Business School
APPRECIATIVE RENEWAL OF VOLUNTEER ORGANIZATIONS How to make volunteering more rewarding for everyone?
Master´s Thesis, Innovation Management Johanna Vartiainen, 228274
December 17, 2018
Abstract
UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND Faculty
Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies
Department
Business School
Author
Johanna Vartiainen
Supervisor
Helena Kantanen
Title
Appreciative renewal of volunteer organizations: How to make volunteering more rewarding for everyone?
Main subject
Innovation management
Level
Master´s Thesis
Date
December 2018
Number of pages
65
Abstract
My thesis examines appreciative inquiry and its utilization in adding the feeling of reward in volunteering. The aim of my research is to find out how the feeling of reward in volunteering can be increased by utilizing the positive and future-oriented way of developing organizations that is accustomed to appreciative inquiry, in which the organization members are engaged in the development process. My research focuses on developing volunteering in Kuopio Steelers American football club with the help of appreciative inquiry.
The theoretical framework of my study focuses on the thematic of appreciative inquiry along with volunteering and its special characteristics. In my framework I utilize previous academic literature and research results especially concerning volunteer motivations and its rewards. Since there is no pay-related rewarding in volunteering like in traditional employment, the feeling of reward is dependent on different factors, which previous research has studied vastly in previous years. Volunteering has not previously been studied from the appreciative inquiry point of view before and therefore wider inspection of the topic is necessary.
I chose qualitative research as the method of my study and I collected my research data with focus group interviews and individual interviews. I felt that focus group interviews support the principles of appreciative inquiry well and therefore it is well suited for my research purposes. The core idea of appreciative inquiry is to encourage organization members to a positive conversation on the areas of development and in focus group interviews exchanging ideas and innovating new ways of working is a natural part of the conversation. The interviewees formed two groups according to the duration of their volunteering; in other focus group I interviewed people who had been volunteering for the Steelers for at least eight years and in the other group people who had been volunteering for less than three years.
The results of my study show that appreciative inquiry supports organizational development in volunteer organizations and that it is possible to make volunteering more rewarding by utilizing its means. The positive approach of appreciative inquiry and engaging the organization members into the development process adds people´s commitment to the organization and it enables constructive organizational development. The means of appreciative inquiry also contribute in building a positive communication which leads into better cooperation between the organization members.
Key words
Appreciative inquiry, volunteering, feeling of reward
Tiivistelmä
ITÄ-SUOMEN YLIOPISTO Tiedekunta
Yhteiskuntatieteiden ja kauppatieteiden tiedekunta
Yksikkö
Kauppatieteiden laitos
Tekijä
Johanna Vartiainen
Ohjaaja
Helena Kantanen
Työn nimi (suomeksi ja englanniksi)
Vapaaehtoisorganisaatioiden arvostava kehittäminen: Kuinka tehdä
vapaaehtoistoiminnasta palkitsevampaa kaikille? Appreciative renewal of volunteer organizations: How to make volunteering more rewarding for everyone?
Pääaine
Innovaatiojohtaminen
Työn laji
Pro gradu-tutkielma
Aika
Joulukuu 2018
Sivuja
65
Tiivistelmä
Pro gradu –tutkielmani käsittelee arvostavan kehittämisen hyödyntämistä vapaaehtoistoiminnan palkitsevuuden lisäämisessä. Tutkimukseni tarkoituksena on selvittää, kuinka vapaaehtoistoiminnan palkitsevuutta voidaan lisätä hyödyntämällä arvostavalle kehittämiselle ominaista positiivista ja tulevaisuuteen suuntautuvaa organisaatioiden kehitystapaa, jossa organisaation jäseniä pyritään osallistamaan kehitysprosessiin. Tutkimukseni keskittyy amerikkalaisen jalkapallon seura Kuopio Steelersin vapaaehtoistoiminnan kehittämiseen arvostavan kehittämisen keinoin.
Tutkimukseni teoreettinen viitekehys keskittyy arvostavan kehittämisen tematiikan lisäksi myös vapaaehtoistoimintaan ja sen erityispiirteisiin. Hyödynnän teoreettisessa viitekehyksessäni aiempaa akateemista kirjallisuutta sekä aiempia tutkimustuloksia erityisesti vapaaehtoistoiminnan motivaatioon ja palkitsevuuteen liittyen. Koska vapaaehtoiselle ei muodostu perinteiseen työsuhteeseen liittyvää rahalliseen palkkaukseen perustuvaa palkitsemista, on vapaaehtoistoiminnan palkitsevuus kiinni lukuisista erilaisista tekijöistä, joita aiemmat tutkimukset ovat jo vuosien saatossa tutkineet laajasti. Vapaaehtoistoimintaa ei kuitenkaan ole tutkittu arvostavan kehittämisen näkökulmasta aiemmin, joten aiheen laajempi tarkastelu on tarpeellista.
Valitsin tutkimukseni metodiksi laadullisen tutkimuksen ja keräsin tutkimusaineistoni fokusryhmäkeskusteluiden sekä yksilöhaastatteluiden avulla. Koin, että fokusryhmäkeskustelut tukevat hyvin arvostavan kehittämisen periaatteita, ja näin ollen se soveltuu hyvin tutkimukseni tarkoitusperiin. Arvostavan kehittämisen keskeisenä ajatuksena on organisaation jäsenten kannustaminen positiiviseen keskusteluun organisaation kehityskohteista ja fokusryhmäkeskustelussa ideoiden vaihtaminen ja uusien toimintatapojen innovoiminen kuuluvat luonnollisena osana keskusteluun. Haastatellut muodostivat kaksi ryhmää vapaaehtoistoiminnan keston perusteella; toisessa fokusryhmäkeskustelussa haastattelin henkilöitä, jotka olivat toimineet vapaaehtoisina Steelersin organisaatiossa vähintään kahdeksan vuoden ajan ja toisessa ryhmässä henkilöitä, jotka olivat toimineet vapaaehtoisina alle kolmen vuoden ajan.
Tutkimukseni tulokset osoittavat, että arvostava kehittäminen tukee vapaaehtoistoiminnan kehittämistä ja sen keinoilla on mahdollista lisätä vapaaehtoistyön palkitsevuuden tunnetta. Arvostavan kehittämisen positiivinen lähestymistapa sekä organisaation jäsenten osallistaminen kehitysprosessiin lisäävät henkilöiden sitoutumista organisaatioon ja mahdollistaa organisaation kehittämisen rakentavasti. Arvostavan kehittämisen keinot myös edistävät positiivisen kommunikaation muodostumista, jolloin organisaation jäsenten välinen yhteistyö paranee.
