“It is hard to say ‘no’ to someone who wants to help”: An exemplary model of corporate volunteer management and its challenges

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoyan Liang ◽  
Upamali Amarakoon ◽  
Susan Bird ◽  
David Pearson
Keyword(s):  
Volunteer Management ◽  
Exemplary Model

Volunteer Management Reference for Local VCE Master Gardener Coordinators

HortScience ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 503a-503
Author(s):  
Sheri T. Dorn ◽  
Paula Diane Relf
Keyword(s):  
Educational Program ◽  
Program Planning ◽  
Community Leaders ◽  
Volunteer Management ◽  
Educational Programming ◽  
Job Descriptions ◽  
Master Gardener ◽  
Volunteer Program ◽  
Reference Guide

Virginia Cooperative Extension's (VCE) Master Gardener volunteer program is available in 72 unit offices. The unit programs are managed by MG coordinators who currently include 10 locally funded agents, eight locally funded technicians, and 28 volunteers. The VCE Master Gardener Coordinator Manual, a 12-unit resource book, was developed cooperatively with teams of MGs, coordinators, and agents to enhance coordinators' skills for managing the local VCE MG program. The manual includes chapters on VCE MG components such as risk management; job descriptions; recruitment and screening; and volunteer review, recognition, and retention. Additional resources within the manual include a synopsis of educational program planning, implementation, and evaluation, as well as a copy of the current VCE Master Gardener Program Policies and the volunteer section of the Virginia Master Gardener Handbook, which serves as program orientation for new or prospective trainees. The VCE Master Gardener Coordinator Manual is the basis of three local MG coordinator training sessions in 1998. Additional resources available to coordinators for enhancing the local MG program include a MG newsletter focused on the role of Master Gardeners as community leaders and educators; program policies and guidelines for the management of MG training and operation; VCE publication 426-699 Welcome to Virginia Master Gardenering! Guide to Educational Programming and Resource and Reference Guide; and the VCE Master Gardener Internet website at http://www.ext.vt.edu/vce/specialty/envirohort/mastergard/master.html.

Dynamic resource allocation and coordination for high-load crisis volunteer management

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 533-556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Garcia ◽  
Ghaith Rabadi ◽  
Femida Handy
Keyword(s):  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Renewable Resources ◽  
High Load ◽  
Mixed Integer ◽  
Volunteer Management ◽  
Large Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Dynamic Resource ◽  
Crisis Scenarios ◽  
Commercial Solver

Purpose Every year volunteers play a crucial role in disaster responses around the world. Volunteer management is known to be more complex than managing a paid workforce, and this is only made worse by the uncertainty of rapidly changing conditions of crisis scenarios. The purpose of this paper is to address the critical problem of assigning tasks to volunteers and other renewable and non-renewable resources simultaneously, particularly under high-load conditions. These conditions are described by a significant mismatch between available volunteer resources and demands or by frequent changes in requirements. Design/methodology/approach Through a combination of literature reviews and interviews with managers from several major volunteer organizations, six key characteristics of crisis volunteer resource allocation problems are identified. These characteristics are then used to develop a general mixed integer programming framework for modeling these problems. Rather than relying on probabilistic resource or demand characterizations, this framework addresses the constantly changing conditions inherent to this class of problems through a dynamic resource reallocation-based approach that minimizes the undesirable impacts of changes while meeting the desired and changing objectives. The viability of this approach for solving problems of realistic size and scale is demonstrated through a large set of computational experiments. Findings Using a common commercial solver, optimal solutions to the allocation and reallocation problems were consistently obtained in short timespans for a wide variety of problems that have realistic sizes and characteristics. Originality/value The proposed approach has not been previously addressed in the literature and represents a computationally tractable method to allocate volunteer, renewable and non-renewable resources to tasks in highly volatile crisis scenarios without requiring probabilistic resource or demand characterizations.

scholarly journals Modular Model Composition for Rapid Implementations of Embedded Economic Model Predictive Control in Microgrids

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (22) ◽  
pp. 10602
Author(s):  
Tobias Kull ◽  
Bernd Zeilmann ◽  
Gerhard Fischerauer
Keyword(s):  
Model Predictive Control ◽  
Predictive Control ◽  
Economic Model ◽  
Dynamic Pricing ◽  
Embedded Devices ◽  
Economic Model Predictive Control ◽  
Modular Model ◽  
Easy Integration ◽  
Modelling Effort ◽  
Exemplary Model

Economic model predictive control in microgrids combined with dynamic pricing of grid electricity is a promising technique to make the power system more flexible. However, to date, each individual microgrid requires major efforts for the mathematical modelling, the implementation on embedded devices, and the qualification of the control. In this work, a field-suitable generalised linear microgrid model is presented. This scalable model is instantiated on field-typical hardware and in a modular way, so that a class of various microgrids can be easily controlled. This significantly reduces the modelling effort during commissioning, decreases the necessary qualification of commissioning staff, and allows for the easy integration of additional microgrid devices during operation. An exemplary model, derived from an existing production facility microgrid, is instantiated, and the characteristics of the results are analysed.

scholarly journals Mediating Influences: Problematising facilitated digital self-representation

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonja Vivienne
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Digital Storytelling ◽  
Cultural Citizenship ◽  
Authentic Self ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Exemplary Model

While Digital Storytelling has been lauded as an exemplary model of participatory cultural citizenship (particularly in initiatives for and with marginalised people), many mediating influences make ‘authentic’ self-representation far from straightforward. In this article, I consider some of these mediating influences, from both theoretical and practical perspectives, and underline their regulatory and constitutive nature. While some of these mediating influences are timeworn and pre-date digital technology, others are perpetuated and ampli- fied, as is the case in networked personal storytelling disseminated online. I draw on some well-established strategies derived from anthropology and narrative practices to propose a new purpose for old tools. These tools support the nuanced and sensitive facilitation of both face-to-face and online Digital Storytelling workshops as well as the curation of web spaces in which they eventually circulate. I argue that making complex mediating influences visible to participants affords redress of the inherent social and technical privileges of institutions, facilitators and platforms. Finally, I consider the implications of these strategies for voice, marginalised identity, cultural citizenship and social change.

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