Volunteer Management in Non-Profit Organizations: Experience of Huellas Foundation in Medellín, Colombia
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsVOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT IN NON-PROFIT ORGANI- 2 ZATIONS: Experience of Huellas Foundation in Medellin Colombia
I really want to start with applauding the authors for undertaking this research into a Latin American instead of a Western European or North American volunteer involving organization. Several authors have made a clear point that volunteer management might be highly depending on context, including features of the organization and national context. The authors rightfully claim that volunteer management needs ‘a deep understanding of the cultural context in which the organization operates’ and the end results support this claim.
However, having made this comment I am a bit surprised to see the flow of the article, or the more precise, the disconnect between the literature review of volunteer management and this context perspective. Several articles of Brudney and different co-authors (Brudney, J. L., & Sink, H. K. (2017). Volunteer management: It all depends. The nonprofit human resource management handbook, 204-222.;Brudney, J. L., & Meijs, L. C. (2014). Models of volunteer management: Professional volunteer program management in social work. Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance, 38(3), 297-309;. Brudney, J. L., Meijs, L. C., & van Overbeeke, P. S. (2019). More is less? The volunteer stewardship framework and models. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 30(1), 69-87.) claim and show that there is clash between the universalistic approach (volunteer management is the same in all organizations leading to the twelve practices the authors discuss) and a contingency approach (the practices depend on the context and there are many different models addressing this perspective of “ one size does not fit all” (Rochester, C. (1999). One size does not fit all: Four models of involving volunteers in voluntary organizations. Voluntary Action, 1(2), 47-59.).
So, I would urge the authors to either show how the twelve practices are also valid in Colombia, making the claim of the cultural influence on volunteer management less valid, or to show that that the twelve practices are not that important globally. If the latter is the end result, which I think the authors are hinting at, I would urge the authors to enrich their literature review of volunteer management with contingency approaches. At this moment in figure 1 none of the twelve practices seems to be represented…..that is an important finding…
I also think that this broader contingency approach is much more in line with the chosen methodology. I would thing that a participatory autoethnography needs loading from more perspectives than this very Western minority world perspective of process management with 12 steps. It would it more appropriate for the socially constructed perspective.
Enriching your review would also enable a description of the changes in volunteer management in the organization going from ‘community work without a formal structure’ (but with volunteer management but probably no volunteer manager) into a formal non-profit with volunteer management with a volunteer manager. Although, there is no mentioning of any volunteer management position at all……. Please explain this too…
I like the data tables and explanation but do not see how source 1 (documents) can help. Does the voluntary action agreement differ between volunteers? And how?? Because having different agreements would support the contingency idea….
Reframing the article as delving into another contingency to take into account while developing a volunteer management approach leads to a fundamental rewriting of the conclusions, not the findings.
Comments on the Quality of English Languagei found the article easy to read.
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThank you for the opportunity to review this study. Research into volunteer organisations in a Latin American context is quite limited and this study is a fascinating insight into a non-profit organisation in Medellin, Columbia. The authors are also clearly passionate about the subject and this really comes through in the article.
The literature review section brought out aspects of volunteer management that are not often considered such as organisational climate and leadership styles. However, the section on motivation could have drawn on a recognised volunteer satisfaction framework. Also, I am not sure that self-gratification is the best term for what the authors are describing. Does this refer to satisfaction and possibly fulfilment and self-actualisation for example?
Apart from this, volunteer management itself is generally well covered and Table 1 is a useful summary of its scope. Although the fact that these are also called HRM practices in many other articles could have been discussed.
Autoethnography is an interesting approach but not one I am very familiar with. However, I have noted that this includes focus groups, participant observation, documentary evidence and draws on the researchers own insights. I am assuming although there are three authors and one of these is the researcher. I do think that the reasons for the importance given to the documentary evidence are not clear though.
Figure 1 could be clearer with regard to the rationale of components included. Should there also be more on the institutional recognition side such as recognition events and awards?
There is plenty of insight into the evolution of the work of the organisation and the way it is embedded into the community through the analysis for example of the Harvest Time. (There are some articles on the idea of giving back). However, given that there are 8 focus group participants, I would have liked to hear more of their thoughts and opinions coming out in the findings in the form of direct quotations rather than just in the introductory video fragment material.
The conclusion draws the strands together effectively and the idea of a multi-faceted social practice is particularly interesting.
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageThe use of English is generally very good
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsI want to compliment the author on the improvements that have been made. I hope you agree that it is has become a much more general and citable article. thanks and succes