Avainsanat
Arvostava kehittäminen, vapaaehtoistoiminta, palkitsevuus
TABLE OF CONTENTS
REFERENCES1 INTRODUCTION ... 4
1 INTRODUCTION ... 5
1.1 Topic and background of the research ... 5
1.2 Purpose of the study and the research question ... 6
1.3 Kuopio Steelers ... 7
2 VOLUNTEERING AND RENEWAL OF VOLUNTARY ORGANIZATIONS ... 10
2.1 Motivation and reward for volunteering ... 11
2.2 Organizational renewal of volunteer organizations ... 13
2.3 Appreciative inquiry ... 15
2.4 Appreciative communication ... 19
2.5 Theoretical framework in this study ... 21
3 METHODOLOGY ... 24
3.1 Focus group interviews... 24
3.2 Data collection ... 25
3.3 Analysis of the data ... 29
4 RESULTS OF THE EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS ... 32
4.1 Interviews with experienced volunteers ... 32
4.1.1 People are the strength ... 33
4.1.2 Appreciative communication ... 35
4.1.3 Towards a positive change ... 38
4.2 Interviews with new volunteers ... 40
4.2.1 Better result with collaboration ... 42
4.2.2 Towards a more rewarding future ... 45
4.3 Summary of the results ... 46
5 CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION... 51
5.1 Summary of the results ... 51
5.2 Key results and contributions ... 53
5.3 Evaluation of the study, limitations and future research ... 55
REFERENCES
1 INTRODUCTION
In the following chapter I will introduce the topic of my research; I will explain the background of the study and also the purpose and key concepts. Finally I will conclude the chapter with explaining the structure of my thesis.
1.1 Topic and background of the research
In the previous years, appreciative inquiry has been studied from multiple angles. In innovation management it has been most used to create interaction and communication between the members of the organization for organizational development purposes.
Appreciative inquiry aims to raise a conversation about the positive and working aspects of the organization instead of focusing on finding what is not working. The best outcome is reached when the organization members are engaged to conversation on what is working in the organization and how they could improve those strengths even further (Bushe, 2011). By the end of the conversation, organization members are asked to create an action plan to reach the desired state. The aim is to find the potential within the organization and people, and expand that potential in a positive manner. By doing so the organization members are more committed to the future goals (Reed, 2007).
The aim of my study is to utilize appreciative inquiry methods to help make volunteering more rewarding for volunteers. Which will in turn help volunteer organizations in their pursue to grow and develop. The nature of volunteering requires that people who volunteer need to get satisfaction from volunteering or they will start using their spare time for something else (Bussell & Forbes, 2006). Since the volunteers do not get paid and are therefore not connected to the organization by employer – employee relationship, their motivation for volunteering has to come from something else. Previous studies show that the main reason for volunteering is that it is considered to be fun and it offers friendships with people with same kind of mindset (Wilson & Musick, 1999; Finkelstein, 2008, 13). Appreciative method of involving the organization members into the development process leads into bigger commitment and to a sense of belonging that is
vital for maintaining the volunteers in an organization. Studies show that committed volunteers take pride in their work and are likely to be more productive. They take more initiative and are more innovative. Today’s hectic and demanding working environments mean that people want their free time to be relaxing and meant for family, friends and their personal interests. If volunteering is not satisfying for them they will spend their time doing something else (Finkelstein, 2008, 17-18). For volunteer organizations volunteers are essential, and therefore it is crucial that the volunteers are committed to the organization and get satisfaction from volunteering (MacNeela, 2008). For this reason the positive outlook of appreciative inquiry could help volunteer organizations to be more united, make volunteers more committed and increase the positive feeling within the organization.
Appreciative inquiry has been used in a wide range of studies recently from communication to organizational development, but so far it has not been studied how appreciative inquiry can be utilized in developing volunteer organizations. Since positive outlook is so essential for volunteer organizations, it is not all the same how organizational renewal is done. It has a major effect on change resistance and on the unity of the organization. The smaller the organization is, the more important part unity plays in the development process (Cummings & Worley. 2013, 122-124). In Finland alone there are hundreds of volunteer organizations that are competing for the same volunteers, donations, sponsors and the same media coverage. It is vital for the organizations to keep developing or they will start slowly fade away (Amburgey & Singh, 2017). By understanding the meaning of positive stance on change, volunteer organizations can better utilize the full potential of their members.
1.2 Purpose of the study and the research question
The aim of my study is to utilize appreciative inquiry to study how volunteering can become more rewarding for the volunteers. Since appreciative inquiry has not been used in volunteer organization context before, my study will offer more insight on the ways of utilizing appreciative inquiry in a deeper and more versatile way. The aim is to see whether volunteer motivation and the feeling of reward can be increased by including the
organization members in an appreciative conversation. This way the organization can increase volunteer motivation and develop the organization at the same time. Therefore my research question is:
How to make volunteering more rewarding by utilizing appreciative inquiry?
I want to offer a new viewpoint on positive approach and including organization members into development process can add the feeling of reward on volunteers. My aim is to conduct focus group interviews to see how volunteering is seen in my case organization, The Kuopio Steelers American football club. At first I will get to know the existing literature on appreciative inquiry and on volunteering, organizational development in volunteer organizations and the theory of motivating and rewarding volunteers. I want to make a contribution to the existing literature on appreciative inquiry since this matter has not been studied before.
The structure of my thesis will be as follows: first I will begin with the theoretical framework of my study consisting of the existing literature on volunteering, volunteer motivations and reward for volunteering as well as developing volunteer organizations. I will then introduce the methodology, methods for data collection and analysis. I will then discuss my findings and the key results with relevant theories. I will conclude this thesis by presenting the results, implications, limitations and suggestions for future research.
1.3 Kuopio Steelers
Kuopio Steelers is an American Football club located in Kuopio Finland. The Steelers organization is quite new as it was originally founded in 1991 in Varkaus from where the club moved to Kuopio in 2006. At the moment the club has 130 active members and about 150 volunteers in the Home Game Organizing Committee. The club consists of four different units: men´s team (~60 members), women´s team (~40 members), youth teams (three teams for different age groups, together approx. 30 members) and the Home Game Organizing Committee. The club does not have any paid employees and the board of directors consists of volunteers.
