Professional Volunteerism: Interwoven paradoxes in the management of Roskilde Festival

Abstract

This paper investigates how volunteer managers from Roskilde Festival experience, enact, and respond to organisational paradoxes and how these paradoxes are both formed by, and sustain, the organisational context of the festival. The festival is a professional world-class event with high standards of performance, while being primarily volunteer-driven. This constitutes a context of “professional volunteerism”, which serves as a locus of interwoven paradoxical tensions. Paradox is often portrayed as a pair of poles that are connected, but in opposition, this paper illustrates how different paradoxes and the responses to them can be interwoven, thereby describing a more complex understanding of paradox.

Appendices

Appendix: Informant data

Most informant data have been anonymised, in order to provide as much confidentiality as possible.

Executive board of directors
Position	Organisational status	Gender
Chief executive officer	Employee	Female
Chief financial officer	Employee	Male
Chief communications officer	Employee	Female

Divisional management of the Commerce-division
Position	Organisational status	Gender
Divisional manager	Employee	Male
Head of budget & administration	Volunteer	Male
Head of volunteers and HR	Volunteer	Male
Head of programmes for food and drink	Employee	Female
Head of teams 1	Volunteer	Female
Head of teams 2	Volunteer	Male
Head of teams 3	Volunteer	Male
Head of teams 4	Employee	Male
Head of teams 5	Volunteer	Female

Divisional management of the Communication-division
Position	Organisational status	Gender
Divisional manager	Employee	Male
Head of budget & administration	Volunteer	Male
Head of volunteers and HR	Volunteer	Female
Head of Team Information	Volunteer	Female
Head of Team Press	Volunteer	Male
Head of Team Media	Volunteer	Male
Head of Team Campaing and marketing	Volunteer	Male

Divisional management of the participants-division
Position	Organisational status	Gender
Divisional manager	Employee	Male
Head of budget & administration	Employee	Female
Head of volunteers and HR	Volunteer	Female
Head of projects and head of service	Volunteer	Male
Head of safety and security	Employee	Male
Head of emergency management	Volunteer	Male
Head of camping	Volunteer	Male
Head of flow	Volunteer	Male

Divisional management of the organisation & culture-division
Position	Organisational status	Gender
Divisional manager	Employee	Male
Head of budget & administration	Volunteer	Male
Head of volunteers and HR	Volunteer	Female
Head of programmes for sustainability	Employee	Female
Head of programmes for culture	Employee	Female
Head of volunteer facilities	Volunteer	Female
Head of Team Roskilde Sustainability	Volunteer	Female
Head of culture	Volunteer	Male

Divisional management of the Program-division
Position	Organisational status	Gender
Divisional manager	Employee	Male
Head of volunteers and HR	Volunteer	Female
Head of music	Volunteer	Female
Head of arts and activism	Employee	Female

Divisional management of the urban planning & production-division
Position	Organisational status	Gender
Divisional manager	Employee	Male
Head of budget & administration	Volunteer	Male
Head of volunteers and HR	Volunteer	Male
Head of RFX projects	Employee	Female
Head of Urban planning and development	Employee	Male
Head of logistics and production	Employee	Male
Head of logistics	Employee	Male
Head of projects	Employee	Male
Head of production	Employee	Male
Head of area—Inner East	Volunteer	Male
Head of area—Inner West	Volunteer	Male
Head of area—Outer	Volunteer	Male

Cross-divisional group of middle managers
Position	Organisational status	Gender	Division
Team leader	Volunteer	Female	Commerce
Team leader	Volunteer	Female	Commerce
Team leader	Volunteer	Male	Commerce
Group manager	Volunteer	Male	Communication
Functional manager	Volunteer	Female	Communication
Group manager	Volunteer	Female	Participants
Team leader	Volunteer	Male	Organisation & Culture
Functional manager	Volunteer	Female	Organisation & Culture
Team leader	Volunteer	Male	Programme
Functional manager	Volunteer	Male	Programme
Team leader	Volunteer	Male	Urban Planning & Production
Team leader	Volunteer	Male	Urban Planning & Production

Team leaders may have Group managers or Functional managers as subordinates.

