Dr Olesya Nedvetskaya

Research question: This paper presents a new comprehensive framework that brings together a wide range of themes and issues pertaining to the management of Olympic volunteering lacking in the literature. It helps answer the following research question: how and for whom volunteer programmes work, in what circumstances, to what effect and over what duration. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the theoretical and practical value of combining Volunteer Process Model (VPM) (Omoto & Snyder, 2002), Human Resource Management (HRM) Model (Cuskelly et al., 2006) and Legacy Cube (Preuss, 2007). This theoretical synergy helps unpack 'what' we study, while the premises of critical realist evaluation (Pawson, 2013) 'Context + Mechanism = Outcome' (CMO) aid in answering 'why' and 'how' we study it. Research methods: The London 2012 Olympic Games volunteer (Games Maker) programme was the primary case for this research. Data was gathered before, during and 14 months after the Games in the UK via a mixed methods approach. Survey data from volunteers was complemented with semi-structured interviews with volunteers and managers, the author's participant observations and documentary analysis. Results and findings: The proposed framework helped identify and evaluate the systems, mechanisms and processes of developing and managing the Games Maker (GM) programme. It became evident that unless key event stakeholders acknowledge the complex nature of Olympic volunteering and put adequate structures, resources and practices in place, the volunteer programmes are ineffective in managing volunteers and attaining a sustainable volunteering legacy. Implications: This paper offers valuable insights into the organisation and management of Olympic volunteering to achieve various programme results. It answers a call for a holistic approach to the phenomenon under study and features new directions for continued academic research in this critical area.

The existing literature highlights some universal principles that are widely accepted as a good volunteer management practice, e. g., volunteer appreciation and recognition, provision of meaningful roles, effective communication, and the importance of relational connection, just to name a few. Yet, it can be argued that a gap exists in the relationship between volunteer management theory and practice in the context of large sport events. For example, published evidence shows that volunteer programs often lack effective planning and management to achieve successful program results. On one hand, this can be attributable to limited knowledge about volunteers' characteristics and motivations, their lived experiences, the processes of volunteering, and the actual volunteer management practices. On the other hand, a lack of the right mechanisms (e.g., political will, financial, and managerial resources) in place before and throughout the event lifespan intensifies this disconnect. The aim of this research, therefore, was to critically examine the reasons behind this theory-practice divide in volunteer–volunteer management relationship and its potential impact on volunteer experiences and volunteer program outcomes, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications for sport event organizers and volunteer managers in the UK. A mixed methods approach was adopted for this study: a survey conducted with volunteers (n = 101) combined with a series of interviews with volunteers (n = 8) and volunteer managers (n = 6). The study identified some potential challenges facing volunteer programs associated with large sport events post-pandemic, particularly in relation to volunteer recruitment, volunteer management, and safety concerns affecting volunteer confidence to re-engage in volunteering. These challenges carry with them certain resource implications that event organizers need to consider to effectively run volunteer programs and support volunteers in engagement and re-engagement following the pandemic, as well as to harness opportunities the pandemic has potentially created to successfully re-emerge from the shadow of COVID-19. The study provides specific recommendations to inform event planning and delivery to enhance volunteer experiences and, ultimately, outcomes of volunteer programs associated with large sport events.

The existing literature highlights some universal principles that are widely accepted as a good volunteer management practice, e. g., volunteer appreciation and recognition, provision of meaningful roles, effective communication, and the importance of relational connection, just to name a few. Yet, it can be argued that a gap exists in the relationship between volunteer management theory and practice in the context of large sport events. For example, published evidence shows that volunteer programs often lack effective planning and management to achieve successful program results. On one hand, this can be attributable to limited knowledge about volunteers' characteristics and motivations, their lived experiences, the processes of volunteering, and the actual volunteer management practices. On the other hand, a lack of the right mechanisms (e.g., political will, financial, and managerial resources) in place before and throughout the event lifespan intensifies this disconnect. The...