In the season 2017 the men´s team won Division 1 and therefore for the season 2018 the team rose to the highest league level in Finland, the Maple League. Men´s team is a semi- professional team and they have both domestic and imported players. Most domestic players pay seasonal fees for playing, where as the imported players are the only so called paid employees in the club. The club pays all the expenses for the imported players and on top of that they receive a small salary for playing. The club´s annual budget is approximately 150.000€, of which about 100.000€ is allocated to the men´s team.
Women´s team and the youth teams have only domestic players, who pay seasonal fees for playing. Aside from the seasonal fees, the club raises money by sponsorships. The success of men´s team has also brought a lot of audience to the home games, which has meant that the ticket sales and fan products have become a major source of income for the club.
I selected Kuopio Steelers as my case organization since I had previous connections to the club and I knew that the club´s membership count had risen significantly in the past few years. Especially the number of volunteers in the Home Game Organizing Committee had risen exponentially from previous years and the club was facing a new challenge on how to hold on to the volunteers instead of just finding new ones. The transition to the Maple League also meant that the club had to do significant financial investments which meant that the organization had to pay a lot of attention to organizational development as well. Therefore I felt that the club was in a good situation for the purpose of my research since I want to study how the organization can make volunteering more rewarding by utilizing appreciative inquiry.
Since the membership count has almost doubled in the past four years and the Home Game Organizing Committee has received about hundred new volunteers, it has meant that the club has had to divide its functions more. When four or five years ago for example the men and women´s teams were training together and the players knew each other, now there are so many players in both teams that it is not possible for them to train together. This separation has lead to the situation where the members of the club do not know each other and the club has had some challenges on finding a common ground
between the different teams. The men´s team, being semi-professional, has the most media coverage and therefore it gets the biggest sponsorship deals. This has even lead to the conversation in which the teams have discussed if the women´s team should separate from the club and start their own club. However, since American Football is such a marginal sport in Finland (according to the Finnish American Football Association there are about 3.000 licensed players in 2017) the teams came to the conclusion there is power in liaison and that the teams would be stronger if they operated under the same club. Now each team has their own representatives in the board of directors and the teams are responsible for their own finances and day-to-day operations, meaning that the teams are now individual units.
The volunteers in the Steelers organization are mostly current players and other staff members, such as the coaching staff. The organization has been lucky to maintain also some of the players who for some reason have already ended their careers as players. In the past few years the organization has managed to find volunteers with no previous experience in American Football. Some of these volunteers have found their way to volunteering through their kids who have started playing, and the organization has been able to create a productive environment where people have felt comfortable and wanted to invite their friend to be part of it.
2 VOLUNTEERING AND RENEWAL OF VOLUNTARY ORGANIZATIONS
Volunteering is an activity in which time is given to benefit another person, group or a cause (Wilson, 2000). The basic principle is that a person does it without getting paid for doing it. It is described as a non-professional work that a person does with the abilities he or she already has (Tulikallio & Malinen, 2009). The idea is that a person joins the organization for the common good (Chelladurai & Kerwin, 2017, 22). Volunteerism is considered to be proactive rather than reactive, meaning that it always entails some commitment of time and effort (Wilson, 2000; Chelladurai & Kerwin, 2017, 23). A person chooses reactively volunteer to help a car accident victim, but makes a proactive decision to volunteer for the local church. Volunteering is a leisure activity, and as such it should be a satisfying and enjoyable experience, or otherwise it will become something that a person wishes to avoid (Stebbins & Graham, 2004, 4).
A volunteer organization is an organization that is operated by volunteers, with no or only a few paid employees (Pruneanu & Petreanu, 2010, 39). Lucie Thibault, Trevor Slack and Bob Hinings did a research in 1991 on how professional staff impacts voluntary sport organizations. In their research they studied organizations that had hired professional staff from outside the organization. They found that the introduction of these people resulted in an increase in levels of specialization and standardization within the organizations. The increases occurred differentially across the organizational systems, but decision making was found to have the biggest impact. Decision making was found to become more centralized immediately after hiring professional (Thibault, Slack &
Hinings, 1991). Volunteer organizations also have to bear in mind that the people who volunteer are usually employed by other companies, have families and possibly other free time activities. Therefore the smaller the voluntary organization, the bigger the risk of overloading the existing volunteers (Stebbins & Graham, 2004, 11). This seems to be a big problem in many Finnish voluntary organizations (Willberg, 2015, 11). In Canada, a research was conducted to people who have dropped out of voluntary work have named
overloading (i.e. having too much work in the volunteer organization) as the biggest reason for dropping out Hall, 2001, 56).
Volunteering is based on people giving their own free time for the organization´s use (Pruneanu & Petreanu, 2010, 35; Wilson, 2000; Tulikallio & Malinen, 2009). This might cause problems for the organization in situations when a person needs to choose between volunteering and other functions. For example if a person has agreed to take part in a function held by the volunteer organization but then receives an invitation to relatives´
wedding, it is more likely that they will choose to participate in the wedding (Finkelstein, 2008, 17; Alfes, Shantz & Saksida, 2015).
Studies show that there is a relationship between volunteer motives and outcomes (time spent volunteering, length of service). Results suggest that the motives for volunteering should be determined when people start to volunteer in order to match the people with tasks that they find most rewarding (Alfes, Shantz & Saksida, 2015). If a person is not motivated, they might offer less time to the organization, but still remain as a volunteer for many years (Finkelstein, 2008, 18).
Volunteerism has an important role in societies and volunteer services can be found from the government levels (i.e. Freedom Corps) as well as from different organizations (such as charity and sports organizations). Volunteering culture comes from the idea of people cooperating and working hard, voluntarily to help those who needed help (State of the World´s Volunteerism Report, 2015). Volunteerism also has a huge economic impact.
For example in sports, in 2005 the total worth of the U.S. sport industry was about $190 billion. 20 percent of that revenue was created by volunteers, which means that slightly over $34 billion was created by voluntary work (Milano & Chelladurai, 2011).
2.1 Motivation and reward for volunteering
There are two types of motivational factors in volunteerism; inner motivation and outer motivation (Chelladurai, & Kerwin, 2017, 62; Kuuluvainen, 2015, 42). Inner motivation
comes from the person itself. It means the feeling that a person gets when he or she works for the greater good. The ability to help others is the reward itself. Outer motivation comes from the organization. The reward that a person gets could be as simple as thank you, different types of rewards and acknowledgements or gifts, trips and other recreational functions (Kuuluvainen, 2015, 46). Organizations should pay attention to the task that are given to people and make sure that everyone does something that they are interested in and can find motivation from the task itself (Tiililä 2016, 19-20).