Non-managing volunteers from the commerce-division
Position	Organisational status	Gender
All year-round volunteer	Volunteer	Male
All year-round volunteer	Volunteer	Male
All year-round volunteer	Volunteer	Female
All year-round volunteer	Volunteer	Female
All year-round volunteer	Volunteer	Female

Appendix: Coding of data

First interview
Theme	Sub-theme	Instances coded
Ambitions		7
Chain of command and organisational diagram		14
Challenges		1
Commercial focus, economy, and resources		125
Development and innovation		21
Employees and their organisational conditions		36
Evaluation and learning		2
Hybridity		126
Responsibility and expectations		39
The board		8
Volunteerism		153
Management of employees and volunteers
	Autonomy, involvement, and influence	57
	Complaints, resistance, hierarchy, disagreement	51
	Management, governance, and control	95
	Personal network and informal influence	8
	The divisional management's focus	60
Meaning		3
Motivation and engagement		66
Paradoxes (and dilemmas)		15
Planning wheel and time		22
The organisation
	Cross-divisional	23
	Organisational change and development	45
	Organisational communication	19
	Strategy	82
	The current division	7
	The goals and tasks of the organisation	36
	The purpose of the organisation	56
	The values of the organisation	50
	Top-down, bottom-up, sideways	65

Values
	Climate	7
	Community	32
	Focus on participants/audience	14
	Local	3
	Non-profit	41
	Orange Feeling	7
	Organic food	7
	Social responsibility and donations	20
	Sustainability	23
	The task of executing the festival	20
	Why, purpose, meaning	22

Later sessions
Theme	Sub-theme	Description/identifiers	Instances coded
General			0
	Hybridity and divergent values	Hybridity and tensions/balances	27
		Different values at play:
		Economy
		Security
		Sustainability
		Organic food
		The participant experience
		The volunteer experience
		The psycho-social work environment for the employees
		Social values
		Growth of new musicians
		The festival as a unique event
		Non-profit
		Tensions between levels:
		Strategic
		Operational
		Tactical
	Challenges and successes	Challenges/problems/dilemmas	23
		Experiencing success and successful handling of difficult situations

Paradoxes of belonging			5
	Diversity, identity, and cultural differences	Diversity as a strength <  > diversity as a challenge	32
		Individual <  > community—tensions between individual and group/adapting to tensions in a group
		Trust <  > mistrust to others in the organisation (e.g. towards top management)
		Volunteering at RF as identity (more important than work identity)
		Roles with contradictory goals and values
	When identity is threatened	When identity or roles are in focus or threatened	20
		When changes in the organisation,
		values and goals threaten identity and roles
		To handle a professional role versus upholding own identity
		Unity <  > uniqueness
Paradoxes of learning			7
	Operations and development	Operations <  > development	34
		Operations <  > project organising
		Exploitation <  > exploration (/innovation)
		Fix it <  > learn from it (i.e. learning and knowledge management in a "fixer" culture)
		Constant new ideas and expanded task portfolio <  > lack of resources (but including the conditions of volunteering where there is no pay involved)
	Organisational changes, role changes and organisational mobility	The current organisational wide change project and other large changes	54
		Radical innovation <  > incremental innovation
		Episodic change <  > continuous change
		Seeking focus and effectiveness <  > to embrace change and be flexible
		When your organisational role/identity becomes either an enhancer or a barrier of development and change
		Lower entry bars and greater mobility versus a lack of competence and experience (also in management)

Paradoxes of organising			28
	Dynamics between processes and results	The strategic direction laid out by top management <  > operational execution	98
		Interplay between means and ends/process and result
		Differentiation of workflows and processes <  > integration of workflows and processes
		Systematics and quality control <  > spontaneity and volunteer motivation
		Implementation of changes and processes <  > operations/volunteer motivation
		Stories of same task/goal from different angles—differences in processes and workflows
	Autonomy and alignment	Autonomy <  > alignment	111
		Empowerment <  > direction
		Flexibility <  > control
		Leadership <  > management
		Ownership <  > fellowship
		Part <  > unity (team goals <  > organisational goals)
		Cooperation <  > competition
Paradoxes of performing			7
	A multitude of stakeholders and divergent goals	Different (divergent) values (e.g. formal/informal)	67
		Criteria for success or the lack of them
		Concrete goals or the lack of them
		Strategical focus (and contradictions)
		Division of focus amongst different divisions (/teams)
		Different levels of management involved
		Short term <  > long term
	Well-being and performance	Well-being <  > performance	64
		Volunteers that leave or are very critical
		Pressure from management
		Conflicts/when things are tough
		Motivation for volunteers—what drives them and when does this come under pressure?
		Psycho-social work environment
		Reflections on "good" management and performance

*The use of “ <  > ” denotes a tension between two poles.

Appendix: Organisational Diagrams

The Divisions of Roskilde Festival, 2019

Stylised Diagram of the Organisational Hierarchy of Roskilde Festival, 2019

Organisational Diagram of the Commerce-Division

Organisational Diagram of the Communication-Division

Organisational Diagram of the Organisation & Culture-Division

Organisational Diagram of the Participants-Division

Organisational Diagram of the Programme-Division

Organisational Diagram of the Urban Planning & Production-Division