A new perspective on volunteers' motivation

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A new perspective on volunteers' motivation

– work orientation in project-based voluntary organizations

Written by:

Louise Julskjær

Copenhagen Business School, May 2009

M.Sc. Business, Language & Culture: Intercultural Management Supervisors: Eric Guthey and Robyn Remke

Number of tabs: 174.729

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Executive Summary

Volunteers are thought to be altruistic individuals, intrinsically motivated by the mission and goal of the organization. Thus, leadership in voluntary organizations is aimed at motivating volunteers through the goal and mission of the organization. In the 21^st century, business leaders are faced with employees whose commitment to the organization can be equaled with volunteers', and these leaders are looking at leaders of voluntary organizations for advice on how to handle this. But business leaders will be misguided if a process-relational perspective on work motivation is not applied to volunteer work.

Work orientation is a concept found in the process-relational perspective to organizational studies. It contrasts the systems-control perspective on motivation as a needs and wants fulfillment for rational actors that are capable of prioritizing their motivational factors. The process-relational perspective sees people's motivation affected by their constant interaction with their surroundings. It is thus prone to change through the constant re-enactment of your situation in life and work environment.

I argue that by applying the concept of work orientation to voluntary workers, leaders will understand that volunteers work for a variety of different reasons, including, but not limited to, the goal and mission, that are linked to their ongoing strategic exchange.

I take a holistic view of volunteers' motivation through the structure and culture of the voluntary organization and the volunteers' work orientation to show that the volunteer's motivation exists as an interplay between the volunteer and the voluntary organization.

By using the Copenhagen Business School Exchange Crew and Roskilde Festival, two Danish project-based voluntary organizations that present a unique point of view on volunteerism, I demonstrate my point. I argue that volunteers' motivation is tied to the structure and type of organization they are working for, as well as their situation in life. By choosing two project based organizations I use this special feature to underline how the structure of the organization matters, as well as it presents a little studied niche in voluntary research. The object is not to create a theory by generalizing the facts, but by using only students as interviewees, their backgrounds are comparable and any differences in work orientation is thus brought into the light with one less variable to explain.

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Through ethnographic studies I found that volunteers in the Exchange Crew and Roskilde Festival are motivated by personal and social gain in the form of getting project planning and management experience, and developing a network and international contacts. Moreover, the project structure of the organizations in terms of time and scope limitation was important as a motivational factor for most of the volunteers. The final event being held, i.e. the project's outcome, was not directly quoted as a motivational factor even though it was an important part of the volunteer experience.

The hierarchy and leadership structure, the intended audience and the type of volunteers, which are all elements unique to the organizations, played a part in the motivation as well as part of the organizational environment.

In conclusion, understanding work orientation, leadership becomes the process of constant negotiation of volunteers' implicit contract as motivation that changes over time. It has implications for how volunteers and voluntary organizations are perceived and ultimately how leaders should approach leadership. In conclusion, I argue that leaders should use the manipulation of volunteers' implicit contract to get them to work the way the leader wants, which is connected to the volunteers' constant strategic exchange.

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List of figures

Figure 1. Timeline for Exchange Crew (own creation). Page 46

Figure 2. Program fro Introduction Week spring 2009

(http://cbs.dk/cbs_international/international_students/prospective_exchange_students/introduction

_program). Page 46

Figure 3. Roskilde Festival Organizational Chart (Appendix 18). Page 53 Figure 4. Roskilde Festival Project Cycle (Jørck, 2008). Page 55

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Chapter I: Introduction

“Managers today, Drucker tells us, must direct people as if they were unpaid workers, tied to the organization by commitment to its aims and purposes and often expecting to participate in its

governance.”

(Markus et al., 2000: 13) There is an increasing trend in the business world to regard employees as volunteers. The economy has created a generation of knowledge workers that have other needs from management than being told what to do (Markus et al., 2000). Their work is structured around temporary assignments, project work and cross-organizational teams, and many are self-employed freelancers, so their commitment to the organization can be equated with that of volunteers. The business leader should then learn from leaders of voluntary organizations.

Where managers deal with the tangible elements of work life such as contracts and pay, leaders on the other hand have to do with more symbolic elements that influence workers' lives. Voluntary workers are not financially remunerated for their effort but are rewarded with other benefits.

Leadership in voluntary organizations thus has its focus on the motivation of volunteers. This is one the biggest, most researched subjects in the literature. It is also the most debated. From simple '19- best ways' to thorough quantitative and qualitative research, motivation is an everlasting question for leaders involved in voluntary work.

As the 21^st century presents this new kind of 'voluntary employee', dilemmas to business leaders priorly associated with voluntary organizations place a lot of attention on this research about motivation. If business leaders equate volunteers with people motivated by an innate belief in the goal and mission of the organization, their subsequent approach to their employees will be guided by a fantasy that is led by leadership theorists such as Peter Drucker in the starting quote.

Rooted in a belief that voluntary organizations are altruistic entities, filled with people who only have other people or causes' best interest at heart, this belief presents a one-sided understanding of volunteers and their reasons for donating time and resources to an organization. Because of this, leadership is aimed at motivating volunteers through the belief in the organization's mission or goal through such leadership styles as transformational leadership.

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This idea is grounded in the systems-control school of thought, and by applying a process-relational perspective instead it allows to see volunteers' orientation to work as based on more than a belief in the goal of the organization. Using the concept of work orientation instead of motivation sees the person as a whole influenced by their surroundings and situation in life. (Watson, 2006)

Thus, it requires a different conception of leadership. Understanding leadership as a process in which managers or leaders try to persuade volunteers to work in the way they want them to is based on the appreciation of the implicit contract. Manipulating the perceived implicit contract involves what is generally known as motivation and the designing of jobs. (Watson, 2006) One of the key elements in the implicit contract is an understanding of how long the job is expected to last and thus how long the volunteer is expected to stay committed. Whether this has any influence on the volunteer and his or her attitude when being involved in a project will be examined in this thesis.