Motivational factors for volunteerism have been studied a lot. The most common motivation for people has been the need to give back and to help others. Other factors are for example affiliation (to be with friends and get new friends), skill development (to get new skills or improve them) and to have fun. Most parents participate in volunteer work because their children play a sport and they want to be with their children. These are called miscellaneous motivations (Chelladurai, & Kerwin, 2017, 69, Clary, Snyder &
Stucas 1996). Men are more likely to become volunteers for sports clubs and be in voluntary positions such as youth team coaches and referees. Women on the other hand are said to do more voluntary work (Wicker, 2017).
Previous studies show that the motivation for volunteering varies from one volunteer activity to another (Stebbins & Graham, 2004, 69). According to Kenneth Perkins and John Benoit (2001) volunteer firefighters get their motivation from being able to participate in firefighting operations, command operations and fundraising. These are functions that the volunteers might not be able to do in their day-to-day jobs. On the other hand, the Ohio State University football fans are said to love their team, the university and their community and for those reasons they want to volunteer and to give back. The Ohio State football games have a four-year waiting list for people who want to volunteer in their games (Domke & Holmes, 2017). Volunteering is also a social event for many people. Studies show that volunteering has mental health benefits, especially to older people, since they are able to participate in group activities with other people (Musick &
Wilson, 2003).
Research shows that people find volunteering rewarding in itself and that people who volunteer are more satisfied with their life (Meier & Stutzer, 2007). When volunteers received a financial reward for volunteering, it significantly reduced the person´s motivation for volunteering and the effort that they put in (Frey & Goette, 1999).
A research conducted by Benjamin Gidron (1978) shows how volunteers perceive the extrinsic rewards of volunteering. Gidron categorizes extrinsic volunteer needs into five different categories; 1) learning and self-development 2) social interaction with other volunteers 3) symbols of social recognition 4) praises and 5) authority. Gidron found that the volunteers were not expecting extrinsic rewards and were in fact expecting the reward to be intrinsic (Gidron, 1978, 20-21). Gidron´s study also came to the conclusion that people volunteer to “meet personal needs that are not being met in other frameworks”
(Gidron, 1978, 21).
2.2 Organizational renewal of volunteer organizations
Leading volunteers has its special characteristics. In a normal working environment an organization has a very hierarchical structure and people are paid to do certain jobs. That is why the employer can tell what to do and the employees´ job is to execute it. In volunteer organizations and especially in the non-profit organizations the hierarchical structure is very level and people do not get paid (Chelladurai, Radzi & Daud, 2017).
They need to have different motivations for doing the job as discussed in the previous chapter (Watt, 2003; Nisbet & Wallace, 2007).
It is important to take into consideration the motivational factors and remember to compliment and give praise to those who volunteer. Good leader knows how to motivate and inspire by giving challenging tasks in which a person can succeed. McClelland and Atkinson (1953) have come up with a Motivational Theory in which they state that if the leader understands volunteers´ personalities and their interests, it will help the leader to position them in the organization so that they have the best chance of success. The Motivational Theory identifies three separate motivational needs; affiliation, achievement
and influence which will help the leader to get more insight to the volunteers as shown in the table 1.
Table 1. Motivational Theory (McClelland & Atkinson, 1953, 86)
The nature of volunteer organizations makes it difficult for the organizations to be strictly businesslike, since it´s whole operations are based on people giving up their own free time to support the operations. This does not mean that volunteer organizations use bad business practice, but it suggest that since people are giving up their own time, they are more emotionally invested in the decision making process which needs to be taken into consideration when making decisions (Catano, Pond & Kelloway, 2001; Watt, 2003, 48).
It is equally important to have a fundamental interest in the organizations field of business. According to Watt (2003, 48) “There are many examples of people trying to come in to the leisure scene, and telling others how to operate, while clearly not understanding where the volunteer organization is coming from in terms of interest and commitment.” It also needs to be taken into consideration that no two voluntary organizations are exactly the same and it is important to have an open approach without preconceived notions (Watt, 2003).
Since the management of volunteer organizations is often less businesslike, it is common for the organizations to be more oriented to problem solving rather than looking forward and innovating beforehand (van Aken & Berends, 2018, 46-48; Barret, 1995, 37). For this reason organizational development usually comes from the need to fix something that is currently not working (Mills, Fleck & Kozikowski, 2013). It is harmful for an organization focus only in problems, since focusing on negativity often leads into a situation where people are trying to find who to blame instead of focusing on how to solve the problem (Finegold, Holland, Lingham, 2002).
2.3 Appreciative inquiry
Appreciative inquiry (AI) method was first introduced by David Cooperrider and Diana Whitney in 1987. AI is a innovative method for organizational development and change management (Lehtimäki, Kujala & Thatchenkery, 2013; Cooperrider & Whitney, 2005, 6). Appreciation is about valuing things, rather than judging them and it aims to expand the strengths rather than eliminate the problems (Watkins, Mohr & Kelly, 2011, 8).
Inquiry in its simplicity is initiating a thinking process within individuals and groups by asking questions (Grape, 2003, 41). The aim of the method is to engage the members of the organization into positive conversation and to find the things that work for the organization and then try to enhance them even further (Lehtimäki, Kujala &
Thatchenkery, 2013; Reed, 2007; Watkins, Mohr & Kelly, 2011).
The previous models for organizational development have focused on finding the problems within the organization and on how to avoid those problems in the future.
Problem solving models often lead into negative organizational culture in which people are trying to find who to blame for the problems (Egan & Lancaster 2005). The fear of failure may lead into more reserved working environment and cause lack of innovations since the employees are focused on avoiding the mistakes. (Grape, 2003, 33-34). A company must pay attention on what to focus on, if it intends to be successful. If a company focuses solely on problem solving, there is a risk that they do not pay enough attention on developing their know-how and their core processes. This is why one of the
main ideas in appreciative inquiry is that organizations change in the direction in which they inquire. Organization that tries to find problems, will find problems, 5 but an organization that tries to find what is good and what works, will find more good things and can use these to build a better future (Cooperrider & Whitney, 2005, 9-10).
