ABSTRACT
Volunteers are integral to the successful management and operation of VSOs and the services they deliver to players, members and spectators as well as to the wider community. As discussed in previous chapters, VSOs are under increasing demands through government policies, legislative demands and sport NGBs to increase levels of participation in organized sport and to do so in a more professional manner. At the same time, VSOs are reporting shortages of volunteers. Whether volunteer shortages are related to problems of recruitment, retention or both, sport volunteers are increasingly being looked upon and managed as human resources. It is no longer a question of whether volunteers ought to be managed but how should they be managed in a way that does not impinge upon a fundamental condition of volunteering – to freely choose when, where and how to volunteer in sport. The focus of this chapter is the challenging issue of volunteer management. It examines the application of traditional HRM principles and practices to the management of sport volunteers as recommended by government sport agencies in several nations. Before outlining the key processes of HRM, two approaches to volunteer management are compared and contrasted. Later sections consider the impact of volunteer management practices on the performance, commitment, satisfaction and retention of sport volunteers.