Using work orientation as an approach to volunteers and their motivation requires a holistic image of the context in which the volunteer is working. By studying leadership, the voluntary organization and the volunteer's work orientation, I seek an alternative point of view to the standard assumption about volunteers' motivation. This is done by applying process-relational theories to the aforementioned categories.

1. 2 Problem formulation

The process-relational way of thinking has not previously been applied to voluntary organizations and volunteers, and by doing so it will shed a new light on studies in this genre. Perhaps it is especially profitable to apply the process-relational thinking to the study of voluntary organizations because the concept of the implicit contract is at the forefront of understanding why volunteers do volunteer work since there often is no official contract and tangible awards. And by conceiving motivation as work orientation influenced by the implicit contract it implies a re-assessment of leadership in voluntary organizations, which has implications for business leaders who should learn from voluntary leaders (Markus et al., 2000).

The concept of work orientation states that the environment has an influence on the person's motivation. By using the two unique cases, the CBS Exchange Crew and Roskilde Festival, I am

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thus able to combine the study of work orientation with project work. By using a more specific category to investigate volunteers' orientation to work, I can use the little studied subject of project work in voluntary organizations to add to the research and literature about this genre, and thus I investigate how working in a project environment specifically influences volunteers' orientation to work.

This leads me to the following research question:

What consequences does it have for leaders' perception of motivation to apply the concept of work orientation to volunteers working in project-based voluntary organizations?

Ultimately, my thesis provides insights that can be used by leaders in voluntary organizations and in businesses alike to motivate their employees, paid or not.

1. 3 Delimitation

This thesis explores the areas of work orientation in voluntary organizations. Through the application of a process-relational point of view on voluntary organizations, a critical stance is taken on currently existing systems-control theories. Because work orientation presents a holistic view of the individual combined with the situational context of his or her life as well as the organization in which the person works, it provides a deeper approach to motivational leadership in voluntary organizations. This includes a study of the organization itself because it presents the frame in which the volunteer works and relates to.

By choosing two voluntary organizations that operate by projects, I add an additional level of analysis to the thesis. This is done by investigating how working project based has an influence on volunteers' orientation to work. This is a relevant subject as a lot of literature on voluntary organizations deals with volunteers' level of commitment.

.

1. 4 Background

This thesis started out as a query on the subject of volunteer work and voluntary organizations.

Through studies of project management and leadership, I was fascinated by these subjects and wanted to combine my interests in one project. As I researched the subjects, I discovered that the

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joint study of these fields is virtually non-existing and it thus made my topic even more interesting for future learning pending the outcome.

Further on in my research, I moved away from a primary perspective on leadership towards work orientation as my key point. The process-relational view made this shift the most fruitful for the outcome of my work. Ultimately, work orientation is closely linked with leadership studies, which this work also reflects.

1. 5 Structure of the thesis

Chapter I provides an introduction to the subject and formulates the research questions guiding the thesis.

Chapter II concerns my methodological consideration, and the research design of the case studies is presented.

Chapter III gives an introduction to process relational theory with emphasis on work orientation.

Chapter IV reviews existing literature on voluntary organizations, projects and leadership in these, and volunteers.

Chapter V presents the two cases, Roskilde Festival and CBS Exchange Crew as well as the data uncovered through interviews and ethnographic studies.

Chapter VI discusses the findings.

Chapter VII is the final conclusion of the thesis.

Chapter VIII presents the implications and limitations of my thesis.

1. 6 Definitions

The key terms in this thesis are explained here.

 Voluntary organization is an organization primarily run by volunteers

 Volunteer/voluntary worker is a person engaging in unpaid or otherwise unremunerated work

 Project is a temporary organization comprised of people working together to complete a predefined outcome within a specified time frame.

 Systems-control theories take a systemic approach to organizations and people.

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Organizations convert input to output to reach their goal. People are rational actors with predefined wants and needs, and leaders can motivate them by stimulating these.

 Process-relational theories look at the constant processes of interaction between people as the definition of organizations. People change through the interaction with others and so does their orientation to work.

 Work orientation is “the meaning individuals attach to their work which predisposes them both to think and act in particular ways with regard to that work. There is an initial orientation at the point of entry to work and this is liable to change as circumstances and interests change within the continuing employment relationship.” (Watson, 2006: 116)

 Motivation is “factors leading a person to behave in a certain way at work”, i.e. their orientation to work, and “a managerial action to influence the people's behavior at work so they perform as managers require” (Watson, 2006: 313)

 “Leadership is about mobilizing effective action, inspiring a broad sense of commitment, and promoting legitimacy for organizational activities among internal and external stakeholders.” (cbs.dk/lms)

 “Management is about organizing, coordinating, and monitoring the activities of organizational constituents and the contexts in which they operate.” (cbs.dk/lms)

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Chapter II: Methodology

In Chapter II relate my methodological approach to the two case studies, Roskilde Festival and CBS Exchange Crew, as well as the theoretical foundations guiding my thesis.

2. 1 Theory of science/ontological and epistemological considerations

Social sciences are not exact – there is no universally accepted answer that is true in every situation.

An objective understanding of something is furthermore impossible because what we know to be true is constructed by interaction, which means that truth is a subjective entity. Material things exist independently of us, but the meaning of concepts and words and relationships between people are not objectively defined. Rather, people give meaning and reason to them through interaction.

(Andersen, 2002)

This social constructivist statement is a foundation in the process-relational thinking, and when dealing with a concept such as leadership it particularly pertinent because leadership does not exist independently of people but is a process between two or more persons that occurs through interaction. Often rules and understandings exist unconsciously but nonetheless they guide the behaviors of people in a specific social sphere.

When studying organizations the social constructivist idea is also highly pertinent. An organization, permanent or temporary, does not exist as a physical being in and of itself. It consists of people that join together to accomplish a task in the name of that organization: it is a social construction made by the interaction of people. (Watson, 2006)

Finally, for the concept of work orientation, the original work by Goldthorpe and his colleagues (1968) was based on a critical stance to the systemic, instrumental approach. They based their work on taking the worker's point of view of him or herself and their relationship to their surroundings.

