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This study examined volunteer coping and resilience processes in emotionally-taxing work. Based on the reflections of 34 client-facing volunteers with a nonprofit that supports people experiencing homelessness, survivors of human trafficking, and refugee children, we identified four primary processes of volunteer resilience: (a) preemptive support offered at an individual level, (b) promotion of periodic rest from volunteering, (c) reframing and transforming the struggle, and (d) invoking spiritual identity anchors. These findings contribute to resilience theorizing by underscoring the necessary role of both routine social support and rest from emotion work in resilience processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultimately, we hope that this special issue prompts us all to consider: What is it we believe to be true about nonprofit and volunteer organizations and organizing practices, how have those beliefs shaped our theorizing, practice, and community engagement, and how might we consider our assumptions anew? Keywords: volunteering; nonprofit organizations EN volunteering nonprofit organizations 335 340 6 07/09/21 20210801 NES 210801 In 2005, I Management Communication Quarterly i published an agenda-setting piece by Laurie Lewis that called for more research and theory building on issues critical to the civil society sector. Alternative organizing and (in)visibility: Managing tensions of transparency in autonomy in a nonprofit organization. [Extracted from the article]

Similarly, Yannick mentioned "the role of donors, foundations, and other powerful stakeholders/actors/texts in nonprofit advocacy", noting that "in general, we know much less about how nonprofit networks evolve/adapt/operate in various contexts, and how to make them work effectively." This special issue seeks to elevate eclectic voices and research agendas to inspire greater engagement with and contributions to nonprofit and voluntary organizational (NPVO) scholarship from inside and outside the communication discipline. From examining nonprofits' collaborative patterns, networking strategies, the various tensions and obstacles involved in collaborative endeavors, to nonprofit partnership management and many other topics, NPVO communication scholarship has yielded some great insights and lessons for practitioners and scholars. In sum, there is an important need for greater focus on nonprofits as workplaces and to examine nonprofit (volunteer) workers' activism, resistance, and struggle around work/labor conditions within the nonprofit sector. [Extracted from the article]

This study examines the social network ties, motivations, and experiences of high-stakes volunteers (HSVs): individuals who fulfill long-term, consistent, and intense time commitments providing medical, social, and/or psychological assistance. Interview, focus group, and observational data from three settings (volunteer firefighting, victims’ services/advocacy, outreach for at-risk youth) were analyzed using qualitative methods. Accordingly, five types of HSVs (stable lifer, imbalanced lifer, conventionalist, professional, crusader) are presented and discussed. These findings advance theoretical insight into the variety of individuals who take on HSV roles and contribute to growing scholarship on diversified approaches to volunteer management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Door-to-door sales is an emotionally demanding job with a high rate of burnout and, as such, has been the subject of multiple studies on employee motivation. However, the role that communication among fellow sales team members plays in salesperson motivation has been largely neglected, which represents a critical gap in research considering the substantial amount of time that teams often spend sharing their sales strategies and experiences. The current research addresses this gap with an ethnographic case study of one door-to-door summer sales team. Analysis of in-depth interviews with salespeople and observational data from meetings and house calls revealed three dichotomies of emotional expression created by the team in their communication. These include: (a) envisioning the job as abhorrent and admirable, (b) performing the role as obscene and humane, and (c) considering team dynamics as wrought with both care and competition. We contend that staying motivated despite the emotional stresses of their jobs required salespeople to embrace these dichotomies, and doing so was powerfully facilitated through team interaction. The applicability of these findings beyond door-to-door sales is discussed, as well as further research needed to develop a more comprehensive model of coworker communication, motivation, and emotion management in service-oriented jobs with elements of dirty work or social taint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between sorority communication practices and members’ body images through the lens of organizational socialization and identification. Specifically, we analyzed 210 sorority members’ memorable messages concerning weight and physical appearance using an inductive coding method. While many of the messages examined were affirming or complimentary in nature, the results of the analysis suggest that these types of messages may positively as well as negatively influence members’ body images, behaviors regarding physical appearance, and social identities. These findings contribute to scholarly and practical understandings of the influences on college women’s body image and health and the potentially powerful role that organizations play in shaping members’ attitudes and actions concerning their eating, exercise, and other aspects of their appearance. Implications for future health communication research in other organizational contexts outside of sororities are also discussed. Additionally, the findings of the current study indicate the broad utility of a memorable messages approach and suggest the need for further examination of the ways in which differing organizational dynamics may demonstrate divergence from traditional sources of memorable messages. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study explicates dialectical tensions in volunteer–manager communication stemming from the contested nature of volunteering and fluidity of volunteer membership. Interviews and observations of volunteers and supervisors in three nonprofit organizational contexts revealed four central tensions that are dialectical in nature: an attraction-adjustment dialectic in the socialization of prospective and new volunteers, an ownership-oversight dialectic regarding volunteer–manager negotiation of volunteer agency and autonomy, a formalization-flexibility dialectic concerning managerial expressions of expectations for volunteer performance and commitment, and an intimacy-distance dialectic pertaining to the scope and bounds of volunteers’ relationships within and outside their respective organizations. Based on these findings, we offer insight into how volunteers and managers might envision these tensions constructively as complementary dialectics. We also suggest starting points for future communication-centered theory and research on volunteer management. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]