The Future of Authentic Connection Depends on Sincere Service
Many times, services and volunteering have been seen as goodwill activities, yet their worth transcends only the doing. Service entails disinterestedly helping somebody who is in need, while volunteering extends the same to community organizations without expectation of payment. Volunteering which is sought with the prime motive to benefit oneself rather than to help others gradually starts turning the core value of altruism into insincere volunteerism.
Ingenuine acts of service by a few individuals can damage the work of a collective community, causing our society as a whole to ignore the purpose of service in the first place. The ethics of service, the impacts of insincere volunteerism, and the social harm it drives are taken for granted due to the lack of recognition in this area. In order to prevent volunteering individuals and organizations from neglecting the implicit issue further, the volunteering community has an ethical responsibility to uphold the true values of service in order to not take moral influence as a light issue.
Service represents an activity of self-giving, where an individual gives his or her time and effort to another. It involves humility, the giving of respect, and real will in contributing to good work. On the other hand, insincere volunteerism regards service with a transactional inclination for earning something out of it and, in effect, corrodes the core essence of good-heartedness.
Volunteerism from the organization’s view should be real, where the organization is able to select only volunteers who care about making a difference and avail proper training. This is to develop humility, and empathy, and recognize the value of each other at the forefront. Besides, building long-lasting commitments and continued relationships may likely motivate volunteers to develop trust and understanding with those they serve. When organizations focus only on the number of volunteers or hours served, they are transactional in how they view service. This then does reputation damage and fosters a view by organizations in a competitive market for getting the most help rather than qualifying the service in nature. What is more, working just for the sake of labor, in a way, means volunteering with brute force, which is apparently precarious for organizational credibility and its long-lasting efficiency (Berreby). This type of approach also runs the risk of creating a service industry mindset in which organizations are competing for fund allocations and recognition based on superficial metrics, rather than focusing on meaningful change. The transactional mindset can also create a situation where organizations ignore local priorities, particularly in international volunteering. It may bring forth a paternalistic attitude that does not acknowledge the needs and values of the community they purport to serve — an ineffective form of aid that may bring resentment or sabotage by the very people meant to be helped (Sirolli). This very disconnect between the organizations and local community members needs cultural sensitivity and respect when providing aid. Moreover, organizations that do not take good care of local needs have the potential to disrupt the balancing acts of aid. At its extremes, this might lead to project designs that are ineffective at best, failing to contribute to community growth, or at worst, damaging local economies and social structures. Another concern would be the undermining effect of insincere volunteering on the overall credibility of the service sector. Transactional organizations create a competitive marketplace wherein the employees compete to be of the most help, thus undermining the ultimately altruistic nature of service work.
Equally, the impacts of the service are not very genuine, demeaning, or negligent. Volunteers in Tanzania have done harms to their patients, showing the necessity of genuine, respectful service (Sullivan). This transactional mindset fosters harmful stereotypes, damaging relationships between volunteers and recipients. For example, volunteers from the West very often come with a type of “we know better than you” attitude, which may humiliate the beneficiary and further strengthen the vertical relationship type that does not allow for actual bonding (Kushner). Besides, insincere service can only continue to perpetuate the dependence on the aids hence the development of any self-sufficiency. Insincere volunteerism might also inspire feelings of patronization and/or neglect from communities. A dynamic of power with resentment and distrust developing from the volunteers and the recipients could be very real; lack of communication and understanding could pile up, making it much more difficult for communities to develop ‘authentic’ relationships with volunteers. In addition, insincere service can live up to the stereotypes of aid recipients, reinforcing the balance of power and doing damage to relationships. All this can have lasting community development and the consequences of becoming self-sufficient. This can also result from disrespect and lack of communication, in which case the outcome would be either misunderstanding or an ineffective aid project, which fails to understand the real needs of the communities. This results in a waste of resources and time that can further undermine the local development process.
The transactional mindset can also undermine local priorities. In an international volunteering context, the transactional mindset may also undermine local priorities. In international volunteering, the paternalist attitudes inherent in Westerners may result in an issue of lack of respect and communication that bars volunteers from connecting authentically with the people they serve. Sirolli brings in the human face of the nature of respect and communication in aid work, elaborating that volunteers have to understand that if people do not want to be helped, they should leave them alone. In this way, communities that do not communicate may raise long-term challenges in which the community tends to depend on outside help, something that derails its ability to be independent and develop self-reliance. Besides, insincere service, if given, may cause local economies to be affected, as external assistance can distort markets and local businesses can be undermined.
What is more, insincere volunteering can lead to ineffective aid projects. Most of the aid projects initiated under volunteers, therefore, usually do not meet the specific needs of the communities, which, in turn, helps waste resources and time. It will further contribute to the undermining of development at the local level. Moreover, the transactional mentality carries the potential to cause damage in the form of dependency cycles, where communities get used to outside help. They do not cultivate self-reliant development. This can bring up long-term challenges that prevent sustainable growth.
