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Title An analysis of the motivation of volunteer members in theauxiliary medical service in Hong Kong
Author(s) Ho, Kam-tim.; 何錦添.
Citation
Issued Date 2003
URL http://hdl.handle.net/10722/65253
Rights The author retains all proprietary rights, (such as patent rights)and the right to use in future works.
An analysis of the motivation
of volunteer members in the Auxiliary Medical Service
in Hong Kong
HO Kam-tim
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree course of Master of Public Administration
University of Hong Kong
2003
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to acknowledge the assistance of Dr. Ian Thynne for his
unfailing supports, guidance and invaluable commentaries on the process and
drafting of this project.
I would also like to thank the Chief Staff Officer, Dr. Chan Yiu-wing,
Auxiliary Medical Service for his approval of the release of information for this
project and allowing me to interview volunteer members.
Thanks to my wife, Nancy, and my children, Jackie and Brenda, for their
constant supports and patience have enabled me to get through the course.
Finally, thanks to all the volunteers who accepted the interviews and gave
me responses in the questionnaires.
ii
Table of Contents
Page
Acknowledgement ii
Chapter 1 Introduction
Focus of study 1
Conceptual Overview 3
Methodology 5
Structure of the Dissertation 9
Chapter 2 Literature Review
Introduction 11
General Motivation Theory 12
Ideas Concerning Volunteers' Motivation 24
People Who Volunteer 30
Training 35
Conclusion 37
Chapter 3 AMS: Origin, Structure and Operations
Origin 39
Structure of the Organisation 43
Operations of the AMS 48
Conclusion 61
Chapter 4 Members' Survey - Findings and Analysis
Introduction 63
Respondent Profile 64
Job Satisfaction 74
Training 87
Conclusion 91
iii
Chapter 5 Conclusion and Recommendation
Conclusions 94
Recommendations 97
Concluding Comments 101
Bibliography
Appendices
IV
CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION
Focus of study
Keeping a force of volunteers is of substantial importance to a voluntary
organization, particularly through their efforts, all the activities are carried out by
them.
Over the years, the Auxiliary Medical Service (AMS) has continuously been
facing the problem of high dropout rate. In 1996, the LLA Pacific Limited
Consultancy Project Report (LLA Pacific Limited, 1996) recommended the AMS
to provide additional training courses which were believed to be able to reduce
the turnover rate of volunteers. Since then, the AMS has put forward a series of
driver training programmes with a view to retaining the members. Although a
good deal of them has been implemented in the past seven years, the situation
has yet been improved and the same drain of human resources continued.
There is a thinking that the main motive of people joining a voluntary
organization is to serve the community. There are also many academic
researches to emphasis that joining a volunteer organization is for different
purposes. Unless we can trace their main motives of joining a volunteer
organization, we cannot improve the situation. For seven years have lapsed, the
number of turnover rate has not been brought under control. For example, over
the last three years, the dropout rates are 667, 560 and 550 in 2000/01, 2001/02
and 2002/03, out of the strength of 4420, 4068, and 4040 respectively.
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The tremors of the reversion of sovereignty of Hong Kong to the Peoples'
Republic of China and the recent upsurge of financial turmoil in Hong Kong are
still haunting in the minds of the people of Hong Kong. The high
unemployment rate in principle ought to improve the situation, as the volunteers
can get the pay and allowances if they attend training or performing duties
(Auxiliary Forces Pay and Allowances Ordinance, Cap. 254) (AFPAO), but the
fact is not the case. What are the culprits of causing such situation? In truth,
an effective retention of them requires a clear understanding of the AMS
volunteers' aims of joining the Service, or why they decided to discontinue the
volunteer work after a period of years of services. It is expected that the
reasons for their resignation may be due to various causes, such as, their motive
to join the AMS is not realised, job satisfaction cannot be achieved, the pay and
allowances are not attractive etc. In the face of an average annual volunteer
turnover rate of 12% of the strength and the high cost of training new AMS
members (each member costs $8,385 for the initial recruitment training and
expenses), the organization generally has little ideas of their reasons of leaving.
Having the above mentioned perplexities, coupled with the constant
environmental changes being imposed on the organization, this study will look
into the following points nowadays:
a) To analyse volunteers' socioeconomic status, interpersonal
networks and demographic characteristic of members;
b) To understand the "reasons" of members why they join the
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Auxiliary Medical Service;
c) To understand members' components of satisfaction and
dissatisfaction of volunteer members;
d) To identify members' satisfaction level of the existing training
and their implications on the motivation of the volunteers;
e) To give recommendations of improving the situation.
Conceptual Overview
During the last century, definitions of volunteerism have changed as often as the
social problems with which volunteers have chosen to grapple. At one point
volunteerism was explained as action that stemmed from emotional commitment
rather than from rational considerations of choice. Dewey (1916) views
volunteerism as an expression of commitment to pragmatic concerns. At still
other times, conceptions of volunteer action were shaped by the image of
missionary service, which was motivated by a blend of dedication to a church
and compassion for "unbelievers" (Ilsley, 1990). Modern theorists also differ in
their conception of volunteerism. Karl (1984) believes that the word
'volunteer' belongs to a class of terms that can be best defined by contrast with
an opposite term, as 'good' can be defined by contrast with 'bad'. He surmises
that for centuries volunteerism is considered opposite to religious doctrine and,
later, to enforce military service. Other modern theorists have had other views
of volunteerism. Schattschneider (1984) describes volunteer work in terms of the
pioneer "barn-raising" ethic, in which people give time and service in response to
a known individual or community need. Popular literature denotes volunteering
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as neighbourly, selfless commitment to the good of society (Bellah, 1985).
Volunteering has long existed in our society. Volunteers are strong driving
forces to development of social services. Therefore, in a modern society,
voluntary service is an alternative way to provide service to the community when
the regular service cannot meet the demand of the society. Alternatively, the
government may make use of volunteerism as a way to encourage people to
contribute their valuable efforts to the community without incurring much
expense. Volunteerism can play dual roles: on one hand, it can provide
opportunity for those who are under-privileged to serve the others, thus providing
a chance for them to integrate to the society; and on the other hand, provide a
mutual assistance mechanism, that today I help you, perhaps tomorrow you may
help me. Promoting the citizenship and community involvement, volunteer
organizations can therefore play an important role in the effective use of human
resources in a society.
Having the volunteerism in mind, this study will first define the definition
of motivation. Understanding the concept can enable this study to confine its
boundary of research. As this study pays much attachment to the volunteers.
The factors of social-economic status, interpersonal networks and demographic
characteristic of volunteers are looked into, for they can provide a better
understanding of an individual who volunteers. Moreover, the investigation of
the altruism can also give some hints on the reasons why they volunteer. The
study will take the from-general-to-specific approach. The two main categories
of theories of motivation, namely, the extrinsic based rewards and the intrinsic
4
based rewards will firstly be reviewed, for they are the core and fundamental to
the understanding of the concept of motivation. Lastly, the effect of training on
volunteers will be examined.
Methodology
Cotton & Turtle (1986) & Bluedorn (1982) conducted many studies of the causes
of employee turnovers, most of them were on the formal 'workers'. But there is
only a small percentage of study focused on volunteers. Additionally, it is
conceivable that different motivational factors on volunteers may change over
time and it is important to investigate into the root of the motivation problem.
Hence, this study is undertaken to promote the body of research by assessing
motivation in the aspect of expectations of the volunteers of the AMS, their
needs, or motive their demographic and social characteristics.
For the avoidance of doubt, it is necessary to outline the bounds of the
present study. Lee Jack-pui (1994) puts it in the following ways: "Volunteer -
"Anyone who chooses to act in recognition of others' need out of social
responsibility without a regard to material award." The traditional definition of
volunteer especially outlined by Lee Jack-pui is not applicable to the AMS.
The peculiarities of the AMS are that AMS is one of the government departments
of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region under the Auxiliary Medical
Service Ordinance (AMSO) and AMS members are awarded with pay and
allowances when they have attended training or performed duties under the
AFPAO.
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Having such peculiarities, this study's target is confined to the volunteer
members of the AMS and to survey their motivation. Target population for
soliciting their views is confined to the active members. The survey does not
include those ex-members who have resigned or retired form the Service. The
study is making use of minutes of meetings, government reports, official papers,
past publications and papers, and other primary sources. Moreover, interviews
of volunteers, distribution of questionnaires to the following grades of the AMS
will be included:
a) Member (i.e. Auxiliary Dresser / Auxiliary Nurse II),
b) Non-commissioned Officer (i.e. Auxiliary Dresser I / Auxiliary
Nurse I or Senior Auxiliary Dresser / Senior Auxiliary Nurse),
c) Junior Officer (i.e. Assistant Supervisor / Supervisor),
d) Senior Officer (i.e. Divisional Officer /District Commander
Assistant Divisional Officer / Assistant District Commander),
e) Commanding Officer (i.e. Assistant Branch Commander and
above).
This survey does not include those officers whose ranks are from Assistant
Commissioner to Commissioner, because they belong to the most senior level.
Their job nature is mainly related to the policymaking, decision making and
strategy formulation. These are not comparable to the other junior officers.
These posts being 9 in 2003, it is only 0.2 % of the establishment. Its effect is
negligible and will not affect the reliability of the survey. Civilian staff and the
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other full-time departmental permanent staff are also excluded, as they are not
the volunteers of the study.
In order to gain access to information, the author had obtained permission
from the Chief Staff Officer (Head of the department of the permanent staff) to
conduct the study in May 2003 (Appendix A).
Even though the interviewees will be asked the same questions of the
questionnaire, there are multiple purposes to include interview in the survey.
First, it can be an assurance to obtain adequate responses to complete the
questionnaire, as there is no guarantee to know how many questionnaires will be
responded and how many questions they will answer. Secondly, different
responses can be obtained which are not outlined in the questionnaire. Thirdly,
interview can enable the interviewees to express freely and more information can
be obtained.
The main source of information is mainly from the questionnaire. The
questionnaire is designed to solicit information from the members. Although
the majority of the volunteers are Chinese, it is decided to have the questionnaire
in bilingual, the English version is catered for expatriate members and the
Chinese version for the Chinese members. It is believed the misunderstandings
and language barrier can be minmised.
For the purpose of having a systematic approach, the questionnaire is
divided into three sections. The first section is designed to obtain demographic,
7
social social-economic status, interpersonal relationship details of the
respondents; these are sex, age, lengths of service, education, occupation, marital
status, rank and factors influencing a member's joining the AMS. Specifically,
respondents will be also asked to indicate their job nature other than the AMS.
They will be asked whether they are medical professions; whether they are
administrators of private or public sector; their social relationship with the other
members. These are made in a bid to investigating whether there are any
connections between their individual personal characteristics and the staying or
joining the AMS.
Since job satisfaction is considered to have relation with absenteeism and
turnover, section II tries to investigate the respondents' aims of joining the AMS;
their feelings of job satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the activities of the AMS.
They will be asked of three questions relating to expectations of joining the AMS,
whether their expectations have been achieved. A series of questions are set
through the Hersberg (1959), Adam's Equity (1965) and Maslow's (1987)
theories to solicit their thinking. As there may be other reasons to join the AMS,
respondents will be allowed to have at most three choice among five choices and
if these do not cover the respondents' choice, they may specify them in the
'others' column. Due to the nature of the information solicited, some questions
are designed to ask the respondents to select one choice. Through these questions
it is hoped that some insights can be gained of the motivation.
In section III, it focuses on the issue of training, asking their feelings of
training, their needs and their satisfaction on training. Again, the respondents
8
will be asked to rate each statement using the 1-choice format.
As the questionnaire cannot comprehensively cover all the background
scenario of all the respondents, they will be allowed to make their own comments.
As such more in-dept information can be obtained.
Interviews and distribution of questionnaires were made on 25 May 2003
and 1 June 2003 in two meetings in which 309 and 206 members attended
respectively. Of all the 515 questionnaires issued, 246 and 162, making a total
of 408, were returned on 25 May 2003 and 1 June 2003 respectively. The
response rate is 79.2 %. The response rate is considered quite high.
At the same time, in the morning on the same days, as other activities were
conducted in the same building, interviews were conducted. There were
altogether 10 members (5 on each day) interviewed. The interviewees were asked
the same questions as listed in the questionnaire. Hence, these 10
questionnaires were pooled into the questionnaires issued in the gathering.
Therefore, the total number of returned questionnaires is 418.
Structure of the Dissertation
This study is divided into 5 chapters and the flow is briefly as following:
In Chapter two, this study will review the major theoretical aspect of
motivation. It will take the from-general-to-specific approach. It includes the
9
two main categories of theories of motivation, namely, the extrinsic based
rewards and the intrinsic based rewards. These two will firstly be reviewed.
Then, the concept of altruism will be discussed, the factors of social-economic
status, interpersonal networks and demographic characteristic of volunteers will
be studied. Lastly, the effect of training on them will be examined.
In Chapter three, It will contain the AMS's historical development,
background information, the roles and responsibilities of the organisation. It
describes the detailed works of the volunteers, the turnover of membership of the
organisation, the types of training and the costs of the turnover.
In Chapter four, the findings and analysis of the survey will be delineated;
the social-economic, interpersonal networks and demographic data will be tabled
and analysed. Attempts to relate the motivation concept to the AMS members'
feelings will be made. The research is designed mainly in the form of survey
and document research of the AMS. The collection of data and analysis data will
be explained. It is hoped that some insight of the degree of satisfaction of the
members with their jobs will be taken and therein some information can be
collected to improve the degree of satisfaction.
In Chapter five, conclusions of the findings, and recommendations based on
the findings are outlined to conclude the study.
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CHAPTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
People agree that human resource is a valuable asset in an organisation. In
order to maintain the competitive efficiency, an organisation needs to know how
to motivate people to join the institute; to stay; to contribute performance and,
particularly for a voluntary organisation, to volunteer. To this end, it is very
important to study motivation in an organisation, as it can explain why people are
motivated; how a manager can use it as an instrument to induce an individual to
work towards the successful attainment of the goal and objectives of the institute.
The study of motivation can also provide a platform for the investigation of the
causal status of motive and attitudes in organisational behaviour.
This chapter will take the from-general-to-specific approach. The two main
categories of theories of motivation, namely, the extrinsic based rewards and the
intrinsic based rewards will firstly be reviewed, for they are the core and
fundamental to the understanding of the concept of motivation. Secondly, this
review will specifically look into the altruism [for Ross and Shillington (1989) in
a study, 92% of the respondents said that helping others was a very important or
somewhat important reason for volunteering], the factors of social-economic
status, interpersonal networks and demographic characteristic of volunteers,
because they can provide a better understanding of an individual who volunteers.