With their work they want to demonstrate “how any orientation to work which is in fact socially generated and sustained.” (Goldthorpe et al., 1968: 185) Thus, upholding to social constructivism, work orientation is a key concept that epitomizes its ideals.

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2. 2 Research Design

To investigate how the concept of work orientation is related to voluntary organizations, I have chosen to use two case studies. The units of analysis are the two organizations Roskilde Festival and the Copenhagen Business School (CBS) Exchange Crew. Using work orientation as explanation to how and why people approach work requires an understanding of the organization in which they work. Thus, in order to account for a volunteer's work orientation I needed to understand the organization he or she was involved in.

Having already been involved in the Exchange Crew for two cycles previous to writing this thesis, I chose to volunteer for Roskilde Festival to be able to understand how the organization works from the inside. I thus base some of my data on ethnographic methods through field studies in both organizations.

Because they are both project-based, I have limited the scope of analysis to the project in which I observed the final event: the festival July 2008 and the introduction week fall 2008 and spring 2009.

It should be noted, however, that the Roskilde Festival's project planning cycle for the festival 2010 started before the festival 2009 was undertaken. Thus, the two overlap.

Moreover, since they are project-based, there is constant turnover and replacement of volunteers on all levels. It entails that what I experienced is not necessarily representative of all project cycles.

This is because the interaction between followers and leaders changes constantly, and what I observed and how I related to it depended on my own interpretation as well as it was a part of a common social understanding between the volunteers in my area.

2. 3 Case studies

The object of a case study is to investigate “a phenomenon in its real-life context” (Yin, 1994: 13).

A general observance of motivation and leadership lacks what a case study can give: context.

Combining the specific situation of an organization with members' statements provides a holistic approach to understanding a phenomenon. (Gummensson, 2000) As explained in the previous section, work orientation requires this context-specific understanding and a case study thus provides this. It is less generalizable but exemplifies the contexts in more depth, which adds to the understanding of the complex matter researched in this thesis.

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When a survey or experiment cannot fully relate the complex nature of causal links in real life interventions, a case study can be used explain these instead. The case study offers a more in-depth insight and is thus more useful for the researcher. “Case studies may be based on six different sources of evidence: documentation, archival records, interviews, direct observation, participant- observation, and physical artifacts.” (Yin, 1994: 78) I have chosen to combine several of these sources in order to increase the validation of the studies. Specifically, I have used all sources mentioned except physical artifacts.

I have chosen two case studies in this thesis because the possibility of comparison between the two organizations gives a bigger and broader understanding of work in voluntary organizations. Using two organizations also means that events that could be singular to one organization can be held up against the other and the possibility of a pattern can be established.

2. 3. 1 Studying volunteers' work orientation

As a part of studying how work orientation is related to volunteer work I undertook interviews with volunteers in the two case study organizations. Work orientation is an individual estimate, and one that is bound to change throughout and after a person's commitment to an organization. It is also a personal judgment on their motivations for something they did, are doing and maybe will continue to do for a while. Thus, the answers show a person's contemplations about their choices made a while ago, which means that they have given sense to them after they occurred. This is a natural evolution and since the object of the inquiry was not to find a universal truth, it does not make a difference.

Through questions on why they joined, what keeps them committed and for those relevant, why they continue through more project cycles, my goal was to gain insight into the various orientations to volunteer work they had.

Work orientation is anchored in the organization where the volunteer works. Thus, understanding the voluntary organization in which the volunteer works is part of the larger framework for his or her orientation to this. I have then chosen to study the two case organizations through ethnographic means.

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2. 3. 2 Studying leadership

The case studies of Roskilde Festival and the Exchange Crew also show how leadership is conceived and conducted in a project based voluntary organization. Through interviews with persons in charge – leaders or coordinators – I sought to uncover how they perceived their leadership style, how they referred to the volunteers and their motivation as leaders and how their understanding of volunteers' motivation affected their behavior towards them.

Through my participant-observation and general observation of the organization I was able to see leadership in action during the festival and introduction weeks, respectively.

2. 4 Case selection

The initial idea for my thesis came from my own volunteer experience in the CBS Exchange crew. I wanted to study project leadership in voluntary organizations because of an academic interest in the first two subjects and because of personal experiences in the last. I participated in the Exchange Crew for two semesters as a volunteer and I have had continuous contact with them. I thus have a background knowledge of how it is organized and what goes on during the planning and execution phases. That said, I have never volunteered while the four current coordinators were in charge.

However, I knew they would be willing to help me with interviews and access to the organization.

My previous knowledge made it easy for me to determine whether the Exchange Crew fit the project-based organization type.

As a counterweight to the Exchange Crew I wanted to use a second case study in order for the outcome of my thesis to be more generally valid. Through an article in the Danish magazine Projektledelse I was made aware of the unique project structure of Roskilde Festival. As a Danish cultural institution, as well as through friends and acquaintances, I had some pre-existing knowledge of the festival. It was thus easy for me to see the possibilities in using it as a case.

The two organizations are not strictly nonprofit but they are not attached to a governmental institution. I have chosen them because both are project-based, i.e. they structure their organization around the planning of a predefined outcome, in both cases an event. Furthermore, though both

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Roskilde Festival and the Exchange Crew have paid staff both are run primarily by volunteers.

The festival is in it self a project, but because it is so big, there are several smaller projects within the different organizational sections. As a newer undertaking, the top management has decided to put focus on project management as a professional task, and many new structures and guidelines have been put into the official planning. Even though projects of all shapes and sizes have been present for years, it is not until now that a professional focus has made the organization aware of the possible pitfalls they bring along if a professional project manager is not present. Roskilde Festival thus presents an interesting angle on volunteers in projects because of its long history with these and because of the recent professional focus.

Additionally, since Roskilde Festival is a huge undertaking with several thousands of volunteers and guests it presents a very different way of using projects in voluntary organizations contrasted with the Exchange Crew, which only has about 50 volunteers and 600 exchange students. This difference makes the contrast interesting in terms of comparison.

2. 5 Data collection

I have used both primary and secondary data in this thesis. Primary data is the data I have gathered myself via ethnographic studies through interviews, and direct and participant observation.

