Sweet charity!Managing employee commitment in the UK voluntary sector
| Published date | 01 June 2001 |
| Pages | 226-240 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01425450110392616 |
| Date | 01 June 2001 |
| Author | Ian Cunningham |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Employee
Relations
23,3
226
Employee Relations,
Vol. 23 No. 3, 2001, pp. 226-239.
#MCB University Press, 0142-5455
Received October 2000
Revised October 2000
Accepted November
2000
Sweet charity! Managing
employee commitment in the
UK voluntary sector
Ian Cunningham
University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
Keywords Voluntary organizations, Commitment, Employee relations, United Kingdom
Abstract Presents results from an exploratory study of 143 voluntary organisations. Aims to
evaluate management employee relations policies in the voluntary sector in the era of contracting.
Reveals evidence of employee relations policies being influenced by the funding priorities of the
state. Provides evidence to suggest that these policies may be leading to discontent among the
workforce. Concludes with a discussion regarding the implications such policies may have on
employee commitment in the sector, and suggests several possible avenues for continued research.
Introduction
Despite estimates of the level of paid employment standing at approximately half
a million employees, or 2.2 per cent of the workforce (Hems and Passey, 1998:
Passey et al. 2000) little is known about people management in the UK voluntary
sector. This lack of knowledge is surprising given recent changes to the sector's
operating environment. Specifically, since the early 1980s, changes in government
policy in the sphere of welfare have fundamentally altered the environment in
which voluntary organisations operate. In particular, the advent of the ``mixed
economy of care'' and more recently ``best value'' have led to contracting out of
welfare services to voluntary organisations so that management and employees in
the sector face far more rigorous scrutiny of their activities. Despite these changes,
there is currently little understanding of their possible consequences for either
management's employee relations policies, or levels of commitment and consent
among staff to the values and mission of voluntary organisations. This gap in our
knowledge is disturbing given that voluntary sector staff are now charged with
the care of some of the most vulnerable in our society, and that the effectiveness of
that provision is reportedly linked to the continuation of high levels of
commitment among staff (Paton and Cornforth, 1992).
It is the purpose of this paper to begin to provide an insight into these issues.
This is to be done in four stages. The first provides an outline of some of the
assumptions in the voluntary sector literature regarding the nature of employee
commitment in voluntary organisations. The second then reviews the changes to
the operating environment of the sector, in particular, this focuses on the rationale
behind changes to state welfare polices that have impacted on the financial
environment of voluntary organisations. This is then followed by a summary of
The research register for this journal is available at
http://www.mcbup.com/research_registers
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
http://www.emerald-library.com/ft
The author would like to thank the NCVO and the Personnel Forum for the Voluntary Sector for
their assistance with this project. He would also like to thank Paul Thompson for his useful
comments on an earlier draft of this paper.
To continue reading
Request your trial