Valuing the volunteer: a case study of volunteer management at the New Zealand Masters Games (Wanganui)

Abstract

The management of operational sports volunteers at the New Zealand Masters Games (Wanganui) and the degree to which their recruitment and retention conforms to formally prescribed volunteer guidelines are examined in this thesis. Previous personal involvement in sports volunteer procurement and supervision, coupled with a desire to explore the practicalities of managing large numbers of volunteers, provided the personal motivation for this research. Games management and their operational volunteers were researched as a case study that may be indicative of the characteristics of other similar large-scale sports events. Fieldwork was completed over a two-month period during 1999 and consisted of self-administered questionnaires issued to Games volunteers, and in-depth semi-structured qualitative interviews conducted with key Games managers. The findings indicate that Games management is very successful in both attracting and retaining volunteers and that the volunteer management strategy employed largely conforms to advice detailed in relevant literature. Each Games manager tailored their management strategy to suit the diverse array of volunteers working in their particular functional area of the Games. Formally prescriptive volunteer management procedures were largely followed but were tempered by the need to have a degree of informality appropriate to each Games sector. The thesis concludes with recommendations regarding issues pertinent to the future management of volunteers at the New Zealand Masters Games (Wanganui) and suggestions for further research.