Lastly, because of the special nature of services provided by the AMS, the effect
11
of training on them will be examined.
General Motivation Theory
The study of motivation is concerned, basically, with why people behave in a
certain way. In general terms, motivation can be described as the direction and
persistence of action. It is concerned with why people choose a particular
course of action in preference to others, and why they continue with a chosen
action, often over a long period, and in the face of difficulties and problems.
From a review of motivation theory, Michell (1982) identifies four common
characteristics, which underlie the definition of motivation:
a) Motivation is typified as an individual phenomenon. Every person is
unique and all the major theories of motivation allow for this uniqueness to
be demonstrated in one way or another.
b) Motivation is described, usually, as intentional. Motivation is
assumed to be under the worker's control, and behaviours that are influence
by motivation, such as effort expended are seen as choices of action.
c) Motivation is multifaceted. The two factors of greatest importance
are:
i) what gets people activated (arousal); and
ii) the force of an individual to engage in desired behaviour
(direction or choice of behaviour),
d) The choice of motivational theories is to predict behaviour.
Motivation is not the behaviour itself, and it is not performance.
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Motivation concerns action, and the internal and external forces which
influence a person's choice of action.
On the basis of these characteristics, Mitchell (1982) defines motivation as -
"the degree to which an individual wants and chooses to engage in certain
specified behaviours."
When we compare Pinder's (1984) definition of motivation - "is a set of
forces, either weak or strong, to initiate, direct, and sustain work-related
behavior." It purports that the underlying concept of motivation is some driving
force within individuals by which they attempt to achieve some goal in order to
fulfil some need or expectation.
Mullins (1996) claims that people's behaviour is determined by what
motives them. Their performance is a product of both ability and motivation.
If manager is to improve work of the organisation, attention must be given to the
level of motivation of its members. He further elaborated that individuals
have a variety of needs and expectations which they attempt to satisfy in a
number of different ways, if their needs are not met, they will become
dissatisfied with their job.
Muchinsky and Turtle (1979) summarized 39 studies of the relationship
between satisfaction and turnover. They all appear that the more people dislike
their jobs, the more likely they are to quit.
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Mobley (1977) contends that feelings of dissatisfaction provoke thoughts of
quitting, which in turn prompt the search for another job. If the costs of quitting
are too high, the person may reevaluate the job (producing a change in
satisfaction), think less about quitting, and / or use other responses like absence
and passive behaviour. If the costs are not too high and the other job looks
goods, this will stimulate the intention to quit, followed by actual quitting.
Satisfaction is a determinant of turnover, but the economic must also be
considered. Muchinsky and Morrow (1980) believe that satisfaction will be a
better predictor of turnover in good economic times. They postulate that under
conditions of high unemployment, employees would rather endure feelings of
dissatisfaction than be out of work. Under good economic conditions with
plentiful jobs, dissatisfaction cold readily result in turnover if other jobs are
available.
Vroom (1964) suggests that job satisfaction is related to voluntary labour
turnover, in the sense that high job satisfaction is associated with low voluntary
labour turnover and vice versa, and indicated that the dissatisfied worker is more
likely to leave than the satisfied worked. Brayfield, A.H. et al (1955) believes
that there is significant relationship between employee dissatisfaction and
subsequent turnover.
Mobley, W. H.(1977) develops a better understanding of how job
satisfaction affect turnover and believes that the probability of someone resigning
is a function of the difference in strength between force to remain and force to
14
leave. He hypothesises that dissatisfaction led to thinking of quitting, intention to
search, intention to stay or leave and finally actually turnover. However, others
studies show that there are other factors influencing job satisfaction and in turn
have impact on the turnover rate of the employee.
As a starting point, the following is a broad two-fold classification for the
motivation to work:
a) Extrinsic Reward - such as pay, fringe benefit, pension right, material
goods and security. This is an instrumental orientation to work and
concerned with 'other things'.
b) Intrinsic Reward - which is derived from the nature of the work itself,
interest in the job, and personal growth and development. This is a
personal orientation to work and concerned with 'oneself.
A person's motivation, job satisfaction will be determined by the
comparative strength of these sets of needs and expectation, and the extent to
which they are fulfilled. For example, some people may make a deliberate
choice to forgo intrinsic rewards (particularly in the short term or in the earlier
years of their working life) in return for high economic reward. Other people
are happy to accept comparatively lower economic rewards in favor of a job that
has high intrinsic rewards.
A useful starting point is the work of Maslow (1987), and his theory of
individual development and motivation. Maslow's basic proposition is that
people are wanting beings, they always want more, and what they want depends
15
on what they already have. He suggests that human needs be arranged in a
series of levels, a hierarchy of importance. These are: a) physiological needs;
b) safety needs; c) social needs; d) esteem needs; e) self-actualisation needs.
Once a lower need has been satisfied it no longer acts as a strong motivator.
The needs of the next higher level in the hierarchy demand satisfaction and
become the motivating influence. Only unsatisfied needs motivate a person.
Thus Maslow asserts that 'a satisfied need is no longer a motivator'. Although
Maslow suggests that most people have these basic needs in the order indicated,
he also makes it clear that the hierarchy is not necessarily a fixed order.
However, Mullins (1996) criticises that there are a number of problems in
relating Maslow's theory to the work situation. These include the following:
i) People do not necessarily satisfy their needs, especially higher-level
needs just through the work situation. They satisfy them through other
areas of their life as well. Therefore, the manager would need to have a
complete understanding of people's private and social life, not just their
behaviour at work.
ii) Individual differences mean that people place different values on the
same need. For example, some people prefer what they might see as the
comparative safety of working in a bureaucratic organisation to a more
highly paid and higher status position, but with less job security, in a
different organisation.
iii) Even for people within the same level of the hierarchy, the motivating
factors will not be the same. There are many different ways in which
16
people may seek satisfaction of, for example, their esteem needs.
iv) Some rewards or outcomes at work satisfy more than one need.
Higher salary or promotion, for example, can apply to all levels of the
hierarchy.
Based on a study with engineers and accountants, Hersberg (1959)
distinguishes between two sets of factors affecting motivation and work. One
set of factors are those which, if absent, cause dissatisfaction. These factors are
related to the job context, they are concerned with job environment and extrinsic
to the job itself. These factors are the 'hygiene' factors or maintenance factors.
They serve to prevent dissatisfaction. The other set of factors are those which,
if present, serve to motivate the individual to superior effort and performance.
These factors are related to job content of the work itself. They are the
'motivators'. The strength of these factors will affect feelings of satisfaction or
no satisfaction, but not dissatisfaction.
17
The two sets of factors are listed below:
Table 2.1
Motivating factors and Hygiene Factors
The hygiene factors can be related roughly to Maslow's lower-level needs
and the motivators to Maslow's higher-level needs. Proper attention to the
hygiene factors will tend to prevent dissatisfaction, but does not by itself create a
positive attitude or motivation to work. It brings motivation up to a zero state.
The opposite of dissatisfaction is not satisfaction but, simply, no dissatisfaction.
To motivate workers to give of their best the manager must give proper attention
to the motivators. The work of Herzberg indicates that it is more likely good
performance leads to job satisfaction rather than reverse.
Herzberg's theory is, however, a source of frequent debate. There have
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Motivating Factors (the Satisfiers)
Sense of achievement
Recognition
Responsibility
Nature of Work
Personal growth and advancement
Hygiene Factors (the Dis-satisfiers)
Salary
Job security
Working conditions
Level and quality of supervision
Company policy and administration
Interpersonal relation
been many other studies to test the theory. The conclusions have been mixed.
Some studies provide support for the theory. However, it has also been attached
by a number of writers. Vroom (1964) claims that the two-factor theory is only
one of many conclusions that can be drawn from the research.
From a review of the research, House and Wigdor (1967) draw attention to
the influence of individual differences. A given factor may be the cause of job
satisfaction for one person but job dissatisfaction for another person, or vice
versa. Within the sample of people, a given factor can be the source of both
satisfaction and dissatisfaction. House and Wigdor conclude that the two-factor
theory is an over-simplification of the source of satisfaction and job satisfaction.
This original supporting research for the two-factor theory was based on
surveys of paid employees. Smith and Berns (1981) points out that volunteers
are in fact motivated by conditions that are both intrinsic and extrinsic to the job:
Pay, is an extrinsic reward which is valued more by employee whose jobs
offer relatively few opportunities for personal growth, independence,
self-expression and other intrinsic rewards (Bevan, 1987).
Two noteworthy studies investigated satisfaction with pay. Dyer and
Theriault (1976) studied pay satisfaction in three samples of US and Canadian
managers. The managers also provided information on their current pay level,
the personal inputs they brought to the job (such as training, experience, seniority,
effort, and performance), and the priority they felt should be given to several
19
factors in making salary decisions. Each of these variables is correlated with the
pay scale. The best single predictor is level of pay; the more people are paid, the
more satisfied they are with their pay. Also, managers who felt that not enough
importance was placed on the cost of living in making salary decisions were
dissatisfied with their pay. The authors conclude that their study add to our
understanding of why people are satisfied with pay.
A second study in this area is conducted by Weiner (1989). It assessed pay
satisfaction in a sample of public service employees by using their pay scale. It
also collected information on attitudes toward turnover. Results show that the
more dissatisfied employees are with pay, the more likely they are to be absent
and quit.
The dissatisfaction of pay may promote poor performance, work stoppages,
turnover and overall satisfaction (Lawer, 1971).
Another important categories of theories of motivation concerns with the
'mental side.' A school of thought claims that wants or needs alone could not
motive bahaviour. An unfulfilled need, or combination of needs can make some
activities that can satisfy the specific need seem attractive but one's motivation to
exert the effort to perform that activity will be greater or less, depending upon
one's beliefs and expectancies about the chances of one's actions leading to the
outcome desired.
Vroom(1964) is the first person to propose an expectancy theory aimed at
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specifically at work motivation. His model is based on three key variables:
valence, instrumentality and expectancy. The theory is founded on the idea that
people prefer certain outcomes from their behaviour to others. They anticipate
feelings of satisfaction should the preferred outcome be achieved.
i) Valence: the feeling about specific outcomes is termed valence. This
is the attractiveness of, or preference for, a particular outcome to the
individual. Vroom distinguishes valence from value. A person may
desire an object but then gain little satisfaction from obtaining it.
Alternatively, a person may strive to avoid an object, but finds, subsequently,
that it provides satisfaction. Valence is the anticipated satisfaction from an
outcome. This may differ substantially from value, which is the actual
satisfaction provided by an outcome.
ii) Instrumentality: the valence of outcome derive, therefore, from
their instrumentality. This leads to a distinction between first-level
outcomes and second-level outcomes. The first-level outcomes are
performance-related. They refer to the quantity of output or to the
comparative level of performance. Some people may seek to perform well
'for its own sake' and without thought to expected consequences of their
action. The second level outcomes are need-related. They are derived
through achievement of first-level outcomes, that is through achieving high
performance. Many need-related outcomes are dependent upon actual
performance rather than effort expended. People generally receive rewards
for what they have achieved, rather than for effort alone or through trying
hard,
iii) Expectancy: when a person chooses between alternative behaviours
21
which have uncertain outcome, the choice is affected not only by the
preference for a particular outcome, but also by the probability that such an
outcome will be achieved. People develop a perception of the degree of
probability that the choice of a particular action will actually lead to the
desired outcome. This is expectancy.
The main theme of theory is the greatest motivating force is related to
expectancies and valences of outcome.
Motivation = Valence of outcome x expectancy of outcome
Although Vroom's theory can be easily understood, the question is how to
assign values to valences and expectancies. It is quite difficult to quantify the
variables. It does not describe nor analyse the difference in expectancies and
valences among individuals, which can be attributed to their different education,
experience, social background etc. These differences can result in a different
outcome. Therefore, it only illustrates the complex motivational process without
describing how motivational decisions are actually made or to solve actual
motivational problems facing a manager.
Later Porter and Lawler (1975) expand on Vroom's theories and state that
individual decision to exert effort will depend upon three perceptions about the
effort-receiving situation. First, there are available rewards for successful
performance resulting from effort to be expanded and that these rewards have
attractiveness for the individual. Second, the successful performance as a result
22
of expanding effort will in fact bring forth their rewards. Third, the expenditure
of effort will result in successful performance. Moreover, successful
performance also depends on the skills and abilities of the individual and their
perception.
The expectancy theory presents a framework on how a manager can
motivate his staff. These include:
i) Rewards must be suitable for the individual to be motivators.
ii) Manager must then define what level of performance they want so that
their staff can know what to do to be rewarded.
iii) Manager must make the performance level attainable and the
appropriate reward must be clearly associated with a period of time with
successful performance.
Adams (1965) equity focuses on people's feeling of how fairly they have
been treated in comparison with the treatment received by others. People
evaluate their social relationships in the same way as buying or selling an item.
People expect certain outcomes in exchange for certain contributions, or inputs.
Social relationships involve an exchange process. For example, a volunteer
may expect promotion as an outcome of a high level of contribution in helping to
achieve an important organisational objective. Volunteers also compare their
own position with that of others. They determine the perceived equity of their
own position. Their feelings about the equity of the exchange are affected by
the treatment they receive when compared with what happens to other people.
According to the theory, people place weighting on those various inputs and
23
outcomes according to how they perceive their importance. When the ratio of a
person's total outcomes to total inputs equals the perceived ratio of other people's
total outcomes to total inputs there is equity. When there is an unequal
comparison of ratios the person experiences a sense of inequity. A feeling of
inequity causes tension, which is an unpleasant experience. The presence of
inequity therefore motivates the person to remove or to reduce the level of
tension and the perceived inequity. The level of tension created determines the
strength of motivation. The inequality may induce a volunteer to try to find a
new situation with a more favorable balance, for example, by absenteeism,
request for a transfer or resignation from the AMS.
Ideas Concerning Volunteers' Motivation
One of the fundamental questions related to volunteer development is "What
motivates people to commit their personal resources, emotional energy, and time
to volunteering?" Altruism is defined in the Concise Oxford Dictionary (1990)
as " regard for others as a principle of action." The humanitarian motives of
volunteers elicit a great deal of controversy, exacerbated by the fact that
volunteers themselves consistently list "service to others" as their most important
reason for volunteering. There is research support for the existence of altruism
(Myers, 1983). Some sociobiological theories contend that it is an evolutionary
advantage for members of a species to act altruistically. These theories propose
a sort of natural selection favoring altruistic behavior. Social norm theories
have identified and provided scientific support for the existence of the social
responsibility norm. This norm influences us to help needy, deserving people,
24
even if they cannot reciprocate. Usually, many of us have come to label people
as altruistic only if they do something without anticipating anything in return.