Secondary data is the knowledge I have obtained through books and articles on voluntary organizations in general and on my two case study organizations, projects and project management, and leadership.

This thesis sets out to explore a situation and to this, I have employed a qualitative method. To study voluntary organizations, leadership and motivation observations, statements and feelings are in focus. These are all qualitative data. Naturally, quantitative data has been used and incorporated, but the primary source is qualitative.

2. 5. 1 Ethnographic studies

To really understand an organization and its culture, becoming a part of it is usually a fruitful approach. “To write an ethnography requires at a minimum some understanding of the language,

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concepts, categories, practices, rules, beliefs, and so forth, used by members of the written-about group.” (Van Maanen, 1988: 13) In using ethnographic methods to write these two cases I wanted to be able to portray both organizations as I had experienced them. I wanted to represent “the social reality of others through the analysis of one's own experience in the world of these others.” (Van Maanen, 1988: ix)

Choosing to present the two cases that I had singled out as case studies required me to immerse myself in their unique cultures in order to portray them as accurately as possible. In order to ask the right questions to the volunteers, and to understand their environment, I felt it was necessary to undertake these studies. In the time that was available to me to do them, I was successful in getting information and an understanding of the respective organizational cultures.

2. 5. 2 Participant-observation

I have volunteered in both case study organizations. In the Exchange Crew, I volunteered twice previously and I felt that this gave me an advantage to understand the organization and some of the subtle things going on. The participation periods were two years previous to writing this, and though I have been involved in some way with the Exchange Crew since then, every experience is uniquely tied to the current project cycle and is thus not likely to be completely similar.

Because of my previous knowledge about the Exchange Crew, I signed up as a volunteer for Roskilde Festival to increase my understanding of this immense project. The opportunity to experience myself what it was like to be part of the festival, to meet other volunteers on the job and to witness leadership first-hand was very important to me. Volunteering furthermore gave me the advantage of gaining backstage passes so I could get in to the “volunteer's lounge” and talk to other volunteers and therefore was essential in generating first hand, on-site data.

I volunteered through the CBS students association with a friend and we were given three shifts as camping security guards in camping sections C, F and employee camp. Our tasks were as fire guards, camp fire security, keeping the roads clear of trash and toilet guards. Through the three shifts we had three different shift leaders. Two of them were from CBS Students and one from NAB (Nørre Alslev Boldklub) with whom we shared the volunteer area.

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I managed to get into contact with several volunteers and discuss their experiences. I never, however, told them I was using the festival as a case study per advice from friends accustomed to the festival. I believe this made them more trustful of me as a fellow volunteer instead of me as a researcher. As soon as possible afterwards I wrote down notes of my observations to keep the memories and impressions clear. These are in appendix 11.

The obvious pitfalls of participant-observation are the biases the researcher has or develops during the observational period. (Yin, 1989) I went into the festival with very little idea of what was going to happen and with no knowledge about the festival, except for the introductory course mandatory for all volunteers and the little research I had undertaken prior to the festival. During my experience there I sought to keep an open mind and to distance myself where possible from my own experience and to see it as an object of study instead.

2. 5. 3 Direct observation

I used direct observation to follow the Exchange Crew in the project cycle Fall 2008, which began in March 2008 and ended with the introduction week from the end of August to the beginning of September 2008. I had the opportunity to observe the four coordinators in their office space over a week, where there constantly was at least one member of the crew present. I was also present at two of the evening events during the introduction week.

Through observation, I could assess how the coordinators interacted with each other and with the volunteers. It was a way to confirm what they had told me they did, and also to see how much they were aware of their own actions. Moreover, the observation also showed me how the volunteers interacted with each other and with the Exchange Students. The notes are available in appendix 1.

2. 5. 4 Interviews

“Overall, interviews are an essential source of case study evidence because most case studies are about human affairs.” (Yin, 1994: 85) They are a way to uncover personal opinion from organizational members, which is their strength but at the same time also their weakness.

All interviews were based on prepared questions, but in all cases they were meant as guidelines for

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what the big lines of the interview were to be, so that I would get the most out of them. This classifies the interviews as semi-structured, open-ended (Andersen, 2002).

I have chosen to conduct interviews as a primary source of information because I wanted to get a first hand impression from the participants. Unlike a survey where written questions might entice shorter, less in-depth answers, I had the opportunity to ask follow up questions and make the interviewee elaborate on their answers. Also, at the time I did not feel capable of formulating survey questions as precisely as I wanted to, where the semi-structured nature of the interviews was a better fit with my current state of knowledge about the research. Formulating survey questions would have required an idea about the type of answers I wanted to get in order to make them precise enough. All in all, doing interviews as opposed to surveys secured me more valid questions and answers from all the interviewees sought out (Andersen, 2002). Finally, doing interviews suited the research approach because I am not searching a universal and generalizable truth but rather providing the context necessary to understand the individuals’ diverse motives and behaviors.

All the volunteers in the exchange crew are students at Copenhagen Business School (CBS) and thus have quite similar backgrounds. By chance, all the interviewed in Roskilde Festival are also students, although not exclusively at CBS. This implicates that all the interviewees have more or less similar backgrounds in terms of disposable time and situation in life.

2. 5. 4. 1 CBS Exchange Crew

The cycle “Fall 08” was underway as I approached the coordinators, one of whom I had volunteered with previously. After explaining the purpose of my thesis in person and on email, I was granted contact with the other three, and I conducted private interviews with all four on the same day. She asked me to send my questions by email before the interview so they would have time to prepare. In the end, though, they had not read them though due to time constraints that day.

I wanted the interviewee to talk freely and just let the questions be guidelines, but the two male coordinators, who had very limited experience in being one, and thus had limited leadership experience, did not have much to say in terms of leadership techniques and considerations, so their comments were much more bound to my questions than the two girls. During the interviews, I took notes and immediately afterwards typed in their answers to get their choice of words as accurate as

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possible.

Because I knew the two girls previously, a trust relationship was already established between us.

