significant human resource to host a successful event. The Olympic Games are one of the largest examples of global sporting events that cannot be organized without the commitment of millions of volunteers. The 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Olympic Games relied on over 40,000 volunteers, the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games had 100,000 volunteers involved in competition venues, Olympic villages and transport. The 2012 London Olympic Games saw the participation of over 70,000 volunteers during the sixteen days of the event. Volunteers are often considered the representatives of the game and the image of the organization and the games depends entirely on the volunteers and their involvement in the event. Volunteering is essentially a give and take relationship, where individuals offer their time and skills. and energy forhelp an event and experience various benefits. Volunteers at major sporting events are likely expected to participate in future volunteer opportunities to the extent that they have experienced positive outcomes as a result of opportunities in the past. It is important to pay attention to the other main factors of volunteering such as motivation, satisfaction and retention of volunteers. To generate interest in sporting event volunteers, event managers should recognize sporting event volunteer motivation and the relationship to volunteer satisfaction, commitment and retention. Volunteer motivations and satisfaction The first section of this essay deals with volunteer motivations and satisfaction. Volunteers are an important factor in sporting events as they provide managers or supervisors with the ability to offer, maintain or expand the quality, quantity and diversity of services provided by their organizations. Motivation is used in psychology to describe a state of pressure that seeks balance through action. Since each individual has their own personal identity, attitude and belief, they have correspondingly different motivations for participating in an event/activity. In the case of this study, motivations are an important topic to understand the mentality of volunteers. There are several reasons why people choose to volunteer at events and these can be divided into three main categories, including: Demographic antecedents (defined as personal resources and the resources one needs to have in order to volunteer; Motivations (they are specific and necessary to volunteer for wanting to volunteer) and Circumstances (triggers and opportunities that facilitate and push volunteering into practice and are required for volunteering may be different for each individual due to current or past experiences in personal and professional life). . Research conducted by Bang and Chelladurai (2003) at the 2002 FIFA World Cup revealed several motivational factors which they outlined in their Volunteer Motivation Scale for International Sporting Events. The results of their research revealed six motivation factors for the volunteering in sporting events: Expression of values (the success of the event and of the company). Patriotism (pride and love for the country and loyalty to the country). Interpersonal contacts (meeting and networking with people and forming friendships). Personal growth (acquiring new points of view, feeling important and desired). Career guidance (gaining experience and professional contacts) Extrinsic rewards (getting free uniform, food, accommodation and access to event venues). further noted that, due to the international event environment, the purpose of volunteering in the event was related to the specific event itself rather than simply the motive of assisting others. The results of their analysis strengthen the motivational model of volunteers at large-scale sporting events. However, Bang and Chelladurai's (2003) study did not observe all the motivations that might encourage a person to volunteer. Then, to cover other motivational aspects, Bang and Ross (2009) conducted further research on what motivates people to volunteer at sporting events. This study focused on volunteers and their love for sport and revealed that this factor was a strong motivational factor among event volunteers. The results of their study also supported the idea that volunteer motivation for sporting events will be similar regardless of whether they are large-scale or small-scale. In addition to the motivational factors that drive volunteers to participate inan event, another important element for them is to maintain their motivation throughout the event in order to deliver it successfully. Organizers should be able to identify the different motivations of each volunteer and match them to the roles they are assigned during the event. This process will not only help the volunteer but also the organization as they will be able to deploy skills and expertise in specific areas and volunteers will be able to perform better when assigned a task. Volunteers tend to improve their performance when assigned specific tasks as this helps them feel useful on a personal level. To effectively support the motivation to volunteer at an event there must be a relationship of satisfaction. There is a study conducted by Farrell et al. (1998) who proposes that there is a correlation between volunteer, volunteer motivation, satisfaction and actual experience. Volunteers will be motivated and will continue to volunteer as long as they are satisfied with their experiences and get a certain level of reward. Volunteering gives people the opportunity to express their opinions, gain knowledge about new areas/things and improve their self-esteem and worth. Volunteer satisfaction may vary depending on the context. Silverberg et. al (2001), in their study