Whether or not we accept the existence of unconditional altruism, volunteers
often cite the desire to help others as at least one reason for choosing to volunteer
(Ross and Shillington, 1989). However, to the extent that altruism is a primary
motivator for an individual, the mission of the agency and its perceived
alignment with the goal of helping others will affect the success in attracting that
person to volunteer (Widmer, 1985).
One study of board member participation confirms the relevance of belief in
the cause. A large majority is motivated by the contribution. Each person can
make to the important work the agency does in the community; pride in and
passion for the service provided by an organization is being recognized more and
more as a volunteer motivator (Bianchi, 1993). Nevertheless, not everyone
agrees that altruism is a primary motivator for volunteering. It can be said that
most of the current literature acknowledges altruism as at least none component
in the motivation to volunteer. Flashman and Quick (1985) consider altruism is a
primary motivational factor in volunteer behavior. Olson (1965) describes the
presumption that members of developed societies have some undefined 'instinct'
to join associations. He suggests that this is a label for their actions, not an
explanation. Rather, he argues that volunteers derive some benefit themselves,
personally, from joining (although he does not suggest exactly what this benefit
might be). Gidron (1977), who suggests that volunteers report numerous
non-altruistic reasons for volunteering, draws similar conclusions. He notes that,
since volunteers also state that they work for self-oriented reasons and often give
25
no clear reasons at all, the suggestion that altruism is the essence of volunteering
is more romance than a description of reality.
It seems it derives from the use of the term 'altruism' rather than the more
accurate term, 'prosocial.' Rushton and Sorrentino (1981) suggest that to be
altruistic implies 'self-sacrifice' or actions that are contrary to the actor's best
interest. In contrast, 'prosocial' acts are those designed to produce and maintain
the well-being of others without restriction in other kinds of potential 'payoffs'
for the actors. Volunteering clearly is prosocial, and for some individuals these
generalized service goals may be the dominant motives. Prosocial motives
plays some role in understanding organizational volunteers, since volunteering
for organizational work is clearly only one of the many leisure activities that
provide opportunities for rewards such as personal growth and conviviality.
Clark and Wilson (1961) suggest that new associations and organizations are
dominated by members with purposive interests (goal achievement) but that for
many mature ones solitary motives have more importance. Pearce (1983)
reports that volunteers themselves report a decline in the importance of service
motives after joining their organizations. Gallup Organization (1987) also
provides evidence that there is the decline in importance of generalized service as
motivation to remain.
It may be suggested that while the initial motivation to volunteer may be
altruistic, that motivation may also be reassessed in terms of return. Similarly,
the decision to continue as a volunteer will be evaluated in terms of its costs and
reward.
26
As far as the voluntary service is concerned, most research in the volunteer
motivation literature does not test Maslow's theory but presuppose its truth.
Researchers use Maslow's theory as a paradigm from which to analyse or explore
the issues related to volunteer motivation (Knowles, 1972). This has resulted in
some very interesting and practical work. Vineyard (1984), in a book dedicated
to volunteer programme marketing issues, discusses the implications of
Maslow's theory for volunteer motivation. The connection she makes between
unmet needs and volunteer management is summerised in Table 2.2
Although Maslow did not originally intend that the need hierarchy should
necessarily be applied to the work situation and Knowles (1972) explored the
consequences of structuring volunteerism around the need for self-actualisation,
rather than the most basic needs such as love and safety, it still remains popular
as a theory of motivation at work. Despite criticisms and doubt about its
limitation, the theory has had a significant impact on management approaches to
motivation and the design of organisations to meet individual needs. It is a
convenient framework for viewing the different needs and expectations that
people have where they are in the hierarchy, and the different motivators that
might be applied to people at different levels.
27
Table 2.2
Unmet Needs and Volunteer Assignments
The potential Volunteer
Has gifts that are unused
Feels unrecognised,
undervalued, or anonymous
in other settings
Feels lonely
Is fearful of losing job
Has a fixed or lower income
Type of Volunteer Assignment
Opportunities to use unused
gifts
Opportunities to be rewarded,
openly recognised, and
spotlighted
Opportunities that allow
meeting and getting to know
other people
Chances to build new skill,
gain new experiences, or
expand resumes
Opportunities that happen to
have a free meal attached to
them or offer them a winter
heated or summer-cooled site in
which to work
Unmet Need that may
be fulfilled
Self-actualisation
Esteem
Love
Safety
Physiological
Time Dollars are private credits backed and distributed by local non-profit
organisations. Time Dollars record, store, and reward transactions where
28
neighbours help neighbours. People earn Time Dollars by using their skills and
resources to help others - by providing child or elder care, transportation,
cooking, home improvement. The idea is simple: One hour of service equals one
Time Dollar. In turn, people spend Time Dollars to get similar help for
themselves or their families when the time comes that they need it. Time Dollars
can also be redeemed at clubs that gives people discounts on food or health care.
Time Dollars empower any person to convert personal time into purchasing
power - stretching limited cash dollars further and matching unused capacity
with unmet demand. They reinforce reciprocity and trust. They reward civic
engagement and acts of decency in a way that generates social capital, one hour
at a time. They are bringing people together in communities all around the
nation.
There are many reasons why Time Dollars are an idea whose time has come
(Website: www.timedollars.org.com):
First, Time Dollars create the functional equivalent of an extended family in
an era in which many families are too small, too fragile, or too dispersed to
perform the functions we once counted on them to fulfill.
Second, Time Dollars generate and reward the reciprocity and civic
engagement that are the essential components of social capital. They can play a
role in rebuilding the infrastructure of trust and caring that creates safe
neighborhoods and healthy communities.
29
Third, social programmes - governmental, non-profit, and private sector -
fail if they cannot generate sustained participation by the recipient: students,
patients, beneficiaries, at-risk groups. If that participation and labour is essential,
we need to define it as work and reward it accordingly.
Fourth, government and human service professionals pay attention to people
who bring problems, needs, and deficiencies. That inadvertently rewards
dependency. We need to shift from "problem-centered" to "asset-centered"
responses that enable even the most troubled to pay back by helping others and to
secure rewards by using their strengths to contribute to the well-being of all.
Fifth, Time Dollars can leverage the charity work that businesses already
provide by requiring recipients to pay for them in-kind - with volunteer work of
their own.
Time Dollars supply a strategy for performing all of these tasks. The
exchanges they generate, record, and compensate convert human capacity into
the kinetic energy needed to strengthen families, rebuild community, and
enhance the quality of civic life.
People Who Volunteer
A clearer understanding of the individual who volunteers should help us to
understand volunteer motivation better. There is a large body of empirical
research on volunteering, and although this effort suffers the theoretical
30
fragmentation, it is an excellent database for theory-building. Pearce (1983)
proposes that these findings have two major strengths. First, there have been
numerous replications, over time and across different population. Second, the
work on economic social and demographic characteristics is useful precisely
because the measures are reliable. Measures of education, sex property
ownership are not without measurement error, but this error is minimal when
compared to the error in such variables as self-reporting of reasons for
volunteering. Hence, it is intended to know a lot of about whom volunteers and
this evidence provide a solid foundation for learning more about why individuals
volunteer.
The results of this research will be grouped into three categories:
socioeconomic status, interpersonal networks and demographic characteristic.
Socioeconomic status
Those with higher income, educational level, occupational status, and family
lineage status and those who own more property are more likely to volunteer.
Edwards and White (1980) analyzed which of the socioeconomic predictors of
volunteering (e.g. income, education, or occupational status) explain the most
variance in a sophisticated multivariate model of volunteering. McPherson and
Lockwood (1980) completed a community study data using multivariate
techniques. Using multiple regression, in which they systematically controlled
for alternative explanatory variables, they point out that education is the better
predictor of volunteering. Furthermore, socioeconomic status is consistently
31
associated with the kinds of organizations joined: blue collar volunteers are more
likely to join sports clubs, church, with the middle and upper classes
concentrated in educational, business and professional groups. Members of
different social groups appear to be attracted to different kinds of organizations.
Lunderg (1934) argues that those of higher socioeconomic status have more
leisure time to volunteer. This explanation appears to be too simplistic, since
other groups with ample time such youth, the aged and the unemployed have
markedly lower levels of volunteering. Perhaps the higher the socioeconomic
status of an individual, then the greater his or her attractions for status-oriented
organizations.
Interpersonal networks
Wanous (1980) finds that the organisational practices designed to 'recruit'
employees can result in unrealistically high expectations and, subsequently, in
high turnover. His empirical research demonstrated that 'realistic recruitment'
led to equal rates of job acceptance but to lower subsequent turnover.
How might these well-established ideas apply to volunteers? It seems the
best form of realistic job preview for volunteers may be having a friend or
associate already working for the organisation. Friends and family members are
unlikely to mislead (although they may suffer from enthusiasm). The fact that
personal contact is the dominant form of recruiting may be an artifact of the
lower turnover of recruited friends, family members, and associates. Since
dissatisfied volunteers would be expected to leave immediately, with no need to
32
secure alternative employment, volunteers recruited through friends and family
may be the only ones not to leave and so are to be found in most organisations at
any point in time.
Therefore, Anderson (1943) remarks that those who come into contact with
volunteers are more likely to volunteers. Adam and Mogey (1967) propose that
the spouses of volunteers are more likely to also be volunteers. Zimmer (1956)
suggests familiarity, rather than some inherent differences in propensity to
volunteer, is the most important factor, for he interviewed a random sample of
residents of a small Midwestern town to discover how recent rural immigrants
differed from long-time town dwellers in their pattern of volunteering, and other
characteristic. He finds that immigrants are initially less likely to volunteer, but
that they soon approximate the volunteering levels of the native population.
This research is supported by Stark and Bainbridge (1980). They point out that
recruitment into religious groups depends heavily on social networks. In
addition, the importance of personal networks in the recruitment of volunteers is
found in the positive correlation between volunteering and having a large number
of friends (Scott, 1957). There is substantial research demonstrating that most
organizational volunteers are recruited through personal contact (Sills, 1968).
He found that only 10% of the volunteers in his sample volunteered on their own
initiative; the rest were recruited by a friend (52%), another member of the
community (20%), or by an occupational colleague (18%).
The evidence is strong consistent that most volunteers are recruited by their
friends, relatives, or associates. Thus, those with more extensive personal
33
contacts are more likely to be recruited. The more people you know, the more
likely you are to know a volunteer eager to recruit a co-worker.
Demographic characteristic
There are studies reporting relationships between volunteering and demographic
characteristics, but the relationship between age and volunteering is complex:
volunteering among teenagers increases until about 18 years, then decreases,
remaining low until the late twenties, when it rises, reaching a peak from age 40
to 55, from which it gradually decrease. Mayo (1950) studied the participation
rates for each person over 10 years of age in a rural South Carolina country. He
noted an increase in participation during teenage years but found a sharp decline,
to the lowest rates for any group, during the twenties. Other researchers have
recorded a peak in volunteering when individuals are in their forties and fifties
(Gallup Organisation, 1987).
Regarding to sex, men are more likely to be volunteers than are women
(Olsen, 1970). Wright and Hyman (1958) and Komarovsky (1946) find that
men are more likely to be volunteers than women in the United States, However,
Gallup Organization (1987) has reported that American women are at least as
likely to volunteer as men. The conflict is resolved when the types of
organization are examined, since women and men consistently belong to
different types of groups. Argyle (1959) and ACTION (1975) report that women
are more likely to join religious or service organization, while men join
professional associations.
34
Perhaps, these demographic studies support the important of interpersonal
ties. For example, cohesive sub-population (e.g. immigrant groups) has denser
interpersonal networks and, therefore, higher rates of volunteering. The low rates
of volunteering among young adults can be explained by their great mobility in
pursuit of their career.
Finally, the relative participation rates in various countries have been a
source of controversy. Rose (1958), relying on national survey data,
observation, and a 'systematic commentary study,' concludes that volunteering is
negligible in France. However, Gallagher (1957) argues that voluntary
organisations in France are numerous but that there are proportionately fewer of
the reform and welfare type when compared to the United States.
Training
Training is important activities in all organization. Newly hired employees need
to be trained to perform their jobs. Existing employees need to acquire new
skills and knowledge. Changes, particularly in technology organizational change,
mean that people and organizations are continually faced with situations that
required new learning. Mullins (1996) says that training can lead to many
potential benefits for both individuals and the organization. It can increase
confidence, motivation and commitment of staff; and give a feeling of personal
satisfaction and achievement.
35
Yet, the research evidence is that many organizations do not understand the
value of using training for strategy ends (Hussey, 1996). The purpose of
training is to help the organization and individuals compete more effectively now
and in their future (Berry, 1990). Bruce and Blackburn (1992) propose that
companies that do provide employees opportunities for growth and development
through training are reaping the benefits. But Grey and Gelfond (1990) unveil
that most employees do not believe their companies are doing enough to attract
high quality performers, train them, or manage them effectively.
The trainability of employees is an important preliminary. Organization
must consider trainees' attitudes and expectation because these can support or
inhibit learning and influence the overall reaction to the training programme
(Noe, 1986).
At the same time, if an organization provides lots of training opportunities,
it is more likely to retain workers because it creates an interesting and
challenging environment; increasing an individual's employability outside the
organization simultaneously increase his job security and, desire to stay with his
current employer.
Volunteers are mostly workers of full-time jobs elsewhere. As Wilson
(1984) says, 'These volunteers are unwilling to tolerate poorly managed, low
quality and ineffective programmes.' They have a smorgasbord of options,
since everyone needs their help, and they tend to go where their time and
contribution is well used and appreciated.. Agencies know this are more open
36
to training than ever before.'
Therefore, the above studies indicate that training provide attraction for
volunteers to stay as well as to prepare them to perform their responsibilities
which can motivate them on the one hand and enhance organisational
effectiveness on the other.
Conclusion
In this chapter, the various motivation theories are reviewed. It is not intended to
mean they are the comprehensive ones, nor is it meant to imply that they are
independent of each other. It is used as a basis to enable large quantity of
information to be better understood.
It is manifest that motivation is a complex phenomenon with many causal
bases and that no one theory to date has been successful in incorporating all of
them. Particularly when they apply to volunteers, it may have a different result.
Deakin (1991) sees voluntary organizations' characteristics determined by a
market orientated approach, as " altruism, amateurism and the absence of overt
political activity, with charitable status and religious affiliation as desirable
extras." Apparently, as the volunteers needs and expectations are different. It
may also be due to the unique characteristics of volunteer work which is
fundamentally different with the works by employees in a formal organization.
