
Links to Related Resources
From Managing Offsite Volunteers via the Internet
by Jayne Cravens, Project Manager
These excellent resources can help you learn more about managing people via the Internet:
- Supervising the "Invisible" Volunteer
http://www.casanet.org/program-management/volunteer-manage/index.htm
is Chapter Nine of the book Volunteer Management, by Steve McCurley and Rick Lynch. It offers excellent advice for those who manage volunteers assigned to a field office, which is geographically separated from the headquarters; in a job which requires them to work alone in a field setting, perhaps matched with a particular client; or working in a different timeframe from office staff, perhaps an evening or weekend assignment that doesn't overlap normal office hours. This chapter's suggestions are an excellent companion to the page you are reading now.
For more information on managing offsite people, we also suggest you review these resources, on which some of our information relating to online management is based:
"Are You Ready To Telecommute? An Objective Checklist
To Determine If Your Company And/Or You Are Ready For Telecommuting"
by Robert Moskowitz's for MicroTimes magazine.
Successful Management in the Virtual Office
This outstanding, extensive guide, released May 10, 1995 by Bernie Kelly and Bruce McGraw, is no longer available online.
Pacific Bell Network Telecommuting Guide
http://www.pacbell.com/products/business/general/telecommuting/tcguide/index.html
Pacific Bell's telecommuting program was one of the first in the nation. This is an excellent, detailed guide.
Links to other telecommuting resources can help you learn more about managing and working virtually.
- The Christian Macintosh Users Group (CMUG) has a page on How to Work with Volunteers in Desktop Publishing at http://www.c-mug.org/H/yp.workvolunteers.html ; this page has additional information for both volunteer managers and volunteers themselves.
- The (Help) I-Don't-Have-Enough-Time Guide to Volunteer Management
a book by Katherine Noyes Campbell and Susan Ellis. Susan is president of ENERGIZE, Inc., an international publishing, training and consulting firm specializing in volunteerism, and is documenting this project. See Susan's Web site at http://www.energizeinc.com/. Some of our information is based on information from this book.
- Communication and Trust in Global Virtual Teams
http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol3/issue4/jarvenpaa.html
an in-depth academic study by Dr. Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa that "explores the challenges of creating and maintaining trust in a global virtual team," particularly those that involve people of different cultures and interest, and varying degrees of commitment.
Special thanks to the Virtual Volunteering workshop attendees at the 1997 International Conference on Volunteer Administration for their contributions to this information.
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