The two guys were also very keen on helping me out, and I feel that all four's answers were highly reliable due to this. The environment in which I held the interviews also added to the trust building;

they were conducted in a meeting room at the International Office, so in their normal working environment but closed off from others to hear their responses.

The questions were structured in three parts. The first part about themselves and why they joined the Exchange Crew and what they got out of it. The second part was directed at the Exchange Crew and the coordinators' role and actions towards the volunteers. The last part was entitled “leadership”

and was general questions on leadership in relation to the Exchange Crew.

During the fall semester 2008, I realized the need for interviews with volunteers. I asked the coordinators if they would ask some volunteers to do it and eventually I got hold of a group of Crew members. The interviews were held in January 2009. All interviews were based on the same questions. Half the interviewees had participated in the Exchange Crew at least one time previously and the other half was new to the organization. But the newcomers all had been involved in some other way before becoming volunteers. Half the interviews were held at the International Office, like the previous ones, and the other half at other school locations where privacy allowed for it.

2. 5. 4. 2 Roskilde Festival

The initial contact was made to RF2. He gave me an interview that lasted 1½ hours, which gave me all the basic knowledge about the festival's history, organizational structure and many other facts, as well as an in-depth knowledge of his job-history. This interview was held on site at Roskilde Festival's headquarters in Roskilde.

Through personal contact with RF1, I held an interview with him at his apartment. This private setting was in order for the interviewee to speak more freely than he otherwise could be expected to in an artificial setting (Andersen, 2002) I had prepared some questions that I wanted answered, but I allowed him to talk freely about all subjects to get the most authentic idea of his perception of leadership and motivation. Both interviews were recorded and then transcribed.

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For additional information on the ongoings in other sections of Roskilde Festival, I had an informal chat with a student working as a personal assistant to a project leader. He was also in the process of writing his thesis and we could thus exchange ideas and theories even though our topics were different. Nonetheless, he gave me insightful knowledge about his specific project, and some of his comments obtained through informal talks, I have chosen to use as a source of information.

Furthermore, I was in contact with a Ph.D. student, who was using Roskilde as her case. She and I met during the festival, were we exchanged observations and facts. During our talk I took some notes, which I transcribed at the earliest convenience. What she has perceived through her longitudinal observation of the festival is to me a very reliable source of information, and I was furthermore able to back up her thoughts through my own observation later, and also through informal talks with other volunteers I met randomly.

To establish motivational factors for volunteering in Roskilde Festival I chose to concentrate on those volunteers that volunteered more than 100 hours – members of the so-called Club100. The first two interviews I set up gave me further names to contact for interviews, and I used the same set of questions as with the Exchange Crew in order to try and make the interviews as similar as possible and thus not asking leading questions. I kept the interviews informal to allow for follow up questions. These interviews were conducted on school premises in private rooms.

2. 5. 5 Thematic analysis

After having transcribed the interviews, which resulted in more than 50 pages of text (see appendices 2-8 and 12-17), a theory of analysis was needed in order to make sense of the large amount of information I had gathered both through the interviews as well as the observational notes. In order to do this, I chose a thematic analysis in order to establish themes that would allow me to match the findings with each other.

Thematic analysis is about the content of the subject of analysis. It is good for discovering recurring trends in the chosen subjects as it allows the researcher to count the times a word or meaning was iterated. (Denscombe, 2003) The reasoning behind the thematic analysis is to understand the discourse that people use when “conceptualizing their current, ongoing relational episodes” (Owen, 1984: 274). Themes are revealed in three criteria: recurrence, repetition and forcefulness. These are

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then coded to make the comparison more accessible.(Owen, 1984)

Thematic analysis is grounded in discourse theory and can be conducted in different ways. Through my prepared questions, I had already established the first set of categories under which I found relevant themes. With the transcribed interviews I was able to underline or highlight relevant words, phrases or paragraphs that fit into the themes.

The established categories were leadership, project work and volunteers' work orientation. For each organization these then showed different themes as presented below.

Table 1. Themes for both organizations

Category/Organization Exchange Crew Roskilde Festival Leadership  No leadership style

 Personal relationships

 Motivation of volunteers – appraisal + socialization

 Hierarchy of competences

 Personal relationship

 Motivation of volunteers – give them responsibility Project Work  Time limitation

 Change

 Project organization

 Time limitation – motivating Volunteers' Work

Orientation

 Fun – partying

 Personal and social gain

 Learning experiences

 Personal and social gain

2. 6 Validity and reliability

The quality of a research design can be judged by four factors: construct, internal and external validity and reliability: Is the study's research design relevant and proper; is the analysis correct; is the conclusion valid for other cases than the present; and can readers rely on the author's findings.

(Yin, 1994)

I have used multiple sources of evidence to construct my case studies: documentation, archival records, interviews, observation and participant-observation. The validity of the cases is thus increased because I derived the information from several sources that made it possible to reject or verify findings.

For the interviews, I either recorded and transcribed them or took extensive notes, which were typed

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in immediately afterwards to keep the answers fresh in my memory. This means that I refer to direct quotes that thus are the expressed opinion of the interviewee. By transcribing them, I also make it possible for other researchers to validate my work as they can see for themselves on what I base my interpretations.

The interviews were all open-ended, semi-structured in which I encouraged the interviewees to express their own opinions, feelings and thoughts. I tried to let them do the talking and only ask follow up questions when I felt their statement could be clarified more. My analysis thus rests on these comments and my interpretation of them in relation to my theoretical standpoint. Moreover, I knew the background for all the interviewees, which made me able to understand their background, jargon and context better than a non-involved interviewer.

By using ethnographic methods, I am aware that I as a researcher influence my surroundings: the greatest objection to ethnographic studies is the bias that the researcher naturally holds. In writing the cases, my choice of words and phrasing matters greatly to the overall picture the reader gets, and alone by my choice of recording and interpreting my observations I have the power to portray the cases in the manner in which I see fitting my purpose. This was never my intention, and I have sought to confirm my observations with people present in both organizations. Also, by using multiple information gathering techniques I did not solely rely on my personal opinion, as Yin (1994) proposes.