In view of that, this study is not to compare the various theories of
37
motivation but tries to apply them to seek what motivates the volunteers in the
AMS.
38
CHAPTER 3 - AMS: ORIGIN, STRUCTURE, AND
OPERATIONS
Origin
During the Second World War, the then Hong Kong Government, for the sake of
the security of the Colony, implemented the Compulsory Services Ordinance
(CSO), Cap 246, Laws of Hong Kong. Under this Ordinance, the then
Government played all five roles to provide the civil defense for the public at
large: namely, producer, owner, provider, regulator and facilitator. All adults
had to join one of the essential service corps and be ready to serve when there
was a need.
After the War, the government, being incapable to maintain large regular
forces for the preparation of disaster, emergencies and civil disturbances, because
of the financial depth, came up the concept of "Public interest partnership" which
brought citizens, government officials and business together to address this
question of general concerns. This arrangement of allowing citizens to
participate in the Government business has recognised the citizens' contribution
in this complex question. For this, this strong measure of strengthening
voluntarism and enhancing the social capital have resulted in building a strong,
stable and better government (Plumptre & Graham, 2000) over the years.
The CSO was suspended and replaced by the Essential Services Corps
39
Ordinance (ESCO), Chapter 197 in 1950. The ESCO became law on 7
December 1949. Henceforth, the conscript system was official abolished. It
was considered, because civil defense is a market failure problem, necessary for
the Governor to raise and maintain a volunteer force of persons who would assist
in the maintenance or the performance of essential services in the territory of
Hong Kong. The ESCO not only applied to the AMS but to all other essential
services corps. It covered the then Auxiliary Fire Service, the Regiment, the
Auxiliary Police Force, the Auxiliary Air Force, and the Civil Aid Service.
AMS was officially established on 22 December 1950. It formerly
attached to the then Medical & Health Department (M&HD) as a division of it.
The change of time in the last several decades has made the life of Hong Kong
more complicated. In the 70s, for the purpose of keeping pace with the
development of the community, the AMS expanded its scopes of services and
diversified its activities such as providing first aid training to civil servants in
various government departments. Hence its scope of services became widened.
In 1983, the AMS separated form the M&HD and became an independent
government department.
Gradually, the Secretary for Security found the ESCO could not give an
umbrella to cover these areas and it was lagging behind time. For it was too
generalised and non-specific for uniformed and, disciplined units, e.g. the Royal
Hong Kong Regiment, the Royal Auxiliary Air Force and the Royal Hong Kong
Auxiliary Police Force. As such, separate legislation was introduced for each of
these units, and ordinances, Chapter 199 and 198 and Chapter 233 respectively
40
came into being. The introduction of such legislations had left the remaining
auxiliary units namely the AMS and Civil Aid Service to continue to rely on the
ESCO legal backing. This was found undesirable, especially the AMS had had
considerable changes and expansions and had accepted more duties and activities
for which proper legal recognition must be allowed.
On 25.9.1986, the AMS put forward a proposed new legislation for the
AMS and Revision of the Essential Services Corps Ordinance (Appendix B). It
delineated that the ESCO was originally designed specially to cater for any
emergency situations in war or peace and not for training for and performance of
medical civic duties of a non-hazardous nature during peaceful time. Therefore,
an ordinance specifically designed and tailor-made for the AMS was required.
Despite the initiative, the proposal was put aside by the Security Branch
and no progressed was made for unknown reasons. After the lapse of a decade,
in 1997, the Principal Assistant Security for Security on 2.12.1996 in a
Legislative Council (LegCo) Panel on Security in Legislative Council briefed the
panel that the ESCO was too generalised,. Modern day application, a separate
and updated legislation for AMS to reflect its current services and operations was
required (Appendix C).
On 25.3.1997, the Executive Council ordered that the AMS Bill be
introduced into the Legislative Council (Appendix D). As such, after the
publication in the Gazette on 4.4.1997, the Secretary for Security on 9.4.1997
moved the first reading and the second reading of the Bill in LegCo (Appendix
41
E).
On 4.6.1997, the LegCo passed the AMS Ordinance, Chapter
517(Appendix F). The AMSO announced by the Secretary for Security had
come into operation on 13.6.1997 (Appendix G). Going through these
processes, the AMSO was separated from the ESCO and AMS had its separate
legal entity.
Nowadays, the AMS has its establishment and regulations under the AMSO.
It is a corps of professional doctors, nurses and trained volunteer members to
perform tasks to augment the regular medical and health services, such as Health
(DH) Department, the Hospital Authority (HA) and ambulances services of Fire
Services Department (FSD) (AMS Fact sheet, 1998, Appendix H). The primary
purpose of establishing the unit is to tap the manpower of the volunteers in
tackling natural disasters and calamities in times of emergency. The Director of
Health, playing the role as a volunteer, is the ex-officio Commissioner of the
AMS under the Ordinance (AMSO), she serves a dual role as Director of the
Health Department and Commissioner of the AMS in a volunteer capacity. The
Commissioner is, as what Romzek, (2000) classified, hierarchically accountable
to Security Secretary of the Security Bureau.
The AMS has an establishment of 4,418 volunteer members nowadays. It
is commanded by the Commissioner through the AMS headquarters, which is
manned by 98 full-time staff (Appendix I). They mainly perform general
administrative duties such as monitoring the operations and organising training
42
for the volunteers. The Chief Staff Officer of the AMS Headquarters (a full-time
Chief Executive Officer) is responsible for its daily operations. He is also
accountable to the Commissioner. The Volunteers' Organisation Chart is listed
in Appendix J.
Structure of the Organisation
Despite of unique composition of members, the AMS is one of the Government
departments. Its structure without exception consists of a hierarchical
organistional structure. There are:
Operations Wing
Members of Operations Wing are regarded as the skeleton uniformed workforce
responsible for performing all the operational duties of AMS. They will be
mobilized in the manner laid down in AMS Operations Orders.
The Operations Wing is divided into two Wings according to the
distribution of population in order that the day-to-day administration work can be
performed more efficiently (Appendix J). The Operations Wing 1 (OW1) will
include three regions, viz: Hong Kong (HK), Kowloon East (KE) and Kowloon
West (KW). The Operations Wing 2 (OW2) will include two regions, viz: New
Territories East (NTE) and New Territories West (NTW). Each Operations Wing
will be headed by an Assistant Commissioner (AC) rank officers who will be
responsible for the day-to-day administration work of their respective regions.
43
However, to avoid confusion arising from different command sources during
operations / emergencies, the Deputy Commissioner (Ops) will assign one of
these ACs as the field commander of all the regions according to a duty shift
roster. Under the Regions, there are districts. Each district formation will
comprise 4 teams and will be under the supervision of 1 District Commander and
1 Assistant District Commander. The total establishment of a district is 186. In
terms of team mobilization, a single team deployment is designed to be capable
of handling an incident with less than 10 casualties. Teams will take turns to be
on the first call. If there are quite a number of incident sites in one major
emergency (but not more than 100 casualties), the other teams in the same
District will be mobilized at the same time. This arrangement will enable a
self-contained roster system within the District formation in response to local
disasters.
Training and Development Column
The implementation of various centralised training activities are effected through
the Training & Development Column (TDC). Regular training for volunteers
focuses on training of instructors who in turn will conduct sub-unit training at
district level for passing knowledge onto the frontline operatives among AMS
members. The TDC is responsible for recruit training and various centralized
training including foot-drill, casualty evacuation training and nursing care
training conducted by professional nurses in both central and district levels.
The TDC consists of the Development Branch and Training Institute. The
Column is headed by an Assistant Commissioner. He will assist AMS
44
Headquarters staff to conduct training need surveys and develop training
strategies for volunteer members.
a. Development Branch
In view of the rapid global environmental changes, the reinforcement of
modern managerial skills in an organization is of paramount importance to
its success. To cater for this need, the Development Branch is tasked to
conduct Human Resources development and management training in order
to upkeep and modernize the managerial knowledge and skills for AMS
supervisory personnel. The Development Branch is headed by a Branch
Commander and is assisted by an Assistant Branch Commander.
b. Training Institute
Centralized training such as training package design, district instructors
briefing, recruit training and refresher training courses are conducted.
The Training Institute is headed by a Commandant and is by an Assistant
Commandant.
Medical and Paramedic Column
This Column includes 2 branches namely the Emergency Response Task Force
and the Reserve Branch. It will serve as a contingent pool of manpower resource
to reinforce the front-line personnel in different types of emergency situations.
45
a. Emergency Response Task Force (ERTF) Branch
ERTF is responsible for providing triage and paramedic service at the scene
of emergency sites. Members will work hand in hand with the Emergency
Medical Teams of the Hospital Authority and also work with AMS
members from different districts. In addition, ERTF is responsible for
providing assistance to the Accident & Emergency Department of hospitals
that are affected by the sudden influx of a large number of disaster
casualties. During normal time, ERTF officers would be responsible for
conducting Disaster Medical Assistants training for AMS members.
b. Reserve Branch
On the occasion of a major disaster, AMS may be called upon to set up
temporary centers for accommodating convalescent patients on a prolonged
basis. For such contingency, the Reserve Branch is designed to enlist a
pool of experts who come from different disciplines of healthcare. Those
professionals who preferred not to be actively involved in day-to-day
operations such as experienced doctors, nurses, radiographers, pharmacists;
physiotherapists are grouped in this Branch. In times of emergency, (for
example, the need to set up of a temporary field hospital), they will be
mobilized to support the Service. Members of this Branch will only be
called out on the occasion of full emergency and will not be required to
fulfill the minimum training requirement and they will not be involved in
46
the daily operational routines during normal situations.
Logistics and Support Column
This Column plays a major supporting role in the Service. Members in this
Column will provide various kinds of back-up services to the operational
frontline personnel; such back-up is vital and crucial to the continuous provision
of high quality operational services to the public. There are two branches in
this Column namely Logistics Branch and Support Branch.
a. Logistics Branch
This is established to provide the technical know-how logistics and
improvement of quality of services of AMS. It includes the Communication
& Information Technology Division, the Public Relations & Education
Division and the Service Quality Division.
b. Support Branch
This branch consists of the Band Division, the Transport Division and the
Welfare Division. Its main functions are for support purposes in terms of
members' morale (from the staff welfare aspects) and other operational
support (through a pool of drivers).
47
Operations of the AMS
The AMSO has authorized the AMS to perform the following functions (Section
4, AMSO):
a) on the occasion of an emergency, to assist in -
i) the regular medical and health service;
ii) the ambulance and other rescue services;
b) at the discretion of the Chief Executive, to perform such other
functions as may be commensurate with the training of members, and on
such occasions, as he may order; and
c) at the discretion of the Commissioner, to provide such other services of
a non-emergency nature for the general benefit of the community as he
may direct.
With the assistance of the LLA Pacific Limited, a consultant, AMS has
adjusted and established its long-term vision and missions in 1996:
Vision: To be a premier voluntary supplementary medical and health services
provider.
Mission: Provide resources to augment the regular medical and health services to
maintain the care and well-being of the people of Hong Kong in the most
efficient and effective manner through a well-trained, professional and
committed volunteer force.
Through the years, the development of the AMS has embarked on different
activities, the key works undertaken by AMS are:
(a) Emergency Services;
48
(b) Regular Services; and
(c) Training of AMS volunteer members.
Emergency Services
In order to respond efficiently and effectively to emergency calls and requests,
the Government has formulated specific contingency plans for natural disasters
and calamities. As soon as emergency requests are received from either FSD,
HA or DH, AMS will mobilize the volunteers to provide the following
emergency services:
(a) Operating emergency medical centers; such as deploying nurses and
members to man a clinic at the quarantine camps at the Sai Kung Outdoor
Recreation Camp, Lei Yu Mun Recreation Camp for those residents of
Amoy Gardens.
(b) Providing on-site medical and paramedic services: such as deploying
members stationed at the Amoy Gardens to provide services of counseling,
body temperature measurement, distribution of facial masks etc.
(c) Reinforcing ambulance depots, hospitals and clinics with personnel
and emergency supplies: incidents such as the Garry Building Fire, AMS
ambulances and personal re-enforced the FSD, HA.
(d) Operating dressing stations and convalescent units at appropriate
locations: dressing station will set up whenever typhoon no. 8 is hoisted.
(e) Manning of clinics in detention centres e.g. Vietnamese Boat People'
camps and quarantine camps.
49
Regular Services
In addition to the emergency services, AMS also provides the following regular
services to the community:
(a) Manning of methadone clinics: AMS deploys trained volunteer
members to man the methadone clinics of the DH. They perform the
administrative work, distribution of drug and accounting.
(b) First-aid coverage for public functions: In cooperation with other
government departments, AMS provides first-aid coverage for public
events such as the Fireworks Displays, the New Year's Eve Count-down
Carnivals and the Community Chest Walk for Millions. AMS also
provides first-aid coverage for public requests from non-profit making
organizations.
(c) Non-emergency ambulance transfer service: AMS provides
non-emergency ambulance transfer service to patients of the DH and
private hospitals. The Hospital Authority will provide ambulances to
convey its own patients among its hospitals, AMS will convey patients of
government clinics for specialist follow-up treatment.
(d) First-aid and ambulance services in country parks: AMS mans
first-aid posts in country parks established at designated points by the
Agricultural, Fisheries and Conservation Department
(e) Life-saving service: To provide life-saving service during weekends
and holidays in the summer months at different gazetted beaches.
50
(f) First-aid training: AMS provides first-aid talks upon requests from
non-profit making organizations and schools. It also organizes basic
courses in first aid and resuscitation for civil servants.
Training of AMS Volunteer members
If an organization provides lots of training opportunities, it js more likely to
retain workers because it creates an interesting and challenging environment, and
it can increase confidence, motivation and commitment of them, giving them a
feeling of personal satisfaction and achievement (Buckly, 1992). To this ends,
the AMS now is providing the following 3 types of training-
a) Recruit training: It is a basic requirement. All recruits other than
medical professionals (e.g. doctors and nurses) are required to undergo the recruit
training. They are trained with the prerequisite know-how, such as first aid, the
AMS Ordinance, operational orders, radio telephone procedure, casualty
evacuations the use of resuscitation equipment and squad drills etc. Training
days are held on Sunday mornings and weekday evenings. Other than these
in-service provided contents, speakers from the ICAC would give lectures on the
'prevention of Bribery Ordinance'; nurses from the Hospital Authority would be
invited to brief on the concept and skills of Disaster Medicine. The course lasts
a total of 120 hours of training. At the end of the course, volunteers have to
take the end-of-the course examination. Those successful volunteers will be
posted to various team in different districts where they will have further training.
