Gestão do voluntariado e dádiva: reflexões à luz do caso Obras Sociais Irmã Dulce - OSID.

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2005

RESUMO

This work discusses volunteer management in third sector organizations, by using as a unit of analysis the Obras Sociais Irmã Dulce OSID. It is a large and professional institution which, along the years, has acquired the public respect and has become known for the works carried out by its founder, and for the services in the areas of health, social assistance and education rendered, all free of charge, to the communities in need. Taking from the building up of a case study and from participative observation, as the main tool of research, the intention was to understand how the evolution of the volunteer work at OSID took place, as well as the format in which the interface between the dynamics of such work in the organization and volunteer management policies and practices are established at the moment. It was then possible to discuss the problematics of the volunteer force and to reflect upon other important aspects which are involved in the present debate on professionalization of volunteer work, and its role in organizations of the third sector. In order to respond to its objective, this work is supported by the perspective of the Gift, in its anthropological and sociological senses, thus allowing the possibility of discussing, with more critical and expanded eyes, the phenomenon of volunteer work and its management. It is particularly considered the debate around the Maussian Gift developed by a group of intellectuals and members of the MAUSS Magazine (Mouvement Anti-Utilitariste dans les Sciences Sociales). It was found that this volunteer work was initially marked by the support of professionals from the health field such as doctors and nurses, who carried out their work in a partnership with the nun Irmã Dulce, by treating patients whom she took for shelter. In the period in which the Institution was directed by the nun, paid professionals and volunteers shared their duties and tasks. With the deterioration of Irmã Dulces health and her impossibility to continue the management of the Institution, a process of professionalization was started in 1989. In that period, there is a weakening of the volunteer work and a prohibition of professional involvement of people from the area of health as volunteers. A few volunteers persisted in a silent and individualized work at the institution, remaining in such condition for almost a decade. Only in 2001 has the work been taken back with a new management committed to regaining the volunteer force with the objective of preserving the founders memory, spreading out her mission, and humanizing the services rendered by the organization. Despite the professionalization of the Institution, such volunteer work is not supported by a professionalized management, much less by a professionalized work force which respond to the demands for qualification and performance. This volunteer force, who also undergoes changes in its profile, deals mainly with social activities. It is evident the presence of symbolic elements and the importance of the search and the efforts for keeping the ties which those volunteers established with the remaining actors. Its present management, on its turn, is being built through more personal relations, presenting significative gaps in its interface with the volunteer force.

ASSUNTO(S)

utilitarismo volunteer work ties ciencias sociais aplicadas professionalization profissionalização gift dádiva e vínculos gestão do voluntariado utilitarianism trabalho voluntário volunteer management

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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