Organizational aspects of volunteer work in social enterprises in Russia and India

Abstract

The text of this article analyzes the processes of managing volunteers at social enterprises in Russia and India. Social enterprises are becoming more popular, but this type of organization remains poorly understood. Social entrepreneurship is a form of business that differs from an ordinary commercial enterprise in that. The goal of a social enterprise is not only to make a profit, but also to solve social problems. It is known that social enterprises involve volunteers in their work, however, the problems faced by representatives of social enterprises when working with volunteers are unknown. The empirical basis of the work was an online survey of representatives of social enterprises from Russia and India. These countries were chosen due to the fact that it is in Russia and India that the sector of social entrepreneurship is currently developing. The focus of our article concerned such issues: what stages of working with volunteers are implemented in social enterprises, what problems they face when working with volunteers, and what processes can help minimize difficulties in working with volunteers. Analysis of the data obtained showed that representatives of social enterprises in Russia and India are actively implementing the selection of volunteers, education and training of volunteers, and discussion of the results of work with volunteers. Among the most significant problems in working with volunteers, representatives of Russian social enterprises consider a high level of volunteer turnover and distrust of volunteers. Representatives of Indian social enterprises consider the insufficient level of training of volunteers, the high turnover of volunteers as significant problems in working with volunteers. Despite the differences in the processes of working with volunteers, representatives of social Russian and Indian enterprises believe that the training and education of specialists working with volunteers and the education and training of volunteers themselves can improve the quality of work with volunteers. The analysis of work and management of volunteers is an extremely broad topic, the text of the article covers only some of its aspects, which were studied based on the results of the survey. The results of the study can be used by researchers for further work in the field of studying the processes of working with volunteers, and the results of the study can also be useful to those who are practitioners in the field of social entrepreneurship and social enterprises.