The successful number of AMS recruit members in the year 1999/00, 2000/01,
2001/02, 2002/03 are 478, 494, 208 and 522 respectively.
51
b) Regular team training: after the recruit training, a volunteer will be
posted to a team of a district. It is a regular meeting in which volunteer will
have the advanced training materials. The meetings will be held on two Sunday
mornings and one evening monthly basis. Through these meetings, AMS HQ
reinforces its volunteer members' latest knowledge and skills in various related
aspects through this training volunteers can enhance their proficiency. For
example, recently, the Disaster Medical Assistant Training Programme
prescribed in the three-year training curriculum has been designed to equip the
volunteers with the state-of-the-art knowledge (AMS Standing Order No.41).
Individual members allocated in different teams in Operations Wing have to take
this nature of training. Annually, all members (other than the medical
professional) have to take the proficiency examination. Should a volunteer
fails in the examination, he will be immediately suspended from duties and
should he fails again the succeeding year, his membership will be liable to be
terminated (AMS Standing Order, No. 41). Furthermore, to ensure that the
volunteer members are up-keeping their operational efficiency, a mandatory
efficiency requirement is stipulated in Section 10 of the AMS Regulation
(AMSR). Under this section, volunteer members, in addition to their
performance of duties, they have to attend a minimum of 60 hours of training in
the regular team training annually in order to comply with the efficiency
requirement, unless the Commissioner exempts otherwise. In the last four years,
there were 4,593, 4,420, 4,068 and AMS volunteers attended the training
respectively {Estimates for the year Ending March 2001-2003 (Volume 1 A)}
On completion of the basic training, further or more advance general regular
52
sub-unit training will be provided to each and every member. Centralized
training related to casualty handling, nursing, life-saving, and practical sessions
at hospital wards, Accident and Emergency Departments are available to
members. Members are also provided with training in the field of leadership,
supervisory techniques and management. A newly developed programme on
Disaster Medicine which aims to quality all members at Disaster Medical
Assistant level is being introduced with a three-year plan of implementation
throughout the training curriculum.
Remuneration of AMS Volunteer Members
AMS members are remunerated with pay & allowances in accordance with the
Auxiliary Forces Pay and Allowances Ordinance (AFPAO). Under the
Ordinance, volunteer members are eligible for pay and allowances only when
they have been called out to provide emergency, regular services or when they
have undergone training arranged by AMS. In normal circumstances, pay and
allowances are calculated in hourly rates or daily rates fixed by the Finance
Committee of the Legislative Council (Appendix K, for prevailing AMS Pay
Code and Rates of Pay).
The Turnover of volunteers in the AMS (Including involuntary turnover)
Ever since the inception of the AMS in 1950, the AMS had the
establishment of 5,835 (AMS, VI/02). Through the years, the strength of the
AMS was in the vicinity of 4,400 (AMS, Vl/02). The Service could not fill all
53
the vacancies despite a lot of measures had been taken to recruit more members
(AMS, V5/03). These included to promote the publicity by going to vocational
schools to give recruitment talks, to take part in recruitment campaign held by
the Labour Department, to advertise on the television. These did not help much
to fill the gap of vacancies. This status quo had been maintained until 1993.
In the year, with a view to promoting efficiency and budget economy, the
Secretary for Security deployed a consultant to study the feasibility of the
amalgamation of the AMS and Civil Aid Service (AMS Vl/02). After two
months' study, the report turned down the proposal of the amalgamation, but it
recommended that the AMS be reduced its establishment by 10 % from 5,835 to
5,258 so as to truly reflect its actual strength
Since 1993, AMS has undergone no major structural reform. But the
under-strength has not been improved. Despite in 1996, the Human Resources
Management Consultancy Project Report, initiated by the AMS opined that: "the
key strategic issue facing AMS is the continuing recruitment and retention of a
volunteer force that can meet AMS's obligations for both emergency response
and regular services," and recommended a series of programme to improve the
situation. However, not much progress has been made. In mid-2000 the Audit
Commission conducted a value-for-money audit of AMS and the Director of
Audit in his Report No. 35 (Audit Commission, 2000) that the AMS, inter alia,
was expected to critically examined in its establishment review whether it was
provided with resources surplus to its requirement.
In response to such criticism, an Establishment and Structural Review
54
Committee (the ESRC) was formed to conduct the above-mentioned review.
The committee proposed that the total establishment of the service be reduced by
about 16% from 5,258 to 4,418 (ESRC Report, 2001). This figure of 4,418 has
been derived from the management's decision to delete some vacancies, which
would not be filled in the near foreseeable future. The committee considered that
since the last establishment review in 1993, the actual strength of AMS had
always been maintained between 85-90% of the total establishment. For example,
the strength in 1998 was 4,650, 1999 was 4,593 and 2000 was 4,420. Based on
the past experiences, the senior management of AMS considered that the
proposed establishment which was also by existing level of strength should be
able to cope with the various operational needs and demand of services. The
reduction in establishment was mainly be achieved by re-engineering the
Operations Wing and abolition of the Hospital Wing. The professionals from the
Hospital Wings were re-deployed to the operational branches to enhance their
professionalism and operational efficiency of the operational units.
Since the year 1990, as far as the turnover of the volunteers in the AMS is
concerned the highest turnover number of volunteers is 900 in 1997 (Table 3.1).
The reason for such high dropout was mainly due to the introduction of the
AMSO in which it mandatory required all the members who attained the year of
60 of age had to retire. Other than that, the highest figure is 667 in 2002 and the
lowest is 373 in 1992. It is prima facie that the dropout rates are 15% and 8.3 %
of the strength respectively. The average turnover of all the year is 12 %.
Certainly, they left the Service for various reasons, they might be due to family
affairs, unsatisfactory of the Service, etc. Apart from that, the vacancies were
55
not fully filled for many years. The highest one is 1,535, which is 26 % of the
establishment. The AMS could not recruit the people to join the Service. This
figure of establishment did not reflect the actual requirement of the Service,
therefore it attracted a series of criticism demanding the reduction of the figure.
Table 3.1
Percentage of Wastage of volunteer from 1990 to 2002, AMS
Year
(Financial
year)
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
Wastage
601
350
373
431
418
494
473
900*
508
535
667
560
550
Wastage
in%
13.9%
8.1 %
8.3 %
9.1 %
8.7 %
10.4%
9.9 %
19.3 %
10.9%
11.6%
15%
14%
14%
Strength
4300
4315
4495
4713
4801
4772
4770
4665
4650
4593
4420
4068
4040
Establishment
5835
5835
5835
5258
5258
5258
5258
5258
5258
5258
5258
5258
4418
Vacancies
1535
1520
1340
545
457
486
488
593
608
665
838
1190
378
% of the
Establis
hment
26.30677
26.0497
22.96487
10.36516
8.691518
9.243058
9.281095
11.27805
11.56333
12.64739
15.93762
22.63218
8.555908
*It was mainly due to the introduction of the compulsory retirement age of 60,
which took effect with the enactment of the Auxiliary Medical Service Ordinance
in 1997.
Source: Data are collected from the Membership Section of the AMS
56
The cost of turnover of volunteer membership
It is evident that the AMS turnover rate is around 12 % of the strength. A new
member recruited has to undergo the 120-hour recruitment training. This
training to provide them with the requisite know-how so that he can facilitate
him to carry out the task with sufficient proficiency. This unformed standard
can guarantee the service provided can up to the acceptable level. Thus except
the medical professionals, all members have to take the recruitment training.
The year dropout for example in 2002 is 550. The cost of a recruit will be
calculated as Table 3.2:
Table 3.2
The total cost of enrolling a member
Items
Recruitment Training
Uniform
Recruitment Interview and Process
byHQ
Recruitment training (including
accommodation, instructors,
training aids)
Total of a member
cost
120 hours (total training hours of
recruitment training) x $30.5*
(hourly rate of pay)=$3,660
$1,500
$100
$3,125
$8,385
Source: AMS T3/01
• Pay and Allowances, AFPAO, Cap. 254 (Appendix K)
57
The cost of enrolling a member is approximately $8,383. Taking our last
year's turnover as the example, it cost about 4.6 million dollars ($8,385 x 550)
which will be about 7.7 % of total expenses of the AMS (AMS F3/05). It is
manifest that the cost of turnover carries a significant impact. The quality of
services can be improved if the fund can be reinvested on other aspect of
services.
Minimum Training Attendance Requirement
For the purpose of maintaining the members' proficiency in operations, members
are required to satisfy the efficiency requirement. Under section 30, of the
AMSR, unless the Commissioner directs otherwise, volunteer members in the
Operations Wing who perform the bulk of the regular services have to attend a
minimum of sixty hours of training each year. The AMS Standing Order (SO)
No. 41 - Training Policy stipulates that individual teams officers are required to
report quarterly in writing to the AMS HQ of the training attendance of its
members. A member who fails to comply with the AMSR' requirement, the
Commissioner may impose on him one or more of the following disciplinary
action:
a. a reduction in rank
b. a caution, warning, reprimand or severe reprimand; and
c. a fine not exceeding $500
In order to standardise the procedure, the following course of disciplinary
58
action will be taken (AMS SO No. 41):
a. A first warning will be issued to the volunteer member if he fails to
attain the required minimum training attendance rate in the first quarter;
b. A final warning will be issued to the volunteer member if he still fails
to attend the required minimum training attendance rate in the succeeding
two consecutive quarters; and
c. The volunteer member will be discharged without going through any
disciplinary proceeding if he fails to reply within fourteen days in writing
with reasonable excuse of not attending the training.
In the Auditor's Report No. 35, the Commissioner, in a bid to ascertaining
the extent to which the volunteer members complied with the Standing Order's
training attendance requirement, reportted an analysis of the training records of
550 volunteer members on stratified random basis in the Operations Wing and
the Logistic Wing for the period 1997 to 2000. The analysis revealed that 41.5
%, 34.4 % and 38.4 % of the volunteer members of the target group failed to
comply with the Standing Order requirement in 1997/98, 1998/99 and 1999/2000
respectively (Auditor Report No.35).
59
Table 3.3
AMS Percentage of Volunteer Member
who did not comply AMS SO, 1997-2000
Year
1997/98
1998/99
1999/2000
No. of volunteer
members selected
for analysis
500
500
500
No. of members who did
not comply with the SO
228
189
211
Percentage
41.5%
34.4 %
38.4 %
Source: Auditor Report No. 35
Among those members, who failed to comply the Order, had only attended
51%, 46% and 44% of the required training hours in 1997/98, 1998/99 and
1999/2000 respectively.
Table 3.4
Analysis of the Actual Attendance of AMS Volunteer Members who did not
comply with the Standing Order's requirement
Year
1997/98
1998/99
1999/2000
No. of hours of
attendance
required
60
60
60
Average hours of
attendance
30.6
27.6
26.94
Percentage of
attendance
5 1 %
4 6 %
44.9 %
Source: Auditor's Report No. 35
60
According to the Standing Order (AMS Standing Order No.41), disciplinary
action should be taken against those failed to acquire the minimum attendance
efficiency without reasonable excuse. Nevertheless, AMS did not take any
action on 81%, 69% and 70% of the members who failed to comply with the
Order's requirement in 1997/98, 1998/99 and 1999/00 respectively.
Conclusion
From its origin as a compulsory service corps during the Second World War,
AMS has changed to a voluntary organization to date. Being a civil defense
organization, the AMS is mainly chartered to augment the medical related tasks.
Hence, its main function is to assist the DH, HA and the ambulances of FSD. It
has its own members. They are recruited from different walks of life and their
joining is on a voluntary basis. Though the changes of time, the AMS has
expanded its services from an emergency-oriented organization performing
duties on the occasions of disaster, emergencies or civil disturbances, to an
organization of providing non-emergency services, such as first aid coverage,
Methadone Treatment Programme and non-emergency patient transfer services.
Because of the nature of the membership, AMS has to maintain its
members' proficiency so as to upkeep its quality of services. The constant
provision of different aspects of training is to ensure the development of the
organization not to lag behind the time. In line with this strategy, the AMS has
adopted the efficiency requirement which demands members of the Service to
61
attend the statutory hours of training.
The AMS is now as other voluntary organisations facing the problem of
shortage and high turnover of members. The vacancies have never been fully
filled. Coupled with that is the turnover rate maintaining 12 % of the strength
over the past 10 years. The difficulties have not been alleviated despite a
variety of efforts have been made, including publicity and recruitment
campaigns.
Understandably, human resource is a valuable and indispensable asset for an
organization. The long shortage of members will impede the development of
the Service and so much the worst to maintain its survival. What is the crux of
the problem? Why can the Service not attract the citizens to join? How can the
Service keep the turnover rate down? These are the questions which the Service
need to address and the ensuing Chapter 4 will try to get some insights from the
research.
62
CHAPTER 4 - MEMBERS' SURVEY - FINDINGS AND
ANALYSIS
Introduction
As outline in the chapter 2, motivational theories have explained the different
behaviours of individuals in an organisation. The systematic approach in the
review from the general to specific behavoural theories has narrated one's
satisfaction and dissatisfaction on different accounts. In order to search for
some insight from the concept of members' motivational feelings, survey
supplemented by interviews, inter alia, can shine a light on this murkier corner.
The findings in the studies as delineated are the cornerstones for this survey.
Based on that findings or theories, questions are designed to extract members'
feelings and disposition and thereafter to make comments. A 13-item,
self-completed questionnaire is arranged in three sections and developed. They
collect data on three categories of information: personal profile, job satisfaction
and training satisfaction (Appendix L).
For the sake of getting genuine information, the questionnaire contains no
requests for personal identifying information such as the subject's name but only
ask them about the environment and their attitudes toward different factors.
Most questions provide a list of answer choices to the subjects and the subjects
indicate their choice by ticking the appropriate box. Through this survey, it was
hoped that feelings could be obtained from the respondents.
63
Respondent Profile
The Section I of the questionnaires is designed to include the demographic
details of the respondents such as their sex, age, education, marital status,
occupations, position in the AMS, year of service and length of service in the
current position. The findings and analysis are made in corresponding sequence
of the questions set out in the questionnaire.
Gender
Table 4.1
Sex Distribution
Male
Female
Total
Number of respondents
218
200
418
Percentage of total
52
48
100
From the data, it can be seen that the percentage of the respondents' sex is quite
close. This is a reflection of the almost even distribution of males and females
of the members. The total numbers of male and female members of the AMS
were 2260 and 1823 respectively as at 1.4.2003.
