When members of a community share similar values, beliefs, and attitudes; when they champion similar causes; when the celebrate certain traditions associated with those values; when they honor members who personify them, hailing them as worthy role models for the community; and when they influence new members to follow their lead, then there is a good chance that those beliefs, mores, and norms are part of their community’s culture.
For some community gardens, volunteerism is a core value and an important cornerstone of the organizational culture. The established members – who are now the keepers of the organization’s values - encourage new entrants to learn and to eventually internalize, the principles and practices expected of everyone if all are to share the community’s culture and move closer to their collective vision of a willed future.
In some community gardens, some of these intangible values are codified as part of the explicitly stated “core values” or are embodied in the organization’s mission statement, ethical standards, or the organization’s bylaws. Some are displayed as slogans, mottos, battle cry, or bumper stickers.
It may take some time but, who knows, volunteer participation may someday be elevated to the same status as permaculture, organic gardening, eating local, and composting.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Part 9: Need to be Successful and be Recognized
I don’t know of any gardener who does not enjoy seeing a bountiful harvest of vegetables or an awesome display of colorful flowers. There is obvious pride in producing outstanding quality and quantity of vegetables and flowers from one’s garden. The need for achievement is a powerful motivator for many gardeners, particularly those for whom gardening is an important part of their identity, reputation, and self-concept. Just ask competitive orchid and rose aficionados.
PBS recently featured a documentary entitled the “Lords of the Gourd: The Pursuit of Excellence,” a film about the annual competition held among amateur gardeners who grow giant pumpkins that can weigh as much as a thousand pounds or more. How does the need for achievement motivate voluntary participation in this labor-intensive activity? The probability of participating voluntarily in a garden project is likely to be high if that project’s success fulfills the participant’s needs. Even more important is the individual’s role in setting the goal of what’s to be achieved. Those who participated in determining the target or goal of the project are most likely to be motivated to do whatever it takes to make it a successful one.
Public praise or recognition for a job well done is important to many people, who revel in the attention that comes with winning a competition or setting a new personal best. Recognition can be a powerful incentive for volunteer participation in tasks that could lead to public praise and rewards. Competition, it can be said, brings out the best in athletes, entrepreneurs, musicians, dancers, pedigree dog owners, as well as in giant pumpkin growers.
PBS recently featured a documentary entitled the “Lords of the Gourd: The Pursuit of Excellence,” a film about the annual competition held among amateur gardeners who grow giant pumpkins that can weigh as much as a thousand pounds or more. How does the need for achievement motivate voluntary participation in this labor-intensive activity? The probability of participating voluntarily in a garden project is likely to be high if that project’s success fulfills the participant’s needs. Even more important is the individual’s role in setting the goal of what’s to be achieved. Those who participated in determining the target or goal of the project are most likely to be motivated to do whatever it takes to make it a successful one.
Public praise or recognition for a job well done is important to many people, who revel in the attention that comes with winning a competition or setting a new personal best. Recognition can be a powerful incentive for volunteer participation in tasks that could lead to public praise and rewards. Competition, it can be said, brings out the best in athletes, entrepreneurs, musicians, dancers, pedigree dog owners, as well as in giant pumpkin growers.
Part 8: Need to Learn and Share
Gardening provides more that food for the body. It also nourishes the mind and the spirit. This is an individual and personal experience, one that is akin to what a craftsperson, a scientist, an explorer, or an artist might experience in their respective work environment. It is an experience that is difficult to describe in words to an observer. However, it is every bit as real and meaningful as nourishing the body with healthy food.
Lack of expertise can be a barrier. Not knowing how to grow plants may discourage some from gardening or volunteering in a community garden. On the other hand, some novices view their relative lack of expertise as a good reason to learn by participating.
To many of them, the opportunity to learn new horticultural knowledge and sharpen gardening skills is a motivator. By joining a community garden, they learn by participating. During the spring, some novice gardeners are motivated to participate in planning and preparing garden beds, spreading compost, and planting the new crop. Often, there are more experienced and knowledgeable gardeners who can offer the novice gardener valuable advice through mentoring and modeling.
Gardening, although intuitive, is part science and part “green thumb.” Sharing knowledge and experience often enhances the gardening experiences of both the novice and the experienced gardeners.
Sharing the gardening experience can be an incentive if done well. It can also be a disincentive if done poorly. Cooperation, goodwill, trust, and good communication are needed in order to engage in a satisfying group initiative. That group initiative may or may not turn out to be as successful if judged only by the results or outcomes, but the process may still be satisfying. Gardening, after all, involves many risks associated with weather, pests, and other factors beyond the group’s control. Still, if the group is cohesive and happy, working together can be an end in itself even if the harvest is mediocre. Moreover, social activities afford opportunities to network with new acquaintances, to development new friendship ties, and in some cases, meeting a prospective employer or even a mate who shares similar interests.
Lack of expertise can be a barrier. Not knowing how to grow plants may discourage some from gardening or volunteering in a community garden. On the other hand, some novices view their relative lack of expertise as a good reason to learn by participating.
