Real-Life Decision Making
You're the volunteer coordinator for a hospital that specializes in treating children. Volunteers help out in all sorts of ways: running errands, reading to the children and raising money, for instance.
Lately, the number of people wanting to volunteer has dropped. That's probably due to some bad publicity received by the hospital over one child's death. Although you've been creative in your recruitment strategy, you still fear that you may have to lower your standards to fill the positions you have open.
Volunteer coordinators must make important decisions on a daily basis. These often involve ethical dilemmas.
"Part of it is priorities and juggling demands from a lot of different people," says Katie Campbell. She is the executive director of the Association for Volunteer Administration. It created the first set of ethical guidelines for volunteer coordinators in 1983.
Take, for instance, the unwilling volunteer. "In the U.S.," says Campbell, "it started with the courts ordering people to perform community service."
More recently, so-called "workfare" programs in the U.S. and Canada have required that recipients of social assistance volunteer in the community or risk the loss of their benefits. Some organizations have refused to accept such placements on the grounds that it runs counter to their mandate or may increase tensions in the office.
"All of this means you have people coming in the door who may not really want to be there," says Campbell. "It definitely has an impact on the staff....It's made [the job] a lot more complicated."
Due to the sensitive nature of the cases you deal with, you only accept volunteers who have no criminal record and who demonstrate a genuine commitment to helping children in need.
"The most common dilemma is whether you accept a volunteer or not for placement," says Campbell. "You go through a screening process, of course, but if your gut feeling still tells you something's not right, you have to decide whether to follow it or not."
The wrong decision can cost an organization dearly. Some agencies in the U.S. have even been sued over the actions of their volunteers.
Today, you're interviewing a recently widowed woman in her late 60s who would like to help out as an escort for children who must travel from one wing of the hospital to another. When you spoke with her briefly over the phone, she told you that she once worked as a teacher and loves children.
A pleasant, smartly dressed woman, she arrives at your office right on time and greets you with a warm smile. You begin by asking her where she found out about the volunteer opportunity. She explains that her friend, a former volunteer at the hospital, encouraged her to apply after her husband died. Her husband was a very wealthy businessman, she says, so she has no financial concerns to think about.
The mention of her friend's name gives you pause. You remember the way she spoke to parents, particularly those with low incomes. Behind their backs, she often condemned them for not looking after their children properly.
To find out more about the attitudes of this potential volunteer, you inform her that the hospital looks after children from diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds and ask her how she feels about dealing with varied groups of people.
Completely comfortable, she assures you, especially with children. No matter what background they come from, she says, they all need the security and structure.
"I feel sorry for children nowadays," she continues, shaking her head. "So many are born to these single mothers who don't know the first thing about raising them."
From that point on, the interview runs smoothly, although you notice the woman does like to drop names and has a tendency to portray herself as a leading light in the community. Thanking her for her interest, you tell her that you will let her know about the position. But you're not sure whether you'll be taking on more than you can handle with her as a volunteer.
What do you do?