The scope of the Exchange Crew is equivalent to a group within Roskilde Festival's structure, so I have a much more detailed understanding of the Exchange Crew than of the festival. This is also due to my beforehand knowledge about the Exchange Crew. I attempted to minimize this advantage by volunteering at Roskilde, but because of the size and scope knowing everything into detail is virtually impossible, which was also confirmed by the volunteers I interviewed. I can thus only present a more general overview of the project structure for Roskilde Festival. This has not meant that the Roskilde Festival case is less reliable, nor that the organizational analysis has been limited because this is founded on the general knowledge about the project structures of both organizations.

I chose to have two cases to make my findings more valid because of the possibility of comparison.

Also, they allow for a broader understanding of project-based voluntary organizations because the data from one case can be tested against the other and differences or similarities thus appear.

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Chapter III: Theory

In the following, I will outline the systems-control and process-relational approaches to leadership studies.

The basic differences between the two perspectives come from their ontological backgrounds. The systems-control theories take their conception of reality from the positivist idea in modernism in which people are seen as rational actors and organizations are thought of in systems that convert inputs into outputs (Watson, 2006). Contrary to this is the process-relational view that takes its understandings from the social constructivist ideas in post-modernism where the process of giving meaning through social interaction creates society and thus organizations (Watson, 2006) As my ontological standpoint is grounded in social constructivism, I naturally adapt the process-relational point of view.

3. 1 Systems-control framework

Clearly the most widespread perception in management studies, this way of thinking is popular due to its easily conceptualized view of reality (Watson, 2006). Talking about an organization as if it existed and had a will of its own makes the concept easier to grasp and to handle. By treating an employee as a more or less fixed entity that comes to work with the intention to work leaves out political games: the rational actor is clearly defined and thus managed.

A person has fixed personality traits and is thus more or less a set person with a true self that can be defined objectively. They would be able to make a prioritized list of their wants and needs and then act according to the prospect of fulfilling these needs or wants. Working is a way to fulfill the need of having money and security. In conjunction with the systems-thought, people are seen “as a little machine-like system in which goal or 'motives' operate as a motor 'powering' the human entity so that it behaves in a particular way.” (Watson, 2006: 86)

3. 1. 1 Motivation

Motivational theories are often based on needs and gratification ideas such as in Herzberg's Two- Factor model where he differentiates between hygiene factors and motivators as causes to work

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satisfaction. Moreover, “theory and research in work motivation have focused mainly on the individual needs people may have, their own independent goals and expectations, or the personal outcomes they find rewarding.” (Ellemers et al. 2004: 459) There is a clear logic of reasoning behind actions so that everybody knows why he or she acts the way they do before they do it. For the manager who wants workers to complete a task, all they have to do is stimulate action towards this task. “Every human individual has built into it a set of needs, to which these goals or motives are related, and if opportunities are offered that might satisfy these needs, the individual is 'motivated' by the prospect of need satisfaction.” (Watson, 2006: 86-7)

Researches adhering to this thought contend that people's work orientation – the meaning they give to their job – stays the same over the course of the employment period (Russel, 1980). If they initially take on a job because of the monetary gain, they will stay because they are satisfied, and leave when dissatisfied with their financial situation. This is consistent with the idea that people have pre-defined and set values that stay the same.

3. 1. 2 Management and leadership

In the systems-control view, leadership studies focus on the leader as the study object. It is the leader that does the leading onto followers. It is a description (or prescription) of behavior and several types of leadership behavior can thus be formulated and compared in order to find the most efficient.

By understanding the individual as possessing traits or goals, this becomes the object of the desire to control. It comes down to the possession of knowledge and people's desire to control it: The systems-control view holds that knowledge exists separately from the individual, that it can be defined objectively. Nature, or the object, is passive and can be known and controlled by the subject that exists in itself. This means that a leader (subject) can motivate employees (object) by meeting their wants and needs. “Social relations are enacted by subjects to achieve knowledge about, and influence over other people and groups.” (Hosking & Dachler, 1995: 3, in Hosking et al. Eds.)

3. 1. 2 .1 Leadership Schools

Through the 20^th century, different leadership schools have developed starting with the trait school

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in the 1930s, where the primary thought was that people are born with certain traits that make them leaders. Moving away from this assumption in the next decade, leadership skills can be learned in the behavior school. The similarities between these two are though that leaders exhibit the same type of behavior or skills.

Contrary to this is the contingency school in the 1960s that postulates that being an effective leader depends on the situation. Bernard Bass continues this argument by developing his two-style paradigm of transactional and transformational leaders. Recently, more emphasis has been placed on the leader's emotional capabilities as a managerial tool as can be seen in Goleman's work on emotional intelligence. Finally, Dulewizc and Higgs developed a school of thought entitled the competency school that encompasses all of the above by making skills, traits and emotional intelligence competencies. They argue that different sets of competencies are appropriate for different situations. (Müller & Turner, 2006)

Common for these approaches is the subject-object relationship between the leader and the follower.

Leadership is seen as something accomplished by the leader onto the followers to the benefit of the organization.

3. 1. 3 Critique

One standing criticism of this framework is its excessive search for the truth. Seeking to construct a theory that can be tested and thus verified (or falsified) has lead to disputes between researchers, and this actually proves the point of the process-relational framework that truth is not an objective entity. Debates on charismatic versus inspirational leadership clearly demonstrates this as each definition depends on the criterion for measurement. (Bass, 1999) The search for measurement of all things ultimately becomes the systems-control framework's biggest limitation.

Also, the linear understanding of people and organizations is easily dismissed through a critical commonsensical evaluation. The thought of rational actors is assuring but it does not stand to be tested against reality. So if managers approach their work with this way of thinking they will be disappointed and disillusioned by what is actually going on in organizations.

Newer theories on leadership emphasize the relationship between leader and follower. However,

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never going into deep discussions about what constitutes a relationship, they are left unexplained and only implicitly referenced. The process-relational perspective provides answers and insights to factors left unexplained by the systems-control view because of its ontological considerations, though since truth is subjective, it can never be objectively verified.