Despite a finding in Literature Review claiming that men are more likely to
be volunteers than are women (Olsen, 1965), the AMS has nevertheless an equal
sex distribution. Men and women's enthusiasm in participating in the AMS
activities can be seen as the same. This may be explained by the fact that most
64
of females may prefer to perform the work of taking care of others. The main
role of the AMS is to augment the DH, HA and FSD's ambulance services. The
AMS work features the altruistic contribution, and it is quite different from the
other auxiliary service such as Auxiliary Police and Civil Aid Service. It is a
socialization pattern in Hong Kong, which can be discovered in nursing
professions.
Age
Table 4.2
Age Distribution
* 16-20
21-25
26-30
31-35
36-40
41-45
46-50
51-55
56-60*
No. of Respondents
65
74
73
33
46
51
41
29
6
418
Percentage
15.6
17.7
17.5
7.9
11.0
12.2
9.8
6.9
1.4
100.0
T h e minimum age requirement of joining the AMS is 16 (Section 10, AMSO)
and the mandatory retirement age is 60 (Section 5, AMSR)
As stated in the Literature Review, the relationship between age and volunteering
is complex: volunteering among teenagers increases until about 18 years, then
decreases, remaining low until the late twenties, when it rises, reaching a peak
65
from age 40 to 55, from which it gradually decrease. It can be seen that about
50.8% of the respondents are between 16-30 years old. Then, the percentage is
in descending order and the range from 36 to 45 has a total of 23 % of the
respondents. Although these findings are not the same as the other studies, it
has a more or less similar pattern of age distribution in the AMS with the other
volunteer organisations. Referring to the 12% annual turnover rate and in the
context of its gradual dropping-out, it can be seen the succession problem will
not be imminent and the predominant 'young' members will solve the succession
plan.
Educational qualification
Table 4.3
Education Qualification
Secondary
Matriculation
University Graduate
Postgraduate
Professional
Others
No. of Respondents
287
45
42
10
22
7
413*
Percentage
69.5
10.9
10.2
2.4
5.3
1.7
100
* 5 cases are unfilled
In Chapter 2, the studies state that those with higher income, educational level,
and occupational status are more likely to volunteering, the AMS is not
commensurate with these findings. The 69 % of the respondents are only
66
secondary school level. Perhaps it can be explained by the minimum entry
requirement, as the AMS only required its members to have form 3 academic
standard. Apart from them, some of them are high diploma, vocational
council's course and Institute of Vocational Education course in the 'others'
column.
Surprisingly, the other two majorities, 20%, matriculation and University
Graduate and the 5.3% of professionals make up the total of 25.3% of the
respondents. This may be due to the fact that more people in Hong Kong have a
better chance to procure better education. This high flier can be vested with
more responsibilities, development, job enlargement and enrichment. Which
can provide a drive for them to actualize their own goals.
Marital Status
Table 4.4
Marital Status
Single
Married (with children)
Married (without children)
No. of Respondents
229
152
27
408*
Percentage
56.1
37.3
6.6
100.0
* 10 cases are unfilled
There is a close distribution of single (56.1%) and married officers (43.9%).
Referring to those 'married (with children)' members; it is very strange that it
comprises 37.3 % of the total. The prevalent concept, that parents have to take
care of their children, they cannot spare their time to take part in volunteer job,
67
does not stand in the AMS. This strange phenomenon may be explained by
several reasons. The first explanation may be that they have good social
relationship among members in the AMS and therefore choose to remain in the
AMS even after marriage. In the AMS, there are almost equal numbers of
respondents of both sexes (Table 4.1). As such, another explanation may be that
the existing trying economic situation and the high unemployment rate in Hong
Kong, 8.3%, more family wives have to take a voluntary job for some pay and
allowances especially on account of the nature of the light duty job. Lastly, it
may be due to the feet, that half of the composition of respondents is female, and
a majority of them are housewives with children. It may be concluded that at
least one fourth of the respondents are housewives with children.
Occupation other than being a member of the AMS
Table 4.5
Occupation other than the AMS
Medical Professional (Doctor)
Medical Professional (e.g.
Nurse, physiotherapy)
Administrator (Executive /
Clerk) private sector
Administrator (Executive /
Clerk) public sector
Other Professional (e.g.
Lawyer, Engineer)
Service Provider (e.g. waiter)
Technician
No. of Respondents
0
13
65
50
19
22
41
Percentage
0
3.2
16.1
12.4
4.7
5.4
10.1
68
Housewife/househusband
Student
Unemployment
Others
25
55
36
78
404*
6.2
13.6
8.9
19.3
100.0
* 14 cases are unfilled
There are different professions in the 'others' these include merchants, retired
civil servants, teachers, research assistant, reporters, free-lance writers,
self-employed, drivers, factory workers, drainage workers etc.
It is quite natural that the Medical professional such as doctors and nurses
cannot free themselves to regularly participate in the volunteer activities, for they
have to perform shift duties and the private practitioners have to be in
consultation long hours in their clinics. Therefore the low turn-up rate and low
percentage in the membership can be anticipated.
It is quite astonishing to learn that the administrators in private sector have a
greater proportion. The myth in Hong Kong, that the civil servants are keen to
join voluntary organisations for they can be easily released from the offices to
perform volunteer duty but in the AMS, is proved unfounded in the AMS.
Another discovery is that the percentage of students in the membership is quite
high. This may be explained that presently high unemployment in this summer
time may cause the students to find a temporary job or to kill their time. The
unemployed also occupies 8.9%. This high unemployment rate can also reflect
the people who would like to find something occupied their time or to earn some
69
money for themselves.
Length of service
Table 4.6
Length of Service
Less than 1 year
1-3 year
4-6 year
7-9 year
10-12 year
13-15 year
16-18 year
19-21 year
22-24 year
25-27 year
28-30 year
31-33 year
34-36 year
37-39 year
No. of Respondents
49
110
37
32
33
10
8
26
19
18
31
17
4
4
398*
Percentage
12.3
27.6
9.3
8.0
8.3
2.5
2.0
6.5
4.8
4.5
7.8
4.3
1.0
1.0
100.0
* 20 cases are unfilled
It is a typical phenomenon that the people cannot serve long in a volunteer work.
The majority of the respondents are 1 to 3 years of service. Furthermore, less
than 1 year of service is 12 %. That is to say about 50% of the respondents
have been associated with the AMS less than 6 years. Coupled with the young
age of the membership, AMS has a group of young people to serve the
community.
70
Position in the AMS
Table 4.7
Position in the AMS
Member (ADII/ANII)
Non-commissioned Officer
(AD/AN I or SAD/SAN)
Junior Officer (ASupr. /Supr.)
Senior Officer (DC/DO/ADC/ADO)
Commanding Officer (ABC and
above)
No. of Respondents
242
125
38
11
2
418
Percentage
57.9
29.9
9.1
2.6
0.5
100.0
Remark:
AD/AN= Auxiliary Dresser/Auxiliary Nurse
SAD/SAN= Senior Auxiliary Dresser/Senior Auxiliary Nurse
ASupr/Supr.= Assistant Supervisor/Supervisor
DC/DO/ADC/ADO= District Commander/Divisional Officer/Assistant
District Commander/Assistant Divisional Officer
ABC= Assistant Branch Commander
A majority of the respondents have served the AMS less than 6 years, therefore,
their positions in the hierarchy of the AMS are confined to ordinary members.
71
The more years they have served in the AMS, the better chance they have to
climb the higher rungs of the ladder.
Length of current position
Table 4.8
Length of current position
Less than 1 year
1-3 year
4-6 year
7-9 year
10-12 year
13-15 year
16-18 year
19-21 year
22-24 year
25-27 year
28-30 year
31-33 year
No. of Respondents
196
172
14
16
0
4
4
0
8
2
0
2
418
Percentage
46.9
41.1
3.3
3.8
0.0
1.0
1.0
0.0
1.9
0.5
0.0
0.5
100.0
The majority of the respondents are having less than one year of holding the
current position. Together with the respondents who have 1 -3 year of service it
makes up to 90 % of the total respondents. This is quite natural for the AMS, as
the AMS has recruitment almost 550 new members so as to fill the dropouts
every year. Judging from these figures, it can assume that most members
holding a rank will get promotion less than 9 years. The promotion prospect is
72
quite high if it is compared with the regular job.
Factors influencing respondents to join the AMS
Table 4.9
Main factors influencing to join the AMS
Family members
Friends
Relatives
Your regular job's associates
Advertisement
Others
Frequency
85
253
34
57
66
60
555
Percentage
15.3
45.6
6.1
10.3
11.9
10.8
100.0
From the table, we know that those with more extensive personal contacts are
more likely to be recruited. It is evident that a friend's influence is more
effective than the advertisement. There are 253 of frequencies chose friend's
influence as the factor to cause them to join the AMS. This constitutes 45.6 %
of the total responses. In addition, there are also 15.3 % of the responses chose
'family members' to influence them to be a member of the AMS. These two
factors make up to 60.9 % of the total responses. This implies that the family
members and friends persuasions and example settings are very important to
influence the others to join the AMS. As respondents are allowed to choose at
most three answers from the question, it can be seen that respondents may be
influenced by up to three factors. The combinations of them may be the causes of
their joining. Although there are also different factors in the 'Others' column,
73
these include wishing to have a British passport (sated by the respondent that one
of the requirements is to join one volunteer organisation), school activities, and
school teachers' influence, the respondents' choices are only about 11 % of the
total.
The evidence is strong consistent with the propositions in the Literature
Review that most volunteers are recruited by their friends, relatives, or
associates.
Job Satisfaction
Members' main expectation when you joined the AMS
Table 4.10
Main Expectations
To serve the community/to
serve others
To learn First Aid/medical
knowledge
For pay and allowances
For leisure activity
To making more friends
And or others:
Frequency
363
386
93
43
185
9
716
Percentage
33.6
35.8
8.6
4.0
17.1
0.8
100.0
74
As outlined in the studies that an organisation needs to know how to
motivate people to join the organisation; to stay; to contribute performance for an
organisation, this question is set to know what were their expectations when they
joined the AMS.
There seems that the ideology of 'altruism' is quite prevalent in the
AMS. There were 33.6 % of the respondents chose to 'to serve the community /
to serve others' as their main expectation to join the AMS. In addition, there
were 35.8 % of the respondents chose ' to learn First Aid / Medical knowledge'
as their motives. As most of the volunteers were not medical professionals
(Table 4.5), it is evident that most of them have the expectation to learn first aid
or medical knowledge when they joined the AMS. This shows that up to 79.4%
majority of the members, when they joined the AMS, have the motives to learn
first aid medical knowledge as well as to serve the community through the
training they would have in the AMS. Concurrently, to make friends with the
others is also a crucial factor to attract them to join.
It is prima facie that the three factors: namely, adequate provision of
training opportunities to serve the community and to have a better social
environment, are vital to attract and retain the members. Quite naturally, there
are 8.6 % of them wishing to have pay and allowances when they joined. Their
'pro-social' acts designed to produce and maintain the well-being of others
without restriction in other kinds of potential 'payoffs' for them appeared in the
AMS. Although the concept of Time Dollars does not exist in Hong Kong
environment, this outcome can be an indication for the future consideration in the
AMS.
75
Achievement of members' expectations since they joined the AMS
Table 4.11
Achievement of expectations
Completely achieved
Mostly Achieved
Partly Achieved
Cannot Achieved
Frequency
38
254
119
4
415*
Percentage
9.2
61.1
28.7
1.0
100.0
* 3 cases are unfilled
Vroom's Expectancy theory states that individual decision to exert effort will
depend upon three perceptions about the effort receiving situation. First, there are
available rewards for successful performance resulting from effort to be
expanded and that these rewards have attractiveness for the individual; second,
the successful performance as a result of expanding effort will in fact bring forth
the rewards; third, the expenditure of effort will result in successful performance.
Moreover, successful performance also depends on the skills and abilities of the
individual and their perception. It is very important to know whether the
members' expectations when they joined the AMS have been achieved.
There are 61% of respondents showing they have mostly achieved what
they expected when they joined the AMS. Together with those chosen
'completely achieved,' it can represent 70.3 % of the respondents are either
mostly or completely satisfied with what they have achieved. Nevertheless,
76
there are 29.7 % of them chosen 'partly achieved' and 'cannot achieved.'
Regarding to their reasons to choose such answers, most of the respondents
are satisfied with what they achieved. They claimed that they had learned what
they wanted, they could assist those people in need, although they did not know
each other, they could acquire first aid and medical knowledge, making a good
deal of friends, a sense of satisfaction. They could do something, which could
not be done as an ordinary citizen.
While those who are dissatisfied with their achievements claimed that the
training were inadequate, the training time was not enough, the limited resources
of the AMS, the duty opportunities were insufficient, and too red-taped.
This contraction of the responses, despite not being at the two extreme of
the continuum, is a little surprising. As all the members have to go through the
recruitment training, they have received the similar materials in the training.
Perhaps, the majority of the respondents are not medical professional (Table 4.5)
and the years of services are quite short (Table 4.6), they could achieve what they
expected when they got the basic training (e.g. first aid) and had the chance to
perform operational duties.
Whilst a minority of them having served a certain period of time, they
wanted more than what they had procured. Of all the reasons, no indication is
made that they cannot achieve the purpose of serving the community and making
friends. Certainly, the respondents may not openly propose that they could not
77
get enough of pay because of the nature of the organisation, the training
inadequacy and insufficient duty opportunities may underline the meaning of
inadequacy of pay which they could not completely achieved. But the
expectation of getting pay when joining the AMS is only a minority of them
(Table 4.10).
Judging from the answers, it seems members are quite satisfied with what
they have achieved and their expectations are fulfilled generally.
Job factors accounting for satisfaction in the AMS
In this question, respondents were asked to rate their feelings about their job in
the AMS within a range from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The
respondents were requested to tick to indicate to 'agree' or 'disagree' with the
statement, the respondents endorsing one of the statement either 'agree' or
'strongly agree' were considered to generally agreed with the statement, they
would be grouped together as the 'agreed' group. Those endorsing the 'disagree'
or strongly 'disagree' were considered to generally disagree with the statement
and they would be grouped as 'disagreed' group. Then, the 'disagrees' and
'agrees" will be compared, the percentage can show the feelings of the
respondents.
In order to make the questionnaire trustworthy and not force the respondents
to take a choice either disagree or agree, a choice 'neither disagree nor agree' is
given. Those who take the 'neither agree nor disagree' were considered to have
78
no opinion and give up their choices. Therefore, they would not be count and
treated as non-respondents.
