Graduate Research Papers

Availability

Open Access Graduate Research Paper

Abstract

The ability to establish and maintain relationships with donors in order to bring them closer to and ultimately support the organization he or she represents are key skill sets for a development officer to possess. If a university is fortunate enough to have a constituent development officer (CDO) who demonstrates these strengths, they should have a plan in place to retain that individual. However, according to Hansen (2007), only 16% of senior HR executives surveyed by Towers Perrin have a senior talent management position to focus specifically on the organization's talent strategy. By definition, the talent strategy would include strategic workforce planning, recruitment, leadership development and career management.

This study has a threefold purpose: (1) To understand the general body of knowledge regarding satisfaction, morale and retention of people working in organizations, (2) compare this body of knowledge with current CDO staff working for the University of Northern Iowa Foundation, and (3) identify factors that encourage satisfaction, morale and retention among CDO staff working for the UNI Foundation. To that end, an eighteen question interview was assembled that addressed employee satisfaction and retention. Many of these questions 2 were derived from an existing questionnaire assembled by professionals at www.custominsight.com.

The main conclusions that I arrived at from the research and from interviewing the CDO staff on retention issues are that opinions vary widely between and even within both spheres when compared to the questionnaire. There is simply not a one size fits all approach or standard for staff retention. As the following report will show, the key to effective staff retention is by one on one qualitative analysis with members of your team.

Year of Submission

2009

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

School of Health, Physical Education, and Leisure Services

First Advisor

Rodney Dieser

Comments

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Date Original

2009

Object Description

1 PDF file (89 pages)

Language

en

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