Scientists have been able to prove that creating a positive environment and acknowledging the strengths within the employees have had positive effects on both the employee´s and organizations outcomes (Lehtimäki & al. 2013). Positive atmosphere is connected to the employee´s willingness to be more open to new ideas which leads into more creative and innovative working environment (Grape, 2003, 57). Lehtimäki, Kujala and Thatchenkery (2013) also state that people within the organization create the organization with the way they operate and communicate with each other. With positive atmosphere the employees can learn from each other which creates even more opportunities for organizational development. With AI method the development ideas come from within the organization, instead of coming from outside. This way there is less resistance to change (Egan & Lancaster 2005, 35; van der Haar & Hosking 2004).
The previous models for organizational development have focused on what has happened in the past where as appreciative inquiry focuses on what is good now and how to improve those qualities even more in the future. Lehtimäki & al. (2013) have proven that focusing on the future helps to see challenging situations in a more positive manner.
Appreciative inquiry can be used for any kind of organization, state, community, group or a non-profit organization that desires to enhance its operations in a positive manner. It has been used a lot in healthcare sector and business leaders all over the world are starting to realize the potential of using a positive approach instead of just solving problems (van der Haar & Hosking 2004, 204). Appreciative inquiry can be applied in many different situations from changing the organizational culture, organizational renewal, corporate fusions and as a tool for strategic renewal (Lehtimäki & al. 2013).
Appreciative inquiry is a narrative-based method which starts by engaging all members of an organization in a set of in-depth interviews about the strengths, resources and capabilities that the organization has (Cooperrider & Whitney 2005, 15). People are asked to envision the best possible future for the organization and from there people are asked to craft propositions of how those dreams can be reached. The final stage involves the action plan to carry out the steps needed to reach the desired future goal. This process is called the 4-D cycle or the four steps of AI (Cooperrider & Whitney 2005, 15;
Watkins, Mohr & Kelly 2011, 41).
Figure 1. The 4-D model by Cooperrider & Whitney 2005, 16.
The 4-D circle can be informal such as a conversation with a friend or a colleague, or a formal process that involves all stakeholders in the organization (Watkins, Mohr & Kelly 2011, 99). The appreciative inquiry process doesn´t have a specific formula and every
Topic choice of
Discovecy Appreciating
"The best of what is"
Dream Envisioning
"What could be"
Design Constructing Co-
"What should be"
Destiny Sustaining
"What will be"
conversation is designed for the needed purpose. Mostly the conversations follow the 4-D model as shown in the figure 1 (Coopperrider & Whitney 2005, 15).
In the first step of the 4-D model, Discovery, the stakeholders are mobilized and engaged into conversation about the strengths and best practices. At this stage the key is to identify what is best in the current and previous actions. In the second step, Dream, the goal is to create a result-oriented vision and to discovered potential for future success.
The third step is Design in which the action plans to reach the desired dream is made. In the final step, Destiny, the idea is to strengthen the affirmative capability of the whole system, build hope and sustain momentum for the ongoing change and high performance (Cooperrider & Whitney 2005, 16).
The 4-D model starts with choosing the topic. The topics should be affirmative since the topics become the agenda for learning, knowledge sharing and action in the organization (Reed 2007, 56). The selected topics determine how the 4-D model should be used and how the questions for the interview should be formed. Holma, Lehtimäki and Thatchenkery (2017, 26) address the topics as life-giving forces (LGFs) or core values of the organization. The topics should be chosen so that the selection process involves a cross section of people from throughout the organization. The topics come from preliminary interviews into the organization at its best. These preliminary interviews should be held so that people can raise topics that will then be reframed into affirmative topics for the inquiry (Cooperrider & Whitney 2005, 17).
Appreciative inquiry has been criticized to focus only on sharing positive experiences.
This has been seen harmful since the members of the organization do not have a possibility to address the negative thoughts. Meaningful and important conversations might not happen if people are forced to suffocate their negative feelings (Bushe 2011, 87-88). There has been debate about whether or not it is possible to create positive images about the future if the challenges of the past and present have not been addressed (Egan & Lancaster 2005). Being solely positive might also diminish the transparency and openness of the processes since researchers have noticed that being overly positive all the time has turned into negativity and that people have found it to be tedious and forced (van der Haar & Hosking 2004).
One possible problem with AI method is that the focus group discussions focus a lot on finding a mutual understanding between the participants and everyone might not be able to raise their opinions in order to avoid conflicts. This is why conflicts and differences of opinion should not be consciously avoided but they should be addressed and considered as learning opportunities (van der Haar & Hosking 2004). Van der Haar & Hosking (2004) also emphasize that appreciative inquiry is not a monologue but differences of opinions should be addressed appreciatively.
Van der Haar & Hosking also state that it is important to remember that appreciative inquiry should not be considered only as a research method but as an ongoing process of changing the employee´s ways of thinking and the ways of doing things. Otherwise it might lead into seeing the problems in a new light but not actually help to solve them, in which case the change won´t be efficient and long lasting (van der Haar & Hosking 2004;
Bushe 2011; Egan & Lancaster 2005).
2.4 Communication
Communication plays an important role in creating the organizational culture in any organization (Rayudu, 2010, 4). In volunteer organizations communication has a vital role in creating the mutual understanding and the sense of cohesion among the volunteers (MacNeela, 2008). It is in the nature of volunteering that the reward for volunteering is not the salary one gets at the end of each month, but the feeling of belonging to a group, working for the common good and having fun with like-minded people (Clary, Snyder &
Stukas, 1996). Therefore how things are communicated within the organization has a huge impact on the volunteer motivation and people´s willingness to volunteer (Frey &
Goette, 1999). People exchange information through communication and it a way of creating social constructivism (Kukla, 2013, 23-24). In social constructivism the truth is created by the people within the organization and the way they conceive it (van der Haar
& Hosking, 2004). Appreciative communication creates an environment where people communicate often and freely and new ideas welcomed and wanted (van der Haar &
Hosking, 2004). The aim is to create a positive way of speaking throughout the whole
organization and by doing so focus on the strengths of the organization (Lehtimäki et al., 2013).
Communication is not just about how people talk to each other, part of communication is also the way we listen to each other and how we communicate non-verbally through our expressions and bodies (Rayudu, 2010; Miller, 2007). Speaking respectfully and non- offensively is equally important than making eye contact and not interrupting others.
Written communication, such as instructions, can have a vital role in distributing the information throughout the whole organization (Miller, 2007). It is not all the same how we communicate, since if the message is not understood the same way as the communicator wanted, the receiver is not likely to act as the communicator had originally wanted (Rayudu, 2010, 15-16).