To many of them, the opportunity to learn new horticultural knowledge and sharpen gardening skills is a motivator. By joining a community garden, they learn by participating. During the spring, some novice gardeners are motivated to participate in planning and preparing garden beds, spreading compost, and planting the new crop. Often, there are more experienced and knowledgeable gardeners who can offer the novice gardener valuable advice through mentoring and modeling.
Gardening, although intuitive, is part science and part “green thumb.” Sharing knowledge and experience often enhances the gardening experiences of both the novice and the experienced gardeners.
Sharing the gardening experience can be an incentive if done well. It can also be a disincentive if done poorly. Cooperation, goodwill, trust, and good communication are needed in order to engage in a satisfying group initiative. That group initiative may or may not turn out to be as successful if judged only by the results or outcomes, but the process may still be satisfying. Gardening, after all, involves many risks associated with weather, pests, and other factors beyond the group’s control. Still, if the group is cohesive and happy, working together can be an end in itself even if the harvest is mediocre. Moreover, social activities afford opportunities to network with new acquaintances, to development new friendship ties, and in some cases, meeting a prospective employer or even a mate who shares similar interests.
Part 7: Prior gardening and volunteering experience.
Researcher could also look into community gardeners’ previous gardening experience that may account, at least in part, for their willingness to volunteer in community garden work. Have they belonged to other community gardens and, if so, what was their experience in those gardens? Do they have a farming background? Do they have volunteer experience? Do they have knowledge and skills that they have shared as volunteers?
If past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior, then it is reasonable to expect someone who has had a long and satisfying volunteer history to continue this pattern of behavior. Likewise, those who have avoided participating as volunteers might also continue to do so.
Researchers could look into ways to modify the non-participants’ behavior. One suggestion is to observe children in the garden context. Some children readily volunteer while others need more encouragement. What accounts for this difference? Will these differences persist through the children’s development? If so, why would it?
If past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior, then it is reasonable to expect someone who has had a long and satisfying volunteer history to continue this pattern of behavior. Likewise, those who have avoided participating as volunteers might also continue to do so.
Researchers could look into ways to modify the non-participants’ behavior. One suggestion is to observe children in the garden context. Some children readily volunteer while others need more encouragement. What accounts for this difference? Will these differences persist through the children’s development? If so, why would it?
Part 6: Land for a Garden as an Incentive.
One of the most common reasons for joining a community or an allotment garden is the need for a suitably large, clean, fertile, and sun-drenched land to grow their own food. Researchers can examine the extent to which the gardener’s interest in food production is related to a need for food security, to reduce the cost of purchased food, to manage health risks, to have physical and outdoor exercise, to have an interesting hobby or recreational activity, to share the gardening experience with like-minded people, to learn about gardening, or some unique combination of these needs. Researchers can compare the needs, goals, and interests of gardeners across different age, gender, and other demographic categories.
Benefits derived by an individual from having a garden are among the factors that can also encourage and reinforce voluntary participation. If the privilege to use a plot of land to produce one’s food is beneficial, then the opportunity to rent and/or share garden space in a community garden is an important benefit. This is particularly true to the extent that the gardener has few alternatives, such as when he or she lives in a residence that has limited or unsuitable gardening space, such as a dormitory, apartment, or condominium.
In cities where community garden space is scarce, there are long waiting lists for available and rentable plots. In some community gardens, being able to acquire and retain scarce garden plots is a powerful incentive used to motivate members to participate in chores, albeit, involuntarily. “Volunteering” to do a certain minimum number of hours is part of the agreement to rent a plot. Failure to meet that obligation could result in losing the plot in the subsequent gardening season. This is hardly voluntary but the pressure to comply is sometimes sufficiently strong if only to avoid the negative consequences of losing access to precious land.
Benefits derived by an individual from having a garden are among the factors that can also encourage and reinforce voluntary participation. If the privilege to use a plot of land to produce one’s food is beneficial, then the opportunity to rent and/or share garden space in a community garden is an important benefit. This is particularly true to the extent that the gardener has few alternatives, such as when he or she lives in a residence that has limited or unsuitable gardening space, such as a dormitory, apartment, or condominium.
In cities where community garden space is scarce, there are long waiting lists for available and rentable plots. In some community gardens, being able to acquire and retain scarce garden plots is a powerful incentive used to motivate members to participate in chores, albeit, involuntarily. “Volunteering” to do a certain minimum number of hours is part of the agreement to rent a plot. Failure to meet that obligation could result in losing the plot in the subsequent gardening season. This is hardly voluntary but the pressure to comply is sometimes sufficiently strong if only to avoid the negative consequences of losing access to precious land.
Part 5: What Part Do Values and Needs Play in Volunteer Participation?
Gardening is a personal experience and, therefore, it helps to understand gardeners’ values and needs that influence their behavior. In general, gardeners willingly engage in the solitary or communal task because there is something about it that is important and inherently gratifying that strengthens their volunteering values, attitudes, and more importantly, influences their volunteering behavior.
