Event management becomes increasingly popular in the world, presenting a full range of services for creating corporate and mass events. Depending on the goals and nature, the following types of events can be distinguished: competitions, seminars, fund-raisers, ceremonies, celebrations, sports events and musical performances. The approach to event management proposed in the works of Getz and Page (2016) and Jones (2017), who adjust the principles of project management.
The event management implies the planning, direction, and control, being considered as a project with a high level of complexity, time, personnel and financial constraints, as well as the uniqueness of the task with the given parameters (Kim & Cuskelly 2017). Human resources (HR) is an integral part of event management as it involves a lot of employees, mainly volunteers as the temporary workers during such events as the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, CATF-China International Agricultural Trade Fair and China International Hardware Show.
At mega-sports events, volunteers take part not only in the organisation but also create a favourable positive atmosphere for the event, gaining experience in organisational and communication activities. Kim and Cuskelly (2017) assume that the key purpose of the volunteers is to accompany the athletes, referees and guests of the championship, assist them in hotels, the airport and arena. In addition, the important tasks facing the volunteers are to help IT specialists, medical workers and support the work of the call centre. The main motives for volunteering during events are the satisfaction of their social and spiritual needs.
Elaborating on the motivational framework by Bang and Chelladurai, Wang and Wu (2014) consider that the expression of values is complemented by patriotism, personal growth, career orientation, interpersonal contacts and extrinsic rewards. Taking into account that Shanghai is the place for worldwide events, many volunteers are also attracted by the opportunity to become a part of it rather than merely helping people.
Among the key problems faced by event management HR, there is a high level of turnover, which is largely caused by the temporary nature of work and a great number of people involved. According to Phi, Dredge and Whitford (2014), the situation is completed by the problem identification difficulty due to a variety of actors that participate in event management. Based on Q methodology, it is suggested that the following categories have varying interests: the Skeptics, the Middlegrounders, the Materialists and the Supporters (Phi, Dredge & Whitford 2014). A lack of awareness creates additional issues in determining conflicts between event contributors, making HR to seek for solutions in a multiple-actor policy setting.
The current evidence shows that significant attempts are made in the field of managing sports events, focusing on volunteer perspective. Yu, Xue and Newman (2018) regard a strategy of the value shop as the most appropriate one to be used as dominant value creation logic. In other words, uncertainty management needs to be integrated into the operation of HR in organising events. As the study by Ellert et al. (2015) demonstrates, in preparing the work of volunteers at mega-events, it is necessary to select volunteers of several categories, clearly defining for them the required skills and area of ââresponsibility.
In their turn, Rogalsky, Doherty and Paradis (2016) argue that perceived effective supervision is beneficial to understand a volunteerâs role performance and future participation in the events. Thus, training and promotion of volunteers seem to be a feasible and reliable way to enhance HR in terms of event management.
Reference List
Ellert, G, Schafmeister, G, Wawrzinek, D & Gassner, H 2015, ââExpect the unexpectedâ: new perspectives on uncertainty management and value logics in event managementâ, International Journal of Event and Festival Management, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 54-72.
Getz, D & Page, S 2016, âEvent studies: theory, research and policy for planned events, 3rd edn, Routledge, New York, NY.
Jones, ML 2017, Sustainable event management: a practical guide, 3rd edn, Routledge, New York, NY.
Kim, E & Cuskelly, G 2017, âA systematic quantitative review of volunteer management in eventsâ, Event Management, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 83-100.
Phi, G, Dredge, D & Whitford, M 2014, âUnderstanding conflicting perspectives in event planning and management using Q methodâ, Tourism Management, vol. 40, pp. 406-415.
Rogalsky, K, Doherty, A & Paradis, KF 2016, âUnderstanding the sport event volunteer experience: an investigation of role ambiguity and its correlatesâ, Journal of Sport Management, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 453-469.
Wang, C & Wu, X 2014, âVolunteersâ motivation, satisfaction, and management in large-scale events: an empirical test from the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 754-771.
Yu, L, Xue, H & Newman, JI. 2018, âSporting Shanghai: haipai cosmopolitanism, glocal cityness, and urban policy as mega-eventâ, Sociology of Sport Journal, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 301-313.