Research question: This paper presents a new comprehensive framework that brings together a wide range of themes and issues pertaining to the management of Olympic volunteering lacking in the literature. It helps answer the following research question: how and for whom volunteer programmes work, in what circumstances, to what effect and over what duration. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the theoretical and practical value of combining Volunteer Process Model (VPM) (Omoto & Snyder, 2002), Human Resource Management (HRM) Model (Cuskelly et al., 2006) and Legacy Cube (Preuss, 2007). This theoretical synergy helps unpack 'what' we study, while the premises of critical realist evaluation (Pawson, 2013) 'Context + Mechanism = Outcome' (CMO) aid in answering 'why' and 'how' we study it.

Research methods: The London 2012 Olympic Games volunteer (Games Maker) programme was the primary case for this research. Data was gathered before, during and 14 months after the Games in the UK via a mixed methods approach. Survey data from volunteers was complemented with semi-structured interviews with volunteers and managers, the author's participant observations and documentary analysis.

Results and findings: The proposed framework helped identify and evaluate the systems, mechanisms and processes of developing and managing the Games Maker (GM) programme. It became evident that unless key event stakeholders acknowledge the complex nature of Olympic volunteering and put adequate structures, resources and practices in place, the volunteer programmes are ineffective in managing volunteers and attaining a sustainable volunteering legacy.

Implications: This paper offers valuable insights into the organisation and management of Olympic volunteering to achieve various programme results. It answers a call for a holistic approach to the phenomenon under study and features new directions for continued academic research in this critical area.

The history of volunteer services for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (the Games) is not new; it dates back to 1896 when 900 volunteers provided support for the Athens Games (Wei Na, 2009). The growing demands of the Games pressure Organizing Committees to recruit volunteers in increasingly large numbers, reaching 70,000 at the London 2012 Games (Games Makers). These Games were considered the largest single mobilization of a workforce in Britain since World War II. Volunteers were an indispensable part of this workforce. Their skills, enthusiasm and commitment helped provide an unforgettable experience for everyone involved (Volunteering Strategy Group, 2006). However, large numbers of people involved in the Games also means an unprecedented scale of human resource operations and greater managerial challenges.
One big issue faced by every Organizing Committee is the recruitment of volunteers and their training and management. Each Olympic host city adopts its own volunteer recruitment strategy and methods, which range from central or government models (London 1948, Moscow 1980, Seoul 1988) to open recruitment (Barcelona 1992) and mobilization of social organizations (Atlanta 1996) (Wei Na, 2009). Recently some cities attempted to use Games volunteering to achieve better event-related social impacts or ‘legacies’, of which London is the prime example. However, the empirical evidence of these impacts is scarce due to the intangible nature of these impacts, the lack of details on the process, and the short-term nature of the project (i.e. Brown and Massey, 2001; Hall, 2001; Green and Chalip, 2004; Coalter, 2007; Smith and Fox, 2007; Clark,
2008; Wilson, 2000; Wilson, 2012). This study intends to fill some of these gaps by examining the London 2012 Volunteer Programme.

When London hosted the 1948 Olympic Games, volunteering was the only way to deliver them, as there were no government subsidies, global commercial sponsorship or broadcasting fees (The Organising Committee for the XIV Olympiad, 1948). By the time London staged the Games in 2012, volunteering had become a strategically planned and professionally managed activity that was also integrated in the host country’s social policy. The concept of the Olympic legacy has also gained popularity and has been framed as a rational process designed to ensure a range of individual and social benefits from hosting the Games. This chapter focuses specifically on the least researched area of Olympic volunteering - the processes through which the volunteering legacy can be achieved, for whom, in what circumstances, and over which duration. The overall purpose of the study was to explore the practices by which the London 2012 Volunteer Programme (the Games Maker Programme) was used to deliver a desired social legacy. This was carried out within the historical context of sport event volunteering in the UK, such as the XVII Commonwealth Games in Manchester and the volunteer programmes associated with them.
This chapter is divided into four sections. The first section offers a critical review of literature on Olympic volunteering in order to establish the key trends, processes and legacies from hosting the Games. The second section offers a critical realism-informed theoretical approach to understanding the legacy of Olympic volunteering. The third section presents the case of the volunteering legacy of London 2012 and finally, some conclusions are drawn.