of parks and recreation volunteers, found that satisfaction is a psychological function and having a job is achieved by participating as a volunteer. Another group of researchers studied volunteers at the Sunbelt Indy Carnival held annually in Gold Coast, Australia. Their research aimed to identify the reasons for volunteers' satisfaction and their study found that, beyond the actual event, volunteer training played a key role in their satisfaction as it gave them the opportunity to share their opinions and experiences. This added a sense of community to the event and positively influenced their level of satisfaction. To have a more consistent and reliable tool to measure volunteer satisfaction Galindo et. al. (2001) designed the Volunteer Satisfaction Index (VSI). Their method included approximately forty elements and consisted of approximately five different volunteer satisfaction factors: Communication quality (the ability to communicate effectively). Organizational support (organizations value employee contributions). Participation efficiency (ability to participate effectively). Work assignment (a specific task assigned). Group integration (an organization of individuals with different ethnic groups). The findings also yielded positive results regarding support for the reliability and validity of the VSI. Their method focused on the individual benefits gained from volunteering. The method has been tested with people of different cultures. One of these was a Chinese national. The research conducted by Wong et. al (2010) noted that volunteers highlighted interpersonal relationships (relationships with organizations and colleagues). This study further highlighted that satisfaction can be obtained differently from different sources around the world and can vary across different cultures around the world. These different factors have been independently evaluated in the sports industry but have not been fully incorporated. This further helped to evaluate and improve different sources of satisfaction in some areas. Understanding not only volunteer satisfaction but also future intentions is critical due to the nature of volunteering. This includes both volunteers with prior experience and first-time volunteerstime. If volunteers don't have a satisfying experience, they are likely to leave one organization to volunteer at another. This is crucial due to the heavy reliance on volunteers for sporting events. To effectively recruit, retain and retain volunteers, it is critical that organizations understand the different factors that drive people to volunteer. Volunteer Retention In recent years, increased competition, globalization, and ongoing changes in markets and technology have provided motivation to reconsider different management styles of organizations. Volunteer retention is an essential task for many organizations. However, the tasks assigned to volunteers can be strained if volunteers are not productive. Since volunteers do not rely on organizations for any monetary payment, their commitment or motivation in their work must occur in different ways. Sozanska et. al. (2004) argue that if organizations want volunteers to be productive, they need to be managed efficiently and professionally. According to Boezeman and Ellemers (2008) volunteers' commitment to the organization would ultimately be perceived based on the importance of volunteer work and support for the organization. According to them, the importance of the work strengthened the volunteer's pride in the company, while the structural support increased the respect volunteers have for the organization. A similar result was reported by Cuskelly et. al (2006) in their study of rugby clubs in Australia, that clubs that used better planning exercises and provided adequate training and support were less likely to have retention problems. These studies imply that organizations can increase the commitment of their volunteers by communicating the importance of the organization's work and the contribution of volunteers' work to it. Several research journals show that volunteer organizations are suffering from increased volunteer attrition and turnover. There appear to be other factors contributing to the volunteer retention problem which include volunteer motivation, satisfaction, organizational practices (such as preparation, people recruitment, selection, orientation, training, etc., globalization, the rapid increase in technical evolution). However, these different studies also fail to recognize which factor has a high influence on the other. There are several examples that can explain this in detail. For example, in the case of Hager and Brudney (2004) a survey was conducted in which they presented respondents with nine management practices that involved volunteers in their functions. The survey included some practices and the survey results indicated different percentages of the different practices used. The findings suggested that only one of the practices involves regular supervision and communication. of the volunteers was mostly adapted to a large extent. The findings also indicated that not all practices should be adopted, but some, such as selecting volunteers and assigning them appropriate tasks, may be important. In the other case where Cuskelly et. al. (2006) indicated that, except for preparation and orientation, other aspects of management mentioned above had no substantial correlation with volunteer retention. These different studies indicate the different research carried out in the area of volunteer retention. However, none of the several studies reach a similar conclusion. These various studies indicate the need to develop a method that can help.
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