Designed to Care? How Organisational Structure Affects the Volunteer Work Design
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2025-06-27
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en
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Long-term care (LTC) systems increasingly rely on volunteers to supplement formal care amid demographic shifts and workforce shortages. However, the organisational structures in which they operate are often designed around professional roles, creating challenges for volunteer integration and support. This thesis explores how organisational structures affect the work design of volunteers in LTC, using the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) model as an analytical lens. Through a qualitative case study of a Dutch LTC organisation, it examines how four structural parameters: functional concentration, specialisation, centralisation, and formalisation, shape job demands (emotional demand, role conflict) and job resources (autonomy, meaningful work, role clarity, social support). The findings show that low functional concentration enables autonomy and meaningful work but increases emotional demand and role conflict due to fragmented coordination. High specialisation supports role clarity and autonomy but limits social support. The combination of decentralised teams and centralised volunteer coordination restricts information access and creates role conflict, despite volunteers valuing autonomy and distance from decision-making. Moderate formalisation allows flexibility and supports meaningful work but offers limited guidance in complex situations. The study shows that organisational structures shape how volunteers experience their tasks, activities, relationships, and responsibilities, even in non-professional care contexts.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen