Management challenges in the Online University voluntary broadcasting program

¶ … Role of Management in Rewarding Volunteers

Organizational leadership entails the proper maintenance of structures and systems within the company. This requires that the leadership from the top to the bottom have to be made to work together in a proper manner. This has to be done for the sake of maintaining a proper leadership system in the organization in question. The situation is trickier in situation where the employees are working on voluntary system basis because there is little remuneration to boost their motivation. In such cases, instances of quarrels and disagreements between the top leadership and the rest of the employees are commonplace. This is evident in the case of the Online University. The management had chosen to open a broadcasting station for use in communication. The following study identifies the appropriate management strategy for employees a volunteering regime.

The Online University has understaffed its management. It is run on a voluntary basis. This means a lot when it comes to the advancement of the management objectives. The aspect of volunteerism requires that the employees be not overworked because they have no other form of beneficial employment. They depend on other forms of work for survival and upkeep. Therefore, they have to be made to work less at the voluntary organization so that they have enough time to look for a livelihood elsewhere. In many cases, employees are likely to move out of the organization when they lack a stable income and/or the chance to look for a livelihood elsewhere. It was witnessed in the Online University that the number of workers who were hired to work under the voluntary program was few. As such, they ended up being on bad terms with the program director. The program director could not effectively oversee them. This bad blood between them brought them affected their working relationship, and the program director had to quit. Ideally, people working in hardship conditions cannot do so for a long time. In the life of the project director, it is shown that people often have problems continuing to work under hard conditions (McSweeney & Alexander, 2010).

The Cause of Problem and Performance Appraisal

In the case presented, the cause of the problem arose from understaffing and lack of administrative remuneration from for the project director. The lack of proper terms of service for the employees is also blamed on the bad working environment. With the voluntary system of employment, chances are very high that the employees will be demoralized at the least provocation. This has been the case with the employees of Online University Broadcasting House. The project manager's unpopularity with the employees was not due to any other reason but the fact that the system had no money to fund the administration. The manager was left to handle the many needs of the employees and help them live comfortably. Therefore, the manager was left with many problems to attend to ranging from addressing the demands of work and those of the employees. It would have worked better if the manager had ensured that the volunteers lived a comfortable life in the organization. This involves receiving the right treatment from the project director. Management of staff gets better with the adoption of the right approach that caters for the interests of all the stakeholders (Shepard, 2009).

Reward system

A proper reward system for the employees in this Broadcasting station is one that allows them to meet the specific tasks without being personally disadvantaged. Ideally, managers must come up with a pay program that enables the volunteers to make a decent living. This will not be regarded as salary per se, but a payment meant to make the employees live a stable life with little turbulence. This will be in the form of allowances that are to be paid on specific dates and which touch on the well-being of the employees in such a way that they can comfortably life (Michale, 2013).

Communication and training program

It is important for the management to consider come up with a communications program that will focus the life at work for the volunteers. This informs all the stakeholders about their expected roles and contributions in the success of the organization. For instance, the communication managers have to handle the issue of specific tasks that all of them have. It is important to ensure that the project manager understands the specific demands of the volunteers. It will enable them to be in agreement with them and hence minimize cases of rebellion (McSweeney & Alexander, 2010). Most importantly, there must be a training program where the volunteers and the managers are trained to handle their roles appropriately. The training program will seek to specify the roles of each of the players and orient them for work. This training can be done within the organization or through benchmarking with other organizations in the same field.

In most cases, when the employees have lost track at work, the best way to orient them is through making them witness how things are done in similar organizations. The benefits of benchmarking are realized in such a case. Notably, the management must undergo some form of change management training to make them adjust to the various circumstances that happen at work. Many organizations that need to boost with their staff management practices do this. The management must appreciate the fact that success is only possible when employees are committed and motivated to the organizational goals and objectives. It is their role to boost such motivation by creating an ample working environment via good reward systems and appropriate communication channels (Shepard, 2009).