Communication is important in day-to-day actions, but it becomes even more vital when used in a change management setting (Miller, 2007). A change is often seen as a scary and negative thing and if it is communicated poorly or there is a lack of information from the management side, people may easily feel resistant to change (Gilley, Gilley &
McMillan, 2009). It is important to communicate clearly and effectively so that the communication motivates people to act (Gilley et al. 2009, 80). When an organization has a culture of open communication and trust, people can give feedback freely which helps to implement the change (Chreim, 2002). It is important that the communication is two- way, meaning that the organization members can ask questions and raise concerns if they have any. This way communication can act as a motivational tool as well (Gilley et al.
2009; Chreim, 2002). When communicating change it is important that there is face-to- face communication and it is better to communicate “too much” rather than not communicating enough (Zorn, Page & Cheney, 2000).
These days organizations have many digital platforms to distribute knowledge and information and the bigger the organization is, usually the role of these platforms is higher since face-to-face communication is not always possible (Rayudu, 2010, 351).
Bigger companies have more formal channels for communicating were as volunteer organizations and other smaller organizations may use social media channels for communication purposes. Since the smaller organizations are usually driven to use the
less expensive communication sites, the sites are not designed for effective communication purposes and therefore there is a risk of losing information in the process (Aula & Jokinen, 2007). Especially when organization uses instant messages and different types of messengers to communicate, the communication can easily become fragmented and important information can get lost in the message flow (Aula & Jokinen, 2007). Therefore it is important that organizations do not rely solely on digital and online communication in their inner communication.
2.5 Theoretical framework in this study
Volunteering by its nature differs fundamentally from traditional business operations, since the organization members are not bound to the organization by employee employer relationship, where the time spent at work is compensated by salary. The time and emotional commitment the volunteers put in for the volunteer organization make the volunteering personal and meaningful for the volunteers (Clary, Snyder & Stukas, 1996).
Often also the leaders of a volunteer organization are volunteers themselves. These reasons often mean that volunteer organizations are run less professionally and therefore also the organizational development is usually more reacting to problems instead of focusing on actively innovating and planning for the future (Finkelstein, 2008; Alfes, Shantz & Saksida, 2015). This phenomenon can be seen especially in smaller volunteer organizations where the same small group of people is responsible for all the day-to-day operations as well as the management side. If an organization wants to succeed in today´s markets and ensure its prerequisite for operation by gaining sponsors and supporters, the organization has to stand out from its competitors (Alfes et al., 2015; Stebbins &
Graham, 2004). For this reason the organizational development should not be just reacting to problems since problem solving is always fundamentally negative approach and can easily lead into creating tension between the operative people and finding who to blame for the problems. To avoid that type of situation, it would be better to focus on developing the organization through positive qualities. Appreciative inquiry creates a good basis for this approach.
Based on the previous studies the organizational renewal of volunteer organizations should be examined through a new perspective, so that the organizations would not only focus on solving problems, but look actively to the future and find change through positive matters. Since volunteering leans heavily on the idea that the volunteers need to enjoy what they are doing to get the satisfaction, without which they might stop volunteering all together, it is extremely important that the organizational development does not create negative feelings and that the possible negative feelings that the volunteers have are addressed properly and in a right way (Stebbins & Graham, 2004).
In a positive approach all the members of the organization can get their voice heard, which in turn consolidates person’s commitment to the organization and to its goals.
For this reason the theoretical framework of my study will be limited to volunteer organization development with the means of appreciative inquiry, so that the organization could offer such operational environment that volunteering would be rewarding for all the organization members. This way the organization will be able to ensure their future success by making sure that the volunteers are excited about their tasks and want to give out their time for the organization.
Figure 2. The theoretical framework of my study.
Appreciative Inquiry
Organizational Development
Communication
Increasing the feeling of
reward
Communication is important for all organizations, but it plays a vital role especially in a volunteer organization where it is important that the volunteers share a common vision on where the organization is going and work together to get there. This idea is based on social constructivism in which the truth is created by the people within the organization and the way they conceive it (van der Haar & Hosking, 2004). Since there are no employee-employer relationships, communication plays a huge role on personal relationships between the volunteers and if the communication does not work it has a direct impact on how the volunteers perceive the volunteering experience (Wilson, 2000;
Watt, 2003). For them to continue volunteering it has to be fun for them and for that reason the communication has to work between the volunteers. Therefore I wanted to include communication as a part of my theoretical background since my aim is to study how volunteering can be made more rewarding.
3 METHODOLOGY
I chose to use qualitative method for my research since I felt that I would get more in- depth information by conducting interviews rather that doing a quantitative questionnaire.
I chose to utilize focus group interviews as my research method since focus group interviews support the appreciative approach and therefore are most likely to give me new insight on my topic.
3.1 Focus group interviews
Jan Reed (2007) explains that the key feature of appreciative inquiry is that it involves participation from a range of people throughout the organization. The people are asked to explore the environment around them. The AI research is not something that the researchers do in isolation; it requires the help and perspectives of others (Reed 2007, 91;
Cooperridder & Whitney 2005).
Cooperrider, Stavros and Whitney (2008) state that it is best to do as many interviews as possible since it is best to involve all relevant and affected parties in any change effort.
AI method also makes it easy to engage everyone within the change process (Cooperrider, Stavros & Whitney 2008, 111; Grape 2003, 67). Appreciative inquiry interviews can be done by interviewing each individual separately or by using focus group interviews. Participant observation is also used to gather the data (Cooperrider, Stavros & Whitney 2008, 111).
The idea behind AI approach is that the researcher encourages the members of the organization to discuss the best policies that the company has and to find the potential to enhance them even further (Behera, Thatchenkery &Kenney 2008). Focus groups are widely used in qualitative research studies (Walle 2015, 59). The idea of focus groups is to allow participants to share knowledge and personal experiences in order to create new insights about the topic (Reid & Reid 2005). For this reason focus group interviews are a suitable method for appreciative inquiry research.
Conducting a group research rather than an individual setting allows observations of how and why individuals accept or reject others´ ideas. When interaction between a group is stimulated, the group will be able to provide more information than individual interviews would provide (Steward & Shamdasani 2014, 5). Eriksson & Kovalainen (2016, 175) state that the focus group interviews most commonly have two to ten participants. Walle (2015) on the other hand suggests that eight to twelve participants would be ideal group size. The group should be small enough so that synergy can be found within the group but large enough to provide variable insights (Walle 2015, 67).
