Paid staff in voluntary sporting organisations. Do they help or hinder?

Abstract

A current trend in the provision of funding to voluntary sporting organisations by government authorities in Australia and the United Kingdom is to require organisations to adopt more 'professional' management polices and practices. One particular strategy being encouraged is the employment of paid staff. However, volunteers within sporting organisations often hold a different perspective of what their organisations are about and how they should accomplish their objectives. Therefore, there is an increasing potential for the sporting organisations to be at odds with the requirements of the funding opportunities. This paper presents the results of a study into the values and expectations held by volunteers and paid staff concerning the management of sporting organisations. A series of semi-structured in-depth interviews was undertaken with key volunteers and executive officers from a range of voluntary sporting organisations. An analysis of the interviews revealed that volunteers and paid staff hold differing opinions of key management practices that have the potential to influence the effective management of the sporting organisation.

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