This thesis was focussed on volunteering as a social legacy of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games (London 2012). The study identified a research gap with regard to the details on the processes through which the volunteering legacy can be achieved, for whom, in what circumstances and over which duration. Therefore, the overall purpose of this research was to explore the processes by which the London 2012 Volunteer Programme (the Games Maker Programme) was used to deliver a desired social legacy in the historical context of sport event volunteering in the UK, such as the XVII Commonwealth Games in Manchester (Manchester 2002), their Pre-Volunteer Programme (PVP) and Manchester Event Volunteers (MEV). This was done by means of examining volunteering experiences and volunteer management practices in the context of the Olympics as the least explored form of the Games-related legacy.

The uniqueness and strength of this research was in its empirically grounded and historically informed case study with an embedded single-case design with multiple units of analysis, where the case was the Games Maker Programme and units of analysis – different aspects of the Programme. The study employed critical realism and interpretative constructivism as the basis of its philosophical framework. It used a ‘realist’ approach drawing on the basis of realist evaluation: context + mechanism = outcome (Pawson and Tilley, 1997). Elements of the Programme became the mechanisms activated under certain conditions (contexts) to trigger certain outcomes. A two-layered theoretical framework was applied to help study volunteering in the context of the Olympics. The research utilised the Legacy Cube by Preuss (2007) as an outer layer of the framework to help identify positive and negative, planned and unplanned, tangible and intangible structures associated with a social legacy and analyse them at specific time and space. The Volunteer Process Model by Omoto and Snyder (2002) served as an inner-layer of the framework that helped explore more in-depth personal attributes of London 2012 volunteers (Individual level), processes, experiences and consequences of their involvement, as well as the ingrained nature of volunteering in the institutional and cultural environments (Organisational and Societal levels).

Longitudinal time horizon and mixed methods were used to collect a richer and stronger array of evidence to address the research aims and questions. Qualitative evidence included various documents, in-depth semi-structured interviews with volunteers (before and after London 2012) and managers (after London 2012), as well as participant observations carried out by the researcher before and during the Games. These qualitative elements were supplemented with an on-line survey of a broader cross section of volunteers. Thematic analysis was used to make sense of the large volume of data and provide foundations for the results and a subsequent discussion.

The findings revealed that the London 2012 Volunteering Strategy had multiple stakeholders and aims, from running an excellent Games-time Volunteer Programme to creating a sustainable social legacy. Competing demands, poor coordination, the confusion over who is responsible for what outcomes, the lack of specific plans on how to achieve these outcomes and external factors related to changes in political environment and worsened socio-economic conditions in the UK contributed to a legacy not being realised to the extent it was hoped for. Therefore, declared commitments to Excellence, Equality and Diversity, One Games, UK-Wide, Exchange, Legacy and Partnership were limited in their capacity. Ultimately, the need to deliver the Games took a priority. Although the Games Maker Programme appeared to achieve its target to recruit, train and manage 70,000 volunteers to work in 3,500 Games-time roles, organisers were not always effective in providing volunteers with the best experience, which largely depended on volunteer roles, placements and a management style of immediate managers and team leaders. It came across as a surprising outcome, given that the successful organisation of the Games was largely in hands of volunteers. Therefore, if the commitment is to have an exemplary Games-time Volunteer Programme, then a priority should be to make those who freely devote their time and effort feel valued and provide them with an array of opportunities and benefits that encourage positive experiences. This, potentially, can contribute to a sustainable volunteering legacy beyond the Games.