Researchers could explore the importance of shared or social experiences in volunteering behavior. For example, when a group is highly cohesive, as in a close-knit community garden, would members tend to engage in more cooperative behavior? Would the same degree of voluntary participation occur among loosely coupled members of allotment gardens? Would paying a rental fee for a plot, as opposed to contributing volunteer time, make any difference in volunteering behavior?
It may help our garden researchers to understand the individual’s and the group’s values and attitudes that influence their propensity to voluntarily participate in chores and projects. Researchers may discover, as some of us have, that joining a community garden does not necessarily mean that the all gardeners value the opportunities for social interactions.
Whether the voluntary activity is solo or group-oriented, research could look into the motivators that contribute to participation.
First, researcher could consider the individual’s needs, which could explain, at least in part, what it is about the garden that attracted people to join their community garden in the first place. Let's look at a few of these needs.
Researchers could explore the importance of shared or social experiences in volunteering behavior. For example, when a group is highly cohesive, as in a close-knit community garden, would members tend to engage in more cooperative behavior? Would the same degree of voluntary participation occur among loosely coupled members of allotment gardens? Would paying a rental fee for a plot, as opposed to contributing volunteer time, make any difference in volunteering behavior?
It may help our garden researchers to understand the individual’s and the group’s values and attitudes that influence their propensity to voluntarily participate in chores and projects. Researchers may discover, as some of us have, that joining a community garden does not necessarily mean that the all gardeners value the opportunities for social interactions.
Whether the voluntary activity is solo or group-oriented, research could look into the motivators that contribute to participation.
First, researcher could consider the individual’s needs, which could explain, at least in part, what it is about the garden that attracted people to join their community garden in the first place. Let's look at a few of these needs.
Part 4: What Motivates Gardeners to Volunteer?
What motivates anyone to volunteer? For decades, motivational psychologists have pondered what motivates people do what they do in various contexts. For our garden researchers, the research questions to examine include: “Why do some people participate in voluntary work?” “Why do some community garden members voluntarily participate in community garden projects more than others?” “Are there effective ways to motivate non-participants to participate more to share the work?” “Is mandatory participation effective?”
Every community garden organization is different is its practice of engaging its members in communal tasks. Some community gardens hire part-time gardeners who perform the garden chores on communal areas and structures. The organization expects its members to attend only to their own rented plots. Other organizations expect all members to share some of the work required in communal areas regardless of whether or not there are hired staff to do some of the work.
Participation in a community garden comes in many forms, depending on the specific situation obtained in a community garden at a particular time. For example, a member can participate by doing individual tasks or by joining group-oriented work bees.
Whether alone or in groups, community garden members volunteer to participate in a range of tasks, such as constructing or repairing things, composting, cleaning, weeding, fertilizing, watering, mentoring, giving workshops, public speaking, communicating, marketing, recruiting and managing volunteers, raising funds, donating garden produce to needy organizations, making garden signs, beautifying the garden with artwork, planting ornamental plants, giving garden tours, developing websites, managing garden affairs, liaising with partner organizations, etc.. The list of garden chores is as long or short, depending on, you guessed it, how motivated the gardeners are. Researchers can describe the patterns of voluntary participation that takes place in different gardens.
Participation can be mandatory, voluntary, or a combination of both types. The term voluntary suggests that the individual is motivated by intrinsic, rather than extrinsic, rewards or incentives. Intrinsically motivated behavior implies that the act itself is not a means but is an end in itself, whereas extrinsically motivated behavior implies that the act is a means to a desired end reward.
Every community garden organization is different is its practice of engaging its members in communal tasks. Some community gardens hire part-time gardeners who perform the garden chores on communal areas and structures. The organization expects its members to attend only to their own rented plots. Other organizations expect all members to share some of the work required in communal areas regardless of whether or not there are hired staff to do some of the work.
Participation in a community garden comes in many forms, depending on the specific situation obtained in a community garden at a particular time. For example, a member can participate by doing individual tasks or by joining group-oriented work bees.
Whether alone or in groups, community garden members volunteer to participate in a range of tasks, such as constructing or repairing things, composting, cleaning, weeding, fertilizing, watering, mentoring, giving workshops, public speaking, communicating, marketing, recruiting and managing volunteers, raising funds, donating garden produce to needy organizations, making garden signs, beautifying the garden with artwork, planting ornamental plants, giving garden tours, developing websites, managing garden affairs, liaising with partner organizations, etc.. The list of garden chores is as long or short, depending on, you guessed it, how motivated the gardeners are. Researchers can describe the patterns of voluntary participation that takes place in different gardens.
Participation can be mandatory, voluntary, or a combination of both types. The term voluntary suggests that the individual is motivated by intrinsic, rather than extrinsic, rewards or incentives. Intrinsically motivated behavior implies that the act itself is not a means but is an end in itself, whereas extrinsically motivated behavior implies that the act is a means to a desired end reward.
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