My role in the interviews, aside from being the researcher, was to be the facilitator for the conversation. As a facilitator I tried to activate the groups to talk to each other from the given topics. I emphasized the informality of the conversations so that I was able to encourage all the participants to speak freely. I also tried to make sure that all the participants got to raise their opinion. I decided to create somewhat homogenous groups so that all the participants would feel comfortable to speak freely. If the members of the group are not comfortable and open to conversation, it can jeopardize the outcomes of the research since I will not be able to gather enough adequate data (Eriksson & Kovalainen, 2016). However, I felt that the group dynamics worked well and that I was able to gather enough good quality data.
3.2 Data collection
Successful data collection starts with identifying who the key stakeholders are in the organization. Typically they are people who have interest in and a strong impact on the organization´s future and growth possibilities. These are the people who have valuable insights into the selected topic (Cooperrider, Stavros & Whitney 2008, 206).
Individual and intrapersonal differences include demographic, physical and personality characteristics. Each individual´s unique combination of intrapersonal characters disposes the person to certain behavioral modes in group situations. This affects how the other group members react to the person (Kitzinger 1994; Steward & Shamdasani 2014, 18).
These individual characteristics should be taken into consideration when formulating the groups so that the participation could be maximized (Steward & Shamdasani 2014, 19).
I had two objectives when formulating the groups: I wanted to see if the opinions are different between people who have been actively volunteering for multiple years compared to those who have been volunteering in the organization for a shorter period of time. For this reason the groups were divided so that in group one I had people who had been actively volunteering for at least eight years and in group two were the members who had been active for less than three years. I also wanted my results to represent the whole club instead of just one team, and therefore I chose the group members so that they represented all the four different “teams” of the club (men´s, women´s, youth and Home Game Organizing Committee). I felt that this way my groups would be heterogeneous so that the members would raise different opinions, but at the same time the groups would be homogenous enough so that a synergy could be found (Gordon, 2008). The selected people were chosen in co-operation with the club president.
Before the actual group interviews I gathered all the group members into one Facebook- conversation (one for each group) and explained to them the purpose and target of my study as well as the research method. I had asked the club president to contact them and to ask if they would be willing to participate in the group discussions. All the people who we had originally thought for the conversation were willing to take part in the study. I chose to contact them via Facebook, since the club uses Facebook for their communication, so it was the easiest and most effective way to contact them all. I gave both groups the same set of questions so that they could prepare for the conversation beforehand. I wanted each group interview to last approximately two hours so I felt that six questions would be sufficient enough. I also wanted to leave room for the participants to ask questions and expand the topic, which is the basic idea behind focus group interviews (Eriksson & Kovalainen, 2016). The questions given before hand and used in both interviews were:
1) Introduce yourself (name and role in the Steelers organization). What would you consider is the best perk working as a volunteer for the Steelers?
2) What things do you consider to work well in the Steelers volunteer organization?
What are the occasions these things occur/appear in?
3) When have you personally felt like you have succeeded in volunteering?
4) In your opinion, what attributes increase the convenience of volunteer work?
5) Can you give an example of a situation in which you have felt appreciated for your work?
6) What would be the ideal situation in volunteerism in the next five years? How can you influence the situation?
The interview dates were decided together with both groups. Both groups consisted of 12 people since I anticipated that some people would have to be absent. I anticipated that I would have eight to ten interviewees per interview after the possible cancellations. In a working environment coming up with a common time that would fit all is much easier since it is part of their job to attend, whereas volunteers could be working or otherwise unable to attend. We set the dates for both interviews three weeks beforehand and I sent a reminder to all the interviewees five days in advance.
In the first focus group, with the volunteers with less than three years experience, only three people had said that they would not be able to attend. However during ten minutes before the scheduled interview, I received messages from people saying that they had forgotten or were otherwise unable to attend. I ended up having only two people present in the interview. With the second group, the volunteers with at least eight years of experience, I had four cancellations beforehand and two in the day of the interviews, so that the second group had six participants.
The downside of volunteering is that participation is always voluntary and if people are not committed enough they might not turn up at all (Gordon, 2008). In the Steelers organization this same kind of late dropping-out can be seen in the Game Day Organizing Committee, when people have said that they can attend, but in the game day morning
they announce that they are unable to come. The aim of my study is to find solutions on how to make volunteering more rewarding for everyone so that volunteering would be so much fun for everyone that this kind of dropping-out phenomenon could be avoided in the future.
I was previously acquainted with most of the interviewees so it was easy for me to form a relaxed environment with the interviewees. With the help of coffee, I let all the interviewees have an informal conversation before we started the actual interviews. At the beginning I wanted to take a bit more formal tone and I took time to explain what the aim of my study is and also opened up the concept of appreciative inquiry a bit more. I also explained that their answers and identities would be kept anonymous. At the end I reminded them that the conversation is meant to be relaxed. I encouraged them to reflect their answers and ask questions from each other if needed.
Both interviews went as I had planned them. The interviewees were active and my role was more to manage the time and make sure that the participants do not get stuck on one topic for too long. In some occasions the conversation drifted into negative things, but the participants were able to turn the negatives back into positives. In few occasions I had to direct the conversation into more positive things, usually by asking how they could change the situation in which case the participants started to think about possible solutions instead of the problems. I felt that all in all both conversations were really positive in their tone. There were no quiet moments, but everyone allowed each other to speak freely. People were genuinely interested in each other´s opinions and respected the answers. They supported each other´s views by nodding and always looked at the person who was currently speaking. You could tell that they were listening to each other since in most cases the next speaker started where the previous had left off. The participants were not disturbed by the recorder, as I had told them that it is only for my research purposes.
The first interview, with the more recent volunteers lasted 2 hours, 3 minutes and 56 seconds. The second interview with the people, who had been volunteering for over eight years, lasted 1 hour, 58 minutes and 32 seconds. Both interviews were held at the end of January 2018, in the following days. Since my aim was to get the whole club´s take on this matter, I felt like I did not get enough information on the topic with these focus
groups, since the participants were unable to attend. Therefore I decided to conduct individual interviews to some of the participants who were supposed to take part in the focus group interviews. I did seven individual interviews by phone, each lasting from 39 minutes, 37 seconds to 1 hour and 16 minutes and 11 seconds. I ended up having 8 interviews with people who has more than eight years of experience and 7 interviews with people who had less than three years of experience. There interviews were conducted during the first two weeks of February 2018. I used the same set of questions with the individual interviews as I did in the focus group interviews. In the individual interviews I had to ask more questions to define the answers, but the same set of questions gave a good structure to the conversations. The answers I got from the individual interviews were in line with the answers I got from the focus groups and therefore I chose to analyze them the same way.