In order to prevent ingenuine altruism from expanding, volunteering organizations should be trained on how to volunteer for sincere service of quality without having a transactional mindset. This would be such that they are trained to recognize the needs and perspectives of the people they serve and build up the skills and knowledge of the ability to serve them effectively. Providing such comprehensive training will ensure that the volunteers are prepared to make a positive and lasting difference. Training has also shed light on the fact that with humility and empathy, volunteers can go ahead to develop strong ties with the serviced communities. This training should also cover cultural sensitivity and communication, so that volunteers are able to, sensibly and coherently, take part in the challenges of international volunteering. Sirolli also states that one of the organizational functions ensures that volunteers do not adopt a paternalistic attitude and develop real relationships with the locals by understanding their culture and point of view. Additionally, training may include reflective exercises that will permit volunteers to check their motivation and align them with the core values that the service being provided should have. This reflection can prevent transactional approaches and promote genuine service.
Another initiative volunteering organizations can take is to encourage volunteers to sustain their relationships allowing for trust, understanding, and a more profound and lasting impact on the lives of others. Long-term commitments would also serve to further the personal growth of volunteers, enlightening them on the varied cultures and perspectives and the depth of empathy and humility that they have. In addition, sustained relationships will help in building self-sufficiency in the communities as volunteers work side by side with the locals in working on skills and infrastructure development that will support long-term growth. For instance, the Peace Corps benefits in the sense that each volunteer is an ambassador who fosters ongoing relationships with local communities for a mutual understanding of long-term impacts (Peace Corps). Furthermore, such longer-term relationships allow the community a chance to build skills and resources that support long-term growth, rather than remaining trapped by a dependency cycle related to receiving aid.
Organizations should always ensure that the core values of Altruism are adhered to, and the volunteers serving others do so with their selfless motive to preserve the. This can happen if, in the organization, they develop a certain culture whereby the volunteers end up feeling that they can make an impact on some areas with community service through a feeling of touching base. Lastly, organizations should be able to help volunteers see the motive behind actions, ensuring their services are only a response to a personal, genuine desire to help, and not from selfishness. Such a strong process of reflection by the programs requires that experienced volunteers be considered as mentors who guide others into understanding that service demands a form of selflessness and humility. On the other part, organizations can incorporate reflective exercises in their training programs whereby the volunteers have the opportunity to look into their motivations and ensure that they are reflective of service. Reflection on the motivations, therefore, can make them sure that they deliver genuine altruism while giving meaning to the impacts that communities reap from them.
The ongoing debate about whether pure altruism is even possible brings another dimension to this discussion. The reasons for helping others are debated by philosophers, psychologists, and even neuroscientists at times. Others argue that every single act of service has some element of self-interest. Meanwhile, another group maintains that genuine altruism can exist. All this demonstrates that the diversity of opinion on the subject reflects the complexity of human behavior and that volunteers have to reflect and be intentional. Real meaningful volunteerism for positive change requires altruism and selflessness, which allows volunteers to make a lasting impact on their community. This shall enhance the volunteers’ efforts to serve with humility and empathy through comprehensive training, long-term commitments, and reflective practices within the organization. This, in return, would also serve for the benefit of the recipients or communities themselves, who would notice said change besides the personal improvement in the volunteer, with greater empathy, cultural sensitivity, and selflessness. In hindsight, it throws a call to action to volunteers and organizations to serve with a sense of integrity, make impact creation lasting, and bring a positive difference in the world. It is an honest call for genuine volunteering to be able to preserve the real values of service and make a change that lasts for society.
Works Cited
Berreby, David. “The Difference between ‘volunteering’ and Volunteering.” Big Think, 30 Sept. 2021, bigthink.com/articles/the-difference-between-volunteering-and-volunteering/.
Berreby, David. “The Surprising Power of Everyday Practices.” Behavioral Science & Policy, 2017.
Kushner, Jacob. The Voluntourist’s Dilemma. New York Times Company, New York, 2016. ProQuest, http://libproxy.usc.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/blogs-podcasts-websites/voluntourists-dilemma/docview/1774970044/se-2.
Sirolli, Ernesto. “Want to Help Someone? Shut up and Listen!” Ernesto Sirolli: Want to Help Someone? Shut up and Listen! | TED Talk, www.ted.com/talks/ernesto_sirolli_want_to_help_someone_shut_up_and_listen?language=en. Accessed 9 Feb. 2024.
Sullivan, Noelle. “The Trouble with Medical ‘Voluntourism.’” Scientific American Blog Network, Scientific American, 16 May 2017, blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/the-trouble-with-medical-voluntourism/.
Sullivan, Noelle. “Volunteers Without Borders: The Perils of Sincere Voluntourism.” Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 2019.
Stephens, John. “Cultivating Genuine Service: Lessons from the Field.” Volunteer Today, 2018.
Stephens, Madison. “Voluntourism Is Self-Serving, Harmful to Communities.” The Emory Wheel, The Emory Wheel, 17 Feb. 2019, emorywheel.com/voluntourism-is-self-serving-harmful-to-communities/.
Peace Corps. “Programs.” Peace Corps, 2024.