Table 4.12
Job factors accounting for satisfaction
I find the AMS provides equal
treatment to every member
I am satisfied with the work I
do in the AMS, because I
have a sense of achievement
in my work
I satisfied with the work I do
in the AMS, because I have
got high recognition of my
work
I am satisfied with the work I
do in the AMS, because I
have been given important
responsibility
I am satisfied with the work I
do in the AMS, because I can
get good pay and allowance to
subsidise my daily expenses
Disagree
Frequency
131
36
62
66
135
Percentage
47.8
11.5
26.1
28.6
47.4
Agree
Frequency
143
276
176
165
150
Percentage
52.2
88.5
73.9
71.4
52.6
79
I am satisfied with the work I
do in the AMS, because I
have good relationship with
my peer members
I am satisfied with the work I
do in the AMS, because the
working location is excellent
(such as place of team
training, duty locations etc.)
I am satisfied with the work I
do in the AMS, because I will
not be arbitrarily terminated
of my membership
21
69
77
5.9
27.9
28.4
335
178
194
94.1
72.1
71.6
Table 4.13
Comparison between 'responded' and 'non-responded'
I find the AMS provides equal
treatment to every member
I am satisfied with the work I
do in the AMS, because I
have a sense of achievement
in my work
Disagree
131
36
Agree
143
276
Neither
Agree nor
Agree
144
106
Total
418
418
80
I satisfied with the work I do
in the AMS, because I have
got high recognition of my
work
I am satisfied with the work I
do in the AMS, because I
have been given important
responsibility
I am satisfied with the work I
do in the AMS, because I can
get good pay and allowance to
subsidise my daily expenses
I am satisfied with the work I
do in the AMS, because I
have good relationship with
my peer members
I am satisfied with the work I
do in the AMS, because the
working location is excellent
(such as place of team
training, duty locations etc.)
I am satisfied with the work I
do in the AMS, because I will
not be arbitrarily terminated
of my membership
62
66
135
21
69
77
176
165
150
335
178
194
180
187
133
62
171
147
418
418
418
418
418
418
Adam (1965) claims that people place weighting on those various inputs and
outcomes according to how they perceive their importance. When the ratio of a
81
person's total outcomes to total inputs equals the perceived ratio of other people's
total outcomes to total inputs there is equity. Surprising there is 47.8 % of the
respondents disagreed the statement: 'I find the AMS provides equal treatment to
every member' and 52.2 % agreed with this statement. The percentage
response of the generally dissatisfied members falls marginally under 50% and
the range between these two figures is not great and it does not represent a truly
clear-cut majority of generally satisfied and generally dissatisfied individuals.
It is very clear that almost half of the respondents were satisfied with the
treatment by the AMS.
Although in the questionnaire elaborated points were not provided, they
were revealed in the interviews. The respondents claimed that the most
important aspects of first line supervision from the member's point of view
centred on the supervisor's willingness to be fair in dealing with members. The
need for the team officer to act efficiently as an information link between
members and the management, and in particular to discharge their role as part of
the grievance handling procedure was felt to be an important dimension of job
satisfaction. Some interviewees felt that their team officer was usually unfair in
his dealings with them; they complained that the team officer advocated
favourism. From the members'point of view, the team officer was a boss. He
was seen as something apart from the labour force; his actions were felt to have
the sanction of higher management and were interpreted as representing the
management's point of view. Because of this, his job assumed a significance,
which was all too rarely recognized. It was the team officer who was daily face
to face with the members with whom the AMS had invested a great deal of
82
responsibilities. Almost everything he did have a fairly immediate significance
over the people of his unit. His manner, way of keeping discipline, technical
competence and ability to carry out operational duties including deploying
members to provide first aid coverage was constantly being observed and
evaluated by those under him. If he is unfair in handling people, his decision
could well be a dispute.
The situation of a team officer was further aggravated by a complicated
supervisory structure with an over-elaborated hierarchy. As the Senior Officers
had constantly interfered the team affairs, members sometimes faced a dilemma
whose order had to be obeyed. The outcome of a decision was definitely was
controversial.
In addition to have a stronger reinforcement of AMS Standing Order, to
train offices with the concept of Rule of Laws and anti-corruption is also crucial
to the success of having a fair and equal working environment. Moreover, an
easy and accessible complaint procedure should be established.
Hersberg (1959) proposes the motivating factors include sense of
achievement, recognition, and vesting of responsibility and the hygiene factors
include salary, interpersonally relations. Hersberg and Maslow's (1987)
theories have the same elements but the approaches are different. In addition to
the use of the equity theory, this question making use of their theories tried to
solicit their feeling of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The views expressed by
the respondents about the sense of achievement is 88.5 % in satisfying that they
83
had a sense of achievement and only 11.5 % disagreeing this statement. In
Table 4.11, it revealed that a majority of the respondents were quite satisfied as
their main expectations had been achieved. They had the chance to serve the
community, learned what they wanted to learn. In order to help members to
continue accomplishing their goals as well as to sustain their interest in serving
the AMS, it is undeniable fact that more opportunities should be provided for
them to achieve their aims.
When they were asked whether the statement, 'I am satisfied with the work
I do in the AMS, because I had got high recognition of their work,' 73.9 % of the
respondents agreed this statement and 26.1 disagreed. This high level of
satisfaction can be explained by the nature of the work of the AMS. As the
AMS main functions is to augment the DH, HA and ambulances of FSD, what
the volunteers will perform are public goods. Members of the public can enjoy
it free of charge. Particularly, the volunteers are extending their assistance to
those who are in distress, they are highly respected by the community.
Particularly, the recent disaster and emergency like the blaze in Garry Building
and the Atypical Pneumonia incidents have raised the image of the Service.
Being a member, they felt their contributions were highly recongised.
Perhaps, helping a person's life is a very sacred and holy job. The AMS
volunteers in their daily work have to standby to save life in times of emergency.
They are assigned to carry out the resuscitation of patient and extricate them
from wreckage. The response of 71.4 % of agreeing this statement can
substantiate such hypothesis. The members realised that their decision was a
84
matter of hfe and death, they understood that they had rested with great
responsibility. The 28.6 % of the respondents disagreed with this statement
perhaps as revealed in the interviews, they were only providing first aid training
to the members of the public. They would be treated less important, when a
doctor, nurse or ambulanceman was present. They were nothing but an
assistant to them. They could not claim that they were professionals. As a
whole this result is encouraging.
Not surprisingly, pay is the motivating factor for the respondents to join the
AMS. In the Table 4.10, only a minority has the expectation of getting
remuneration when they joined the AMS. There is 52.6 % of them agreed that
they were satisfied because they could get good pay and allowances to subsidise
their daily expenses. This queer phenomenon can be explained that the
volunteers' aim was to serve the community or learn first aid when they enrolled,
they realised that they had the remuneration afterwards, they were quite satisfied
with such unexpected 'windfall.' On the other hand, some of them still
persisted their aims to serve.
Similarly, from the data collected, 94.1 % of the respondents indicated that
they were satisfied because they had good relationship with their peer members.
A good deal of members' expectations were to make friends with the others
(Table 4.10). And many of them were influenced to join the AMS by their
family members, friends or relatives (Table 4.9). They have a sense of 'affinity'
for them to link together. A new member has to take the recruitment training.
There is a good deal of occasions for them to come together. The esprit de
85
corps is built up in the training. After the recruitment training, they have to
work together and learn together in districts. The length of service of the
respondents is very short (i.e most of them less than 3 years, see Table 4.6), they
do still possess the enthusiasm in seeing each other. In particular, half of the
respondents are single (Table 4.1), they have no family burdens and have plenty
of time to squander. The 5.9 % disagreed with this statement perhaps they
could not build up an intimacy with the other members and are looking for it in
the Service.
Once again, 72.1 % of the subjects responded that they were satisfied
because the working location is excellent. This is a good sign as most of the
AMS training locations, apart from the AMS Headquarters, are situated at
schools and government offices. The learning environment is usually
unsatisfactory when compared with the other training institutes. Perhaps, owing
to this reason, there is 27.9% of the respondents disagreed with this statement.
No matter what organisation one serves there must be a mechanism to
terminate a member' membership from the organisation, they have to be abided
by rules and regulations. AMS has its Ordinance (AMSO) and Regulation
(AMSR) to provide procedures and reasons to terminate a membership. In this
respect, 71.6 % of the respondents were quite satisfied that they believed they
would not be arbitrarily terminated of their membership. They had confidence
that they would not be charged with any disciplinary offence if they had
committed nothings against the regulations. Unfortunately, there are 28.4 % of
them felt unsatisfied and disagreed with this statement. This point may need
86
some efforts to explore the reason why.
Training
Training factors accounting for satisfaction in the AMS
This question is once again designed with the same pattern as in last question.
The mode of analysis will be done as the same.
Table 4.14
Training Satisfaction
Training for volunteers
is very important
The current amount of
training for volunteers
is sufficient
The current provided
centralized training
courses are very
difficult to secure a
place, because there are
so many applicants and
the places are limited
Disagree
Frequency
20
212
25
Percentage
5.0
68.6
7.9
Agree
Frequency
377
97
290
Percentage
95.0
31.4
92.1
87
I have got what I
wanted to learn when I
joined the AMS
The current training is
very useful.
116
48
37.3
19.1
195
203
62.7
80.9
In the chapter of Literature Review, it states that if an organization provides lots
of training opportunities, it is more likely to retain workers, because training can
create an interesting and challenging environment, increasing an individual's
employability outside the organization, simultaneously increasing his job
security and, desiring to stay with his current employer.
The AMS is a unique voluntary organisation. It provides a service, which
is not an ordinary one. One has to undergo training before he can carry out his
duties. The recruitment training, the nursing training, disaster medical attendant
training and lot of centralised training are offered to the members. Therefore,
the more knowledge they gained, the more confidence they have to perform their
assignment proficiently. In the context of its importance, it is not strange that
95 % of the respondents chose 'training for volunteer is very important' only 5%
of them have the contrary view. In the same line of thinking, 68.6% of the
respondents disagreed 'the current amount of training for volunteers is
sufficient,' and 31.4 % of them thought sufficient.
As a general practice, members would have equal number hours of training
in his district when they are allocated to a district.
88
Every now and then, the HQ will run a variety of centralised training.
These courses are open for application by all members who meet the criteria of
the courses. The selection criteria are usually based on the seniority of the
applicants; the attendance hours of the members in the district so as to prove
whether he has achieved the 'efficiency' requirement (i.e. 60 hours each year)
and the nomination of the superior officer. All the year round, the HQ will run
the Non-emergency Ambulance Transfer course, Methadone Treatment
Programme course etc. The HQ will short the list as a practice by selecting
those candidates who meet the basic requirements first. Since a lot of
applicants meet the requirements, then, only those who have longer length of
service and officers' strong recommendations will be selected. These account
for few vacancies were left to the other members and they have to compete very
keen before they could secure a place.
This is mainly a resource problem. Members attended the interview also
expressed such concerns. That is why 92.1 % of the respondents
overwhelmingly agreed the statement 'the current provided centralised training
are very difficult to secure a place, because there are so many applicants and the
places are limited,' and only 7.9 % of them disagreed.
Regarding to their aim to learn when they joined the AMS, 62.7 % of the
respondents claimed they have got what they wanted to learn and 37.3 % of them
disagreed to the statement. In fact, no all the volunteers who joined the AMS
are for learning first aid (only about 35%, see Table 4.10), some of them may feel
89
enough for them to perform their duties whist the other thinking the otherwise.
Hence, 80.9% of the respondents thought the current training was very useful.
Perhaps the recent introduction of the Disaster Medical Assistant training
Programme is a very comprehensive one. It has the professional ambulanceman
standard and it can fortify their confidence in performing their duties.
Referring to the 'other comment about training,' the followings are the
highest appearance in the column:
-No promotion preparation course;
-Unfair of allocation of centralised training course based only on the
seniority;
-The introduction of intravenous injection course;
-Lack of practical experience;
-Paediatric training required;
-Too many students in a class;
-Trainers' incompetence;
-The training course not up-to-date;
-Increase the categories of training courses;
-Training equipment outdated;
-Leadership training and physical fitness training required.
These suggestions are wholly related to the training resources and the
introduction of different uncommon courses. They may be entertained should
the circumstances permit.
90
Conclusion
The findings in the demographic characteristic of the volunteer members in this
study generally are similar to the ones done by the other countries. But the
AMS has the same proportion of male and female members, while the others
male is the dominant. As stated in the review the nature of work will determine
the type of voluntary organization one will join. There are more males than
females in voluntary organizations. Nevertheless, the nature of work of the
AMS is mainly to perform the nursing, medical and first aid in times of peace
and emergency. It is quite different from the other discipline of work. The
high percentage of female members in the AMS can highlight the particularities
of the AMS. The length of service of members is mostly less than 3 years; this
can explain why every year the dropout rate is around 12 % of the strength.
Their education background are mostly in secondary level but the 20 % of them
have the matriculation and university can provide the potential for the Service to
develop some high flier for the future organisational development. This finding
is tally with the studies that those with higher income, educational level, and
occupational status and those who own more property are more likely to
volunteer.
As a lot of them are laymen, they are not the medical professionals, a
majority of the respondents expressed that they wished to acquire first aid
knowledge, serve the community, they claimed they have achieved what they
wanted to a certain extend, especially in the first few years. The expectancy
theory can explain the satisfaction can retain the volunteers in the AMS. One
91
can easily imagine that a member will soon resign from a voluntary organization
if his expectations cannot be achieved when he joined it. Three years is not a
short time. This satisfaction can at least retain them for such period of time.
However, the longer in the Service, the more they want to acquire more than they
originally wished when they joined the AMS. This can also illustrate the
occurrence of gradual dropout is expected.
In general, more than half of the respondents felt equality in treatment
among different members. The equity has paid a role in keeping members to
state. They were satisfied of having a sense of achievement, recognition of
their work, taking greater responsibility, interpersonal relationship, job security
and excellent working condition. The Herzberg' motivating factors and hygiene
factors have been addressed, it is found that most of the respondents were
satisfied with the motivating factors. It is known from the survey that the lower
level of Maslow's hierarchy theory did not have the influence on the members.
There is no want of the basic need.
Other than that, comments also made that training is very important and
useful, but they viewed that training places are insufficient and the resources are
inadequate.