3. 2 Process-relational framework

Process-relational thinking takes the black box of systems-thinking and opens it up. It allows for processes between people and the organization to influence their actions, which gives room for the actor being simultaneously rational and emotional at the same time. Subjective rationality dominates this paradigm.

The process-relational view permits the people that work for the organization to have an influence on its design. Their influence is derived from their relating to each other, which results in political games of conflict, negotiation, compromise and exchanges. It is these relationships that make up the organization, and they entail that both reason and emotion have an influence. (Watson, 2006)

3. 2. 1 People

In contrast to the systems-control view, people are not seen as motivated by needs or wants. Rather, they interpret their situation through active sense-making, which leads to strategic exchanges with others (relation) in order to deal with their material or emotional circumstances. A need is seen as a given, a fact, whereas sense-making allows for continuous interpretation of a person's situation as relationships to others and material circumstances change and give light to new meaning.

The process-relational view allows, as the name states, for processes of relating to continuously influence the individual so that they are always emerging: they are in the process of becoming. A person is no longer a purely rational actor but can let emotions influence the way they think and act.

The beliefs and orientations of a worker make him or her enact situations and people in a certain way with their counter-reactions determining how the worker experiences the process.

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3. 2. 2 Management and Leadership

Critical management studies under which process-relational thinking falls, reject the idea of ever being able to control people. A manager is him or herself a person with an identity outside work that make them act according to how they see life. The people they are trying to manage are themselves acting according to how they make sense of their situation.

Instead of seeing leadership as something done onto another, it is conceived as the process and relationship between people. It is the “processes by which social order is constructed and changed.”

(Uhl-Bien, 2006: 664) Leadership is a process of socially constructing knowledge. The appointed leader is just one voice among many and shares responsibility with followers for the construction of a socially accepted version of truth. In the end, the process-relational theory is based on an understanding of rhetoric (language, communication, narratives, artifacts) as the creator of meaning.

Leadership in a work organization in its basics comes down to the ability to motivate people in order to get them to work towards accomplishing a goal set up by management. In the process- relational way of framing reality, it is a process of influencing people. For the appointed leader, cognitive behavior would be influencing people to get them to do what he or she wants. The means to influence their behavior are mostly linked to rhetoric, or 'language games' so to speak. Constant negotiation, manipulation and convincing are key elements of how a leader can influence behavior.

Job designs can also be used by a leader in towards the same goal.

3. 2. 3 Work Orientation

The concept of work orientation comes from work done by British sociologists in the 1960s. After conducting research on a group of male industrial workers, Goldthorpe et al. (1968) found evidence to counter the classic needs-wants point of view on worker motivation. Previously, needs and wants were categorized and existed in a hierarchy, as for example in Maslow's pyramid of needs.

Goldthorpe et al. found that “wants and expectations are culturally determined variables, not psychological constants; and from a sociological standpoint what is in fact of major interest is the variation in the ways in which groups differently located in the social structure actually experience and attempt to meet the need which at a different level of analysis may be attributed to them all.”

(Goldthorpe et al., 1968: 178.) Thus, with their work they conclude that motivational factors are individual and are dependent on the worker's situation in life.

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Another conclusion made in this research was about technology's influence on work behavior and motivation. It was thought by theorists such as Elton Mayo, that since technology determined the structure of industrial work, it would in turn structure workers' motivation to work as well. What the Goldthorpe group proved, however, was that “little systematic association was revealed among the workers we studied between their immediate experience of their work situations as technologically conditioned, and the range of attitudes and behavior which they more generally displayed as industrial employees.” (Goldthorpe et al., 1968: 181) With this observation they disprove theories based on systems-control thinking that “takes as its starting point the 'socio-technical' system”

(Goldthorpe et al., 1968: 182, referencing the Tavistock Institute Group) and move on to a process- relational approach instead. As Michael Rose puts it: the systems-control thought “assumes that the contractual aspects of a job matter more to most employees than do the qualitative experiences employees gain from work.” (Rose, 2005: 144)

The Goldthorpe group's argument is based on workers having choices. They reflect on their situation and do what they judge to be best given the circumstances and this will create a prevalent orientation to work. With their research, they finally conclude that it would be better to use an action frame of reference in analysis of worker behavior – one that takes its starting point in the worker's own definitions and explanations for their behavior and relationships. (Goldthorpe et al., 1968)

Much newer research has followed this initial paper, but the postulations are still the same. Russel's (1980) work addresses the issue of workers' attitudes change with circumstances, basing his conclusion on research.. He states that when people are not stagnant creatures, it is impossible to imagine their values and work orientations to stay the same. Countering Goldthorpe's assumption that workers will have one prevalent orientation to work, he says that as situations change and new interpretations of these and relationships with others influence a person, so does the meanings and values he or she attaches to a given job (Russell, 1980). Thus, the reason a person gives for joining an organization is not necessarily the same she or he gives for staying committed or for leaving, and their orientation to work alters as well.

Using the concept of work orientation instead of motivation allows the researcher and management professional to see the processes of interrelating and other social action to influence people. It

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discounts the systems-control framework's linearity of thought-then-action, and instead uses a processual duality to show that action sometimes precedes thought and that people can attach meanings a priori. Most importantly is the notion that people do not exist outside social relations but that they influence and are influenced by people. Whether someone is motivated to do something depends on how they make sense of their current situation in regards to present and future concerns. Action is influenced by a multitude of goals and motives that at the same time as we think and act simultaneously determine outcomes. (Watson, 2006)

3. 2. 3. 1 Combining work orientation with leadership

Where the systems-control framework separates motivation from leadership, process-relational thinking postulates that they are closely intertwined. Motivation in process-relational terms can be perceived in two ways: as factors that make someone behave in a certain way (work orientation) and as a manager's actions to get an employee to work in a certain way. (Watson, 2006)

For the leader, getting people to go along with them requires manipulation of the perceived implicit contract that all employees have with an organization. It is a tacit agreement about the exchanges made between the two parties in terms of input and rewards. Similar to the term psychological contract, it is closely related to work orientation. A person's implicit contract is made up of their expectations for a given job. In Kotter's (1973) research, a person who's expectations matched what he or she got, their level of commitment and innovation would rise, and vice versa.