3.3 Analysis of the data
I chose to analyze the data by utilizing content analysis because the aim of my study is to increase the awareness of how appreciative inquiry supports appreciative renewal of volunteer organizations thus increasing the feeling of reward for volunteers. Content analysis supports this goal since it is mainly used in qualitative research whenever someone wants to increase awareness and create meanings to different phenomenon (Cavanagh, 1997; Elo & Kyngäs, 2007). The content analysis aims to organize the research material so that it is more concise, so that even fragmented information can be gathered into more understandable form (Elo & Kyngäs, 2007).
Organizational renewal of volunteer organizations has not been researched with appreciative inquiry method before and because inductive content analysis is meant for analyzing information that has not been researched before or the gathered information is shattered (Lauri & Kyngäs, 2005), I felt that inductive content analysis would be the most suitable analysis method. Inductive content analysis goes from individual observations to forming a common knowledge (Cavanagh, 1997). This is the aim of my study, so I felt that inductive content analysis was the best method for my analysis.
The first step of my content analysis was to transcribe all the interviews. I approached the data with a comparative, vertical reading strategy where I examined all the interview transcriptions one at a time, from beginning to end. This allowed me to study the data from different interviews as separate entities and discover the similarities and differences in perceptions between the groups (Wollaeger & Eatough 2013, 517). After reading the transcriptions multiple times I started extracting raw codes and keywords from the data source. I made notes and underlined the key parts from the transcripts. I used raw codes that I then categorized under following categories: for the more experienced volunteers
“best in volunteering”, “work load distribution”, “how to talk to people”, “internal communication”, “reward from within” and “good environment for everyone”. And for the less experienced interviewees “best in volunteering”, “better collaboration”, “clear instructions”, “acquaintances”, “thanking” and “how to talk to people”. I used this preliminary categorization to make sense of my research data before proceeding to the actual coding and categorization.
Next I proceeded to the actual coding. I chose to use key words and phrases as my coding units and developed a coding scheme based on my data and the previous theory on the matter (Eriksson & Kovalainen, 2016). I made an excel sheet of my main categories and ones again read through my theory and interview transcripts to test that I would be able to gather the codes under these main categories (Elo & Kyngäs, 2007). I then started organizing my keywords and phrases under sub-categories that I felt could be placed under the main categories (Eriksson & Kovalainen, 2016, 188). I revised my coding and categories multiple times to make sure that I had placed the correct codes under correct categories. I felt that reading through the theory and the interview transcripts multiple times helped me to formulate a clear picture of my data and thus helped me to create the final categories. Table 2 illustrates my sub-categories and main categories that I created through my content analysis. In the final phase of my analysis I created a general description of my research topic by combining and organizing the categories into larger themes prevailing throughout the data (Eriksson & Kovalainen, 2016, 188; Elo &
Kyngäs, 2007).
SUB-CATEGORY MAIN CATEGORY People
Friendships
Sense of community
Strengths
Way of speaking Internal communication Better collaboration
Communication
Internal Thanking
Feeling of success Good environment
Rewards
Face-to-face Clear instructions Thanking
More volunteers
Future
Table 2. Analysis of the data: sub-categories and main categories.
Like Eriksson and Kovalainen (2016, 290) suggest, I evaluated my analysis methods to add validity to it. I made sure that I had not allowed my own assumptions or opinions to influence the answers of the participants or the results. I also made sure that my whole analysis process had been documented (Elo & Kyngäs, 2008). After making sure I had followed proper research conduct with my analysis, I then proceeded into reporting my results.
4 RESULTS OF THE EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS
In this chapter I will focus on drawing together the results of my study. At first I will discuss the results from the group one, the volunteers with at least eight years of experience and follow with the results from group two, the volunteers with less than three years of experience. I will end this chapter with a summary of my results.
4.1 Interviews with experienced volunteers
The theoretical framework of my study is built around appreciative inquiry and I also utilized it partly as a methodology. It aims to bring out the best in people and organizations and it is described to be a “possibility centric” approach. So instead of focusing on problem solving, appreciative approach aims to find the potential within the organization and people and expand that potential in a positive manner (Reed 2007). The aim is to engage people into a positive and innovative conversation, so that a common view can be formed on what is good and working in the organization, what kind of potential those aspects have and then make an operational plan on how to reach those desired dreams (Cooperrider & Whitney, 2005; Bushe, 2011). I focus on analyzing the strengths and possibilities of the Steelers organization in the empirical part of my study. I also asked the interviewees to suggest their thoughts on what kind of concrete improvements the club members could do in the future and I will have those suggestions as part of my results.
In my theory chapter I introduced the 4D -model of appreciative inquiry. All my interviews focused on the first three D´s; finding the strengths and best practices in the Discovery phase, discovering the future potential in Dream phase and thinking about ways to reach the desired dream in the Design phase. I intentionally left out the fourth D, the Destiny phase, where the idea is to come up with an execution plan. The board of directors is in charge of implementing this phase based on my research results.
4.1.1 People are the strength
I started the conversations with the more experienced volunteers by asking them to think what is best in volunteering for the Steelers. This was a warm-up question intended to set a positive tone to the conversation. I asked them all to reflect the answers from their own personal perspective. Even though the volunteers all have different tasks in the organization, they all had the same answers as to what is best:
“Best part is definitely the people who I get to be with. These people are my best friends.”
“For me this has been like being a part of a religious sect. The people are so invested in what they do and the atmosphere is addicting. We all work hard for the common cause.”
“Steelers as an organization is insignificant to me. I do this because of the people.”
“This gives me an excuse to get out of the house.”
“I am very competitive person. I love what I do because I can be successful in it.”
All the interviewees where easily able to come up with multiple good qualities and strengths in their own work and in the organization. The aim of appreciative inquiry is to find the moments when the organization and the people have been at their best (Cooperrider et al., 2008). The same vision about people being the best part of the organization was shared in the focus group interview as well as in the individual interviews. Based on the answers it was easy for the interviewees to see the Steelers organization in a positive light and to see what the strengths are that can be used to build an even better working environment for all the volunteers. Most people answered that the best part is that they get to be with their friends and that they have been able to make new friendships through volunteering. They also said that volunteering has enabled them to meet people from different backgrounds that they feel that they would not have been able to meet anywhere else. Many of the experienced volunteers had previously been players and now it was important to them to give back to the sport that had given so much to
