Peter Drucker and HKBTS Volunteer Team

　　Peter F. Drucker (1909-2005) was a well-known name in the management field. With his particularly innovative insights on the management of non-profit organizations, he was widely held in high esteem in various sectors. The fact that the Hong Kong Baptist Theological Seminary (HKBTS) is able to progress steadily under God’s gracious guidance is not only due to the great efforts of its teachers and staff but also a team of volunteers behind the scenes, whose contribution cannot be left unrecognized. In this regard, we find Drucker’s views on the management of non-profit organizations are a good reference for us. These views are also inspiring to HKBTS in the development of its volunteer team.

Third Sector Organizations

　　As pointed out by Drucker, previous discussions on organizational management generally covered organizations of only two sectors, namely business and government. Businesses supply products and services (i.e. the secondary or tertiary industry) whereas government furnishes the controls; the former is about business management while the latter is about public administration. Actually, there is a third sector, which tends to be overlooked. The organizations in this sector includes neither the regulatory bodies of the government, nor organizations operated for profit. Previously known as “non-profit organizations” (NPOs), such organizations are mostly referred to as “non-governmental organizations” (NGOs) in contemporary times. At the time when Drucker pointed this out, there were a lot of such organizations existing in the U.S., many of which relied on volunteers for their operation and propulsion. Seeing this, Drucker asked, “Why is it so? What’s their significance?” Hence he started studying this sector.

　　A Christian himself, Drucker included records of his interviews with a number of Christian organizations in his book Managing the Non-profit Organization: Principles and Practices. In addition, he also regards institutions such as hospitals, universities and churches as “non-profit organizations.” It had been widely held that “management” referred to “business management” only and that non-profit organizations and volunteers required no management. Drucker did not agree to this idea. He devoted his efforts to the study on non-profit organizations, pointing out that even non-profit organizations or volunteers needed management, only that it is conducted in a different manner, which might even be worth learning for the business sector.

Mission and Community

　　Speaking of running non-profit organizations, Drucker pointed out in the first place that having a mission is a pre-requisite. Many volunteers already have full-time jobs. The reason why they were willing to do voluntary work after hours was that they were attracted by the mission of the organization and they believed that what they volunteered to do was worthwhile. Participation in the voluntary work gave them a sense of contribution to society, and a feeling that what they were doing was meaningful.

　　Besides, when they took part in the voluntary work of non-profit organizations, they experienced what community was. At that time, quite a number of Americans lived in detached houses in the suburbs, hence lacking in the experience of a community. When they became volunteers at churches or boy scout organizations, they could gain the experience of a community. Generally, in business organizations, conflicts might arise among colleagues because of conflicting interests in matters concerning promotion. Such problems did not exist among voluntary communities. In this way, community experiences as such would be more preferable. When people served together, there would be a stronger sense of community. Competitions among colleagues to achieve the best performance for promotion simply did not exist.

Growth and Management

　　In Drucker’s opinion, when volunteers did not work for remuneration, what the organization could give them was that it facilitated them to fulfill a mission, to help them grow and build on their strengths. For this reason, the leadership must let the volunteers know clearly the mission of the organization and redefine their mission as circumstances change so that the mission may be transformed into concrete and practical actions. Additionally, they should give them chances to learn new skills. Drucker stressed the importance of training for volunteers so that they might possess the ability to contribute.

　　Some organizations welcomed volunteers indiscriminately but actually the management should understand the strengths or qualities of the volunteers first before they were assigned to appropriate posts and human resources could be properly allocated. He believed that the participants should not be regarded as “volunteers” but as “unpaid staff.” Even though their participation was part-time in nature, agreement should still be made on the time they should be on duty and it should be found out if the posts they held were a good match for their strengths. Apart from these, regular appraisals must also be performed, not as a basis for promotion but as a means to assess whether the volunteers had gained a sense of satisfaction from their works, whether their contribution was in line with the mission of the organization, and which areas in their personal lives necessitated growth or development.

HKBTS and the Volunteers

　　How can Drucker’s views on non-profit organizations apply to the situation of our seminary? What is the mission of HKBTS? – To train up our next generation of preachers and pastors. How can the volunteers of the seminary make contribution to the fulfillment of this mission? While we have volunteers for routine and administrative work, such as directors, members of the President’s Council, and members of various task forces and committees, administrative staff, clerical staff and audio-visual workers, we also have volunteer practitioners like the in-service pastors joining our Field Education Committee. They are all dedicating themselves selflessly to the cause of the Great Commission, contributing their strengths and time to facilitate the development of the seminary, working with us to nurture our future church leaders and devoting their efforts to the extension of God’s Kingdom.

　　How can we convey the seminary’s mission to the volunteers in a clearer way? How can we strengthen their community experience in HKBTS? What else can we do on top of inviting them to attend such activities as our chapel services, worship gatherings, Thanksgiving Worship Service, Christmas Worship and staff retreats? How can we step up the training for them? How can we give them chances to grow and develop? All these are issues for us to ponder.