Applying the psychological contract to the management of volunteers in sport. Geoff Nichols, Sheffield University Management School

01/06/2014© The University of Sheffield / Department of Marketing and Communications 2 Structure The importance of volunteers in sport Application of the psychological contract to employees The nature of volunteering, in contrast to paid work Implications for applying the psychological contract to volunteers

01/06/2014© The University of Sheffield / Department of Marketing and Communications 3 The importance of sports volunteers To help achieve government policies Expression of individual or collective identities Contribution to democratic structures.

01/06/2014© The University of Sheffield / Department of Marketing and Communications 4 How many volunteers? 44% of adults volunteer formally (England) sport & exercise 3 rd most important type of organization Sports clubs run by their members = 75% of sports volunteers [100,000 clubs] Major events – 70,000 volunteers for London Olympics

01/06/2014© The University of Sheffield / Department of Marketing and Communications 5 Psychological contract for employees As mutual promises Subjective Studied to help manage behaviour

01/06/2014© The University of Sheffield / Department of Marketing and Communications 6 Types of contract / measurement Content – transactional / relational By features – written / unwritten etc. By how employees evaluate it

01/06/2014© The University of Sheffield / Department of Marketing and Communications 7 Content – exchange balance Diagram 1. The Exchange Balance RewardReward Employee under- obligation Employee over- obligation Mutual low obligations Mutual high obligations Effort

01/06/2014© The University of Sheffield / Department of Marketing and Communications 8 Issues in application to employees Free engagement v conflict of interests Trust – a substitute for control Change with experience Usually just employees view – not managers Dominant quantitative methods Attempts to generalize

01/06/2014© The University of Sheffield / Department of Marketing and Communications 9 Psychological contract and volunteers Subjective experience – with socio-cultural and institutional influences Nature of volunteering Contrast to paid work Illustrated with sports volunteers New research questions

01/06/2014© The University of Sheffield / Department of Marketing and Communications 10 Volunteering as Leisure Unpaid work Activism Serious Leisure – provision and expression of valued social identity

01/06/2014© The University of Sheffield / Department of Marketing and Communications 11 Volunteering as Leisure Unpaid work or service Serious Leisure Activism

01/06/2014© The University of Sheffield / Department of Marketing and Communications 12 Unpaid work - implications Effort bargain – minus pay Manage volunteers like paid employees Motives a proxy for expected rewards A transactional contract is possible

01/06/2014© The University of Sheffield / Department of Marketing and Communications 13 Activism - implications Focus on values of volunteers Aligned with those of organisation Values may extend to how the organization meets its objectives

01/06/2014© The University of Sheffield / Department of Marketing and Communications 14 Serious leisure - implications Used to understand volunteers in small organizations Explains stalwarts Commitment – self-identity from volunteering – strong bond Changes – transactional to relational

01/06/2014© The University of Sheffield / Department of Marketing and Communications 15 3 types of leisure - implications Psychological contract understood through qualitative research Might be considerable variety on one organization e.g. a sports club Might be better to research them as a social gathering

01/06/2014© The University of Sheffield / Department of Marketing and Communications 16 Influence of views of paid work Work / leisure couplet – defined in relation to each other As co-operation / or as conflict? Less free will than leisure

01/06/2014© The University of Sheffield / Department of Marketing and Communications 17 Views of paid work - implications If a conflict view of paid work, volunteers may resent management as manipulation under another name If a co-operation view – management is effective organization But – a different style of management may be expected by volunteers Need to understand volunteers and managers views

01/06/2014© The University of Sheffield / Department of Marketing and Communications 18 Conclusions Psychological contract useful in understanding the relationship between volunteers and managers But mutual expectations will be influenced by experience of volunteering as leisure, and leisure as a contrast to paid work.

01/06/2014© The University of Sheffield / Department of Marketing and Communications 19 Conclusions Difficult to generalize from employees Require qualitative research e.g. in sports clubs Compare views of volunteers and managers Different between event volunteers and sports clubs

01/06/2014© The University of Sheffield / Department of Marketing and Communications 20 Some research questions Does a view of volunteering as leisure affect the PC? How and why do contracts change – how can management influence this? Do views of employment affect PC in volunteering?

01/06/2014© The University of Sheffield / Department of Marketing and Communications 21 Some research questions How do managers view the PC with volunteers? Is it different to employees? When volunteers manage volunteers can we understand this as a viable combination of psychological contracts – a social relationship. e.g. sports club?