A person's work orientation and perceived implicit contract are part of the strategic exchange a person continuously goes through in order to make sense of his or her life. It is an active process that requires constant sense-making of situations. For the leader to get workers to cooperate he or she must use the implicit contract to change circumstances for the worker to go in the direction laid out by the leader.

3. 2. 3. 2 Work orientation in voluntary organizations

I have not been able to find directly any literature that touches upon this subject. Implicitly, though, many researchers have studied demographics and other indicators of volunteers' backgrounds and reasons for volunteering, but none directly approach orientation to work as a separate genre. This is

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why I have chosen to investigate the concept of work orientation in voluntary organizations.

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Chapter IV: Literature Review

In this chapter, I review the existing literature on voluntary organizations, projects and leadership in general and in the voluntary setting, and volunteers.

4. 1 Voluntary organizations

It is important to distinguish between nonprofit organizations and organizations based on a voluntary workforce. While the two can overlap they are not mutually exclusive as some organizations are based on a voluntary workforce but are profit seeking and some organizations are nonprofit but run with employees.

The definition of what constitutes a voluntary organization differs because of the nature of this type of organization. I have chosen to use the terminology “voluntary organization” because it suits my purpose better than “nonprofit”or “nongovernmental” does. Moreover, “voluntary organization” can be defined to encompass the two other types. All three terms are used in the literature found on the subject of voluntary organizations but I argue that they define different types of organizations, and it is thus important to clarify what is meant. In this thesis, I use the term voluntary organization because it does not exclude any organizational type but instead emphasizes the use of a volunteer work force.

4. 1. 1 Classification

The distinction of the voluntary organizations from non-voluntary, for-profit or governmental organizations is according to Wilderom and Miner (1991: 367) “antiquated” because of the overlap of common features between the two types. Nowhere is it stated that volunteer (unpaid) work is strictly limited to a voluntary organization. Also if the voluntary organizations are not studied within the realm of general organizational research it increases the risks of alienating this category from mutual beneficial learning (Ross, 1972: 20). By separating the two types of organizations and by refusing similarities, knowledge sharing and spillover is lost.

Made famous with Tocqueville's “De la démocratie en Amérique” (1835) it was not until the 1980ies that management literature began to flourish on the specific topic of nonprofits,

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nongovernmental or voluntary organizations and especially on the management and leadership of such organizations (Wallis & Dollery, 2005). This last part focuses particularly on larger, more professional organizations and is characterized by a managerial approach to volunteer work. “Forty years ago, 'management' was a very bad word in non-profit organizations. It meant 'business' to them, and the on thing they were not was a business.” (Drucker, 1990: x) This can be seen in how most literature is devoted to the ongoings of the organization and not so much to an academic understanding of what constitutes or delineates them.

Regardless of the terminology, which in Warner and Miller's (1991) work is named voluntary associations, two useful definitions are commonly given to distinguish the purpose of the organization. The “consummatory” association exists as an end in itself: its members unite because they want to be together and thus become the primary beneficiary of the association. The

“instrumental” association is created as a means to an end in that its members unite in a more formalized setting in order to accomplish a goal for external beneficiaries. Both are ideal types but it remains useful to distinguish between the two.

Ross (1972) also uses this distinction, but names the first category “expressive” as does Wilderom and Miner (1991) in their work. I will use the terms expressive and instrumental. In their work they add a new distinguishing factor to the categorization of voluntary organizations: whether they employ paid staff (agency) or not (group). They claim that it makes a difference and that “the satisfaction of group needs in voluntary groups is central to their functioning, and concomitantly, most salient to their members. Volunteers in voluntary organizations with paid staff members, on the other hand, will emphasize organizational outcomes.” (Wilderom & Miner, 1991: 368) Their definition is thus parallel to the expressive/instrumental categories as the voluntary group shares characteristics with the expressive organization and the agency with the instrumental.

One conclusion that is made from this categorization is that the problems faced by either type are different and differs in numbers; the voluntary group experiences less problems and the agency more. The explanation for this lies in the foundation of voluntary groups or expressive organizations, “which meet simply for the enjoyment and sociability of getting together.” (Warner

& Miller, 1964: 656) Their foundational grounds are thus based on a more informal and less bureaucratic style than that of the instrumental organization, which would cause less problematic issues concerning the administration and development of the organization. But as Jone L. Pearce

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(1993: 16) notes that most voluntary organizations have employees (paid workers) the composition between the volunteers and employees is an important feature. It is also important to remember that voluntary workers exist in many organizations that otherwise are employee-run where the board is made up by volunteers.

4. 1. 2 Critique

A critique of the expressive/instrumental division of voluntary organizations demonstrates how the terminology forgets the volunteers in its assumption of a general, similar whole that makes up an organization. “Just because a particular organization is categorized as “instrumental” does not suggest that all members have joined in order to forward the organization's goals; they may volunteer because they enjoy the activities or the social life.” (Pearce, 1993: 25) Thus, while a categorization makes the bigger picture more easily accessible, it is also dangerous to think the people within the organization all the same if this leads to undifferentiated treatment.

But this kind of generalization leads to an oversimplified image of these organizations. The type of organization described in the quote is but one out of many organizations that have volunteers as their workforce.

The recurrent critique of literature on voluntary organizations is that they are all treated generically and most of the managerial advice is based on a specific type of organization, most often the nonprofits. This is part of the confusion with the terminology of voluntary organizations. There is a clear difference between nonprofit organizations and NGOs (non-governmental organization), and the size and mission of the organization also has an influence on the volunteers and hence the managers and their responsibilities. On a final note, most literature is based in a US-context, which has implications for the direct applicability to other cultures and countries.

4. 2 Projects

The problem that project literature shares with voluntary leadership literature is that both projects and volunteers are thought to be easily managed. The project is conceptualized as a neat, structured entity with a start and a beginning and clear-cut rules for the manager to follow for ensured success.

Likewise for the leadership or motivation of volunteer who are 'naturally' motivated by the goal and

A new perspective on volunteers' motivation