ABSTRACT

Volunteers are essential for the effective operation of many businesses and activities across a community such as in sport, tourism and community organisations. People continue to volunteer despite concerns that they may have become time poor (Burgham and Downward, 2005; Edwards, 2005). The main reason for volunteering is knowing that their contribution is making a difference (Volunteering Australia, 2009a). Even though there are still people willing to volunteer, organisations continue to be concerned about their ability to recruit, train and retain volunteers (Volunteering Australia, 2009a). What may be needed is a more strategic approach to volunteer management that could have implications for the wider community through increases in social inclusion and social capital, as well as economic and cultural benefits that accrue from the volunteer contribution (Volunteering Australia, 2009b). It is proposed that by ensuring that there is a sufficient supply of volunteers to meet the demand, and by appropriately managing the volunteers, there is a higher likelihood that they will return and/or continue volunteering in a variety of circumstances. This may help create a legacy for the organisation and the broader community into the future that will be of benefit to many. For example, it has been suggested that volunteering at a major sports event is more likely to raise interest in non-sports volunteering; with this in mind, investments in events are more likely to have wider social capital legacies (Downward and Ralston, 2006: 347). To achieve this legacy, appropriate volunteers first need to be recruited, then managed and encouraged to volunteer into the future. To this end, this chapter proposes the application of the international risk management standard ISO 31000 (Standards Australia and Standards New Zealand, 2009) as a framework for the management of volunteers in both the tourism context and beyond. ISO 31000 supersedes the third edition of the Australia and New Zealand Risk Management Standard (Standards Australia and Standards New Zealand, 2004). Examples of the nexus between volunteers and tourism success may be seen from previous research that has investigated: guides in cultural institutions (Edwards, 2005); volunteers at mega sporting events (Bontempi, 2002; Fairley, Kellett and Green, 2007) and the provision of emergency services by volunteers

to support tourist safety (Dickson, 2006; Uriely et al., 2002). Examples of tourism events, attractions or activities that may depend upon the contribution of volunteers include:

Championships ● emergency services focusing on visitor safety, e.g. Surf Life Saving, Ski

Patrol, Search and Rescue ● sport and recreation groups, e.g. Disabled WinterSport Australia in New

South Wales, Australia uses around 100 volunteer guides each year to support people with disabilities to visit and enjoy the snow

The importance volunteers play in mega sporting is seen in that volunteers are central to many Olympic bids and essential to the Games’ successful operation (Toohey and Veal, 2007). As indicated in Table 12.1, the average number of volunteers accredited by the Games’ organising committee for the seven summer Olympics from 1980 to 2004 was 38,490, while for the eight winter Olympics from 1980 to 2006, the average number of volunteers was 14,544. For Beijing 2008, it was estimated that somewhere between 44,000 and 70,000 volunteers were recruited from almost 500,000 applicants (International Olympic Committee, 2008). For Vancouver 2010, 25,000 volunteers were recruited for the Winter Olympics and Paralympics (The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, 2009). These figures do not include other volunteers who may be helping on regional and cultural activities linked to the Games, but not run by the Game’s organising committees.