Before conclusion, one cautious word has to make. The number of
members who chose 'neither disagree nor agree' is average about 141. The
figure represents about 34% of the total members not expressing any view on the
statement. This 34% of members can alter the result of the findings if they
92
afterwards change their mind. Nevertheless, regarding to the sense of
achievement of the members, there are 276 members expressed that they are
'satisfied with the work of the AMS, because they have a sense of achievement,'
we may firmly believe that the AMS can give a sense of achievement to its
members. This majority indicates that the change of the minds of the
non-respondents would not change the result. In addition, the 335 members
firmly expressed that they had good relationship with their peer members. This
is a good sign that the AMS can create a good environment to foster good
relationship among the members. This is a prerequisite to enhance the esprit de
corps in the Service.
These valuable insights obtained from the survey can pave the way for the
future use of the management.
93
CHAPTER 5 - CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusions
Motivation is a crucial psychological process. Few would deny that it is the most
important process in the approach to organizational behaviour. Motivation
should never be underrated, for it can improve the organisational competence and
maintain the organisation's leadership in the market. Once again, the purpose
of this study is to identify the following:
f) To analyse volunteers' socioeconomic status, interpersonal networks
and demographic characteristic of members;
g) To understand the "reasons" of members why they join the Auxiliary
Medical Service;
h) To understand members' components of satisfaction and dissatisfaction
of volunteer members;
i) To identify members' satisfaction level of the existing training and
their implications on the motivation of the volunteers;
j) To give recommendations of improving the situation.
According to the results of the personal profile, it is known that the AMS
has an almost equal number of genders. The females and males both have the
enthusiasm to contribute their effort to the society. It may be owing to the
nature of the work of the AMS, i.e. provision of caring and first aid; these are not
94
tedious and strenuous work and are comparatively light duties.
The striking similarity of having many young people to contribute their
valuable time to the society with other studies has highlighted that in the AMS
young people are willing to serve the others. Furthermore, the significant
young age of the respondents may indicate young persons in Hong Kong are
enthusiastic to contribute and dedicate their efforts to the society.
The AMS's members have an educational qualification of at least secondary
level. This high education level can pave the way for the future organisational
development and the strategy of organisational learning. The organization can
focus their recruitment strategy on the target group, for they may have the high
potential to be the future membership.
It is known from the analysis that a large proportion of the respondents is
married with children. However, it may be one of the causes of the later
dropout rate. It is quite natural people may become less enthusiastic when their
attentions are distracted to family affairs. Something must be done to improve
the situation.
One major discovery is that a high percentage of administrators are working
in the private sector. Despite the prevalent economic downturn, this group of
people is the core of the population. Strategy and development should pay
attention to the thinking of this group of people.
95
One may be surprised to learn that the percentage of the professionals such
as doctors and nurses is unexpectedly low. It may be due to the fact that doctors
and nurses do not have the great expectations when they joined the AMS; as
what they are doing in their regular jobs is to do the same things as in the AMS.
It lacks the attractions that may be the cause of the low turn-up.
Most of the members holding their existing ranks are less than three years.
Provided their expectations and motivating factors can be met, their enthusiasm
may be suffocated and smothered, strategy has to be formulated to maintain their
achievement.
The influence of the friends, family members, relatives can have a
significant impact on the recruitment of the members. As a majority of
members recruited are mainly from the influence of these persons, the
advertisement only pays a minor role in it.
To actualise one's aims is the main motivating factor to join the AMS. The
discovery of AMS members who joined the Service is to serve the community
and to learn first aid or medical knowledge. Pay and allowances are not the
main issue in their mind. This is tally with the altruism. The purpose of
leaning first aid is to equip oneself before he can render his assistance to the
needed.
Job satisfaction has a significant relationship with the retention of the
volunteers. The members are quite satisfied with the management's policy. They
96
were satisfied with the management's provision of recognition, advancement
responsibility etc. But there is much to be desired in the management of
equality. The expression of unequal treatment has triggered concerns, which
the administration has to take heed of it. Further investigation needs to be done
before it become irreversible.
Members have a positive attitude to the demand of training. They treasure
the training provided by the management. But they are not satisfied with the
quantity and availability of places for them. This may be a source of frustration,
which may lead to a drain of human resources. Therefore, training
opportunities have to be increased.
Recommendations
In the context of the above findings, recommendations are made in an
attempt to improving the situation. It is recommended that:
Enhancement of social relationship
AMS is a voluntary organization, people are contributing their valuable time to
the society. Derived from the survey, members are satisfied to work with the
peer group members and they are influenced to join the AMS by their family
members, relatives and friends. As their spare time are devoured by such
activities, they will be lack of opportunity to meet their family members or friend,
in particular their spouse and children; especially almost a half of the members
97
are married and a majority of them are married with children. The holding of
internal functions such as carnival, games days for the children, out-door
activities, parties and family groups activities can enhance the 'affinity' of the
members. If there is a need, a nursery corner can be established in the AMS
establishments to accommodate members' children. This can enable to release
them to wholeheartedly take part in the AMS activities. This hygiene factor can
maintain the coherence of the members and in turn reduce the turnover rate.
Enhancement of the operational opportunities
It is noted from the survey, members are not for the purpose of monetary return
when they joined the AMS. This discovery can enable the management to think
the possibility of reducing the payment (as members are eligible to claim pay and
allowances when they call out to perform duties), the payment can adjust to the
nominal that it is enough for them to cover their traveling expense and meals.
The saved money can be used to provide more opportunities for more members
to take part in the operational duties (e.g. first aid coverage for Walk for Millions,
Firework Display), the more operational duties they can perform, the more
members can contribute and the more members are satisfied.
Enhancement of training opportunities
As mentioned above, monetary return is not the cause of members' joining the
AMS and there is a great demand of places in training course, the management
can consider the point of increasing the number of training courses. As the
98
management is constrained by the limited financial resources for the trainees
have to be paid if they are selected to attend course (e.g. they are eligible to claim
pay and allowance like the auxiliary policemen who attend their annual training).
This limitation has severely hindered the number of places offered to the
members. The management can offer some training courses such as Basic
Ambulance Aid, Disaster Nursing, Infectious Disease courses, Methadone
Treatment Programme course, Advanced Obstetric course etc. but the applicants
should be informed beforehand that no pay and allowances will be paid for their
attendance. For these courses are not the pre-requisite of being a member, but
for 'adding value' to themselves. This measure can satisfy a great deal of
members who want to acquire more advanced knowledge and facilitate their
self-actualisation.
Enhancement of the Service Image
It is believed that people serving in an organisation of high reputation can have a
sense of pride. It is indisputable that the AMS is not generally known in Hong
Kong. More publicity is needed to improve the image of the Service. Taking
part in the public functions such as Tourist Festival Parade, appearing on
television, Walk for Millions charitable activities, inter-departmental rescue
exercises AMS band performance or dragon boat competitions etc are
indispensable to make people know the existence of the Service. The constraint
of limited remuneration has hampered such implementation. This difficulty can
also be tackled by making use of the voluntary contribution of free service hours
by the members. The service done by the members concerned should be given
99
recognition such as a souvenir, a token of coupons of buying books or one of the
considering factors for promotion.
Enhancement of the members' competence
Members acknowledged that they wanted to procure first aid and medical
knowledge and agreed that training was very crucial for them to carry out their
duties. The more they are competent, the more confidence will they have.
The management may consider upgrading the level of training. The citizens'
demand has become higher and higher. They need high quality of service. The
AMS counterpart, i.e. ambulance services of the FSD has upgraded its quality of
service by leading in the Emergency Medical Attendant Programme from Canada.
The ambulancemen have to learn the intravenous injection, administration of
drugs and the art-of-the-state instruments. As AMS is to augment the
ambulance services of the FSD, it is crucial to have the more or less level of
quality of service to the members of the public. The existing training material
cannot satisfy the high demand of the community. It is necessary to take in the
new know-how. The Service can first deploy staff like the FSD to Canada to be
trained and qualified as instructors, and then these instructors can train the
members. In fact it is realised that the burden of paying members for the
training can be released by doing the same 'self-value-added' training course (i.e.
with no pay.) Members qualified will be issued with a different coloured name
badge which can distinctly show that he is qualified with particular technique.
Not only can this furnish the member with better confidence when they are
deployed to perform duties, but encourage them to acquire greater
100
responsibilities and more satisfaction.
Concluding Comments
Through this survey, the management now have a general understanding of the
profile of the members, their needs and expectation when they joined the Service.
Their satisfaction level in relation to the advancement, recognition, social
relationship and responsibility were asked. Some lights have sheded on this
dark corner and insights have been gained. The revelation of the high demand
of training may be also the crux of the dissatisfaction.
The recommendations made in this chapter may provide some hints for the
management to consider and the members' job satisfaction may be improved the
dropout rate can be decreased.
Lastly, as observed in the findings, the inequality of treatment exists in the
Service, the management has to look into such problem in the Service before it
becomes out of hand. A further study on this issue is recommended.
101
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Application for the use of information
I would like to seek your approval for the use of information of the AMS in my
Master of Public Administration (MPA) dissertation.
2. I was nominated by the Service and sponsored by the Civil Service Training and
Development Institute to attend the MPA course at the University of Hong Kong. One
of the compulsory requirements is to submit a dissertation regarding to the
administration of the Hong Kong Special Demonstration Region Government.
3. I have chosen the title " the analysis of the motivation of volunteer members of
the Auxiliary Medical Service in Hong Kong." As this course is financed by the
public fund, I adopt this title is mainly because this research can benefit the Service
and the information can be used for the Service's future planning and strategy.
4. The work of the dissertation consists of document research, issuing
questionnaires to the volunteers, conducting interviews etc (it is understood the
volunteers are not compulsory to respond to my questionnaire and interview). I give
my words that no classified information shall be contained in the dissertation without
the prior approval of the Service.
5. I should be grateful if you would approve my application.
(HO KamTim)
SOTO (LS)
rom
ief( )
el. No.
)ate
Ho Kam Tim, SOTO(LS)
in KTHO/P
2762 2026 Fax: 2715 0245
28 May 2003
MEMO To Chief Staff Officer, AMS
(Attn: Mr. Mat hew Wong, Departmental Secretary)
Fax. No. Total Pages 1
Your ref. in
Dated:
Auxiliary modical Services Sunning Plaza, 13th floor, 10, Hysan Avenue, Hong Kong Date : 25.9.1986
Proposed New legilsation for the Auxiliary Medical Services
and Hevision of the Essential Services
Corns Ordinance (Can. 197)
Proso3ed Amendments to;
Compulsory Services Ordinance Compulsory Services Tribunal Procedures Hulss
'Essential Cervices Corps Ordinance Essential Cervices Corse (General) regulations rensior.3 Ordinance ' Auxiliary Forces Fay i Allowances Ordinance Auxiliary Forces ray -x Allowances Crd. Cub. Leg.
Background
2. The essential Cervices Corps Ordinance ITo. 51 of 1549 first became law on 7th Lecomber I94S when it was considered necessary for the Governor to raise and maintain a volunteer force of pexaonn who would assist in the maintenance or the performance of essential services in the territory of Hong Kong. This Ordinance and Subsidiary Legislation were revised in 1950 as Cap. 197 and again in 1967.
3. The Auxiliary Medical Cervices was officially established as a Unit of the Torpa aj Lection 2 of the ::.ZZ (A^C) Regulations on 22nd Lececber 1950. The :.ain objective of the subsidiary Legislation (vis: LI of Cap. 197) was to establish an Auxiliary Medical Services Unit and to appoint the Cirector of 1'edicai and Health Services as the Unit Controller.
4. Apart from defining the additional powers and dutieG (which were originally vested in the Comrlssioner/^SG)to the Unit Controller//C'S, no specific directives were incorporated in the legislation as to the rain objectives of the A.V.S.
5. The Essential Services Corps Ordinance was in later years found to be too generalised and non-epecific for uniformed and disciplined auxiliary units, e.g., the Soyal Hong Kong P.egiaent, (The Volunteers); the noyal'UIcng Zong Auxiliary Air Force; and the Coyal liong Kong Auxiliary Police Force. In this respect seoarate legislation was introduced for each of the aforesaid units and ordinances Cap. 199; Cap. 193; and Cap. 233 respectively came into being. The introduction of such legislation haa left the remaining two auxiliary units namely, the Auxiliary xedical Uervicee (A...= .S.) and the Civil Aid Cervices (C.A.3.) to continue to rely on the Essential Cervices Corps (General) regulations for legal backing. This is found undesirable, especially in recent years the A..V.S. has had considerable changes and expansions and' have therefore accepted more duties and activities for which proper legal rscognition oust be allowed.
Ref: SSCX 4/5/83
Can 246 Cap 246 (Cub ^eg) Cap 197 Cao 157 Can 89 Cao 254 Cao 254
- 2 -
Throughout the years the A..M.S. has experienced growing membership, expansion to many populated new townshi ps ana the acceptance of fur ther roleo and r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s , I t i s considered appropriate therefore tha t the AMS should have
own l e g i s l a t i o n , exclusively concerned with i t s own powers, cut ies and funct ions. That i s a seT^irate ordinance for the A u x i l iary medical Services i s now proposed to give a l l aspects ox Ai*i a c t i v i t i e s proper l ega l coverage.
Present Role of AS!S
'• , 11i3 excellency the "ovemor 's in h i s r i r s c t i v e to t..e uonanissioner, AES, la id down in 1S66 (subsequently revised in iSui ; t ha t the role of the Al-'£ should b e : -
R o l e
4. The role of the Auxiliary .Medical Services i 3 • to augment the services of the Medical and Ilealth i'ep'artaent and the Ambulance Service in any of the following s i t u a t i o n s : -
(a) d i s a s t e r s due to na tu ra l causes, such as typhoons and rainstorms;
(b) other d i s a s t e r s , including major a i r c r a f t crashes and large-scale f i r e s ;
(c) ma^or epidemics}
(d) c i v i l disturbances;
(e) inf lux of i l l e g a l immigrants or refugees;
(f) armed conf l i c t in the region, a f fec t ing Eong Zong e i the r d i r e c t l y or i nd i r ec t l y ;
(g) any other emergencies."
8. The tasks l a id down in the T i rec t ive , reproduced as follows, c l e a r l y i l l u s t r a t e a move from emergencies/disasters coverage i n to a much more diverse commitment in medical c iv ic dut ies of a non-hazardcuc/disaster /eiergency na tu r e : -
"Tasks
5 . In any of these s i t ua t i ons , the Auxiliary Medical Services may be ca l led upon to provide t ra ined , d isc ipl ined and equipped personnel under the command of t h e i r own o f f i c e r s , as well as medical s t o r e s 1-
(a) to re inforce the ex i s t i ng emergency services i n both Government and non-Government medical i n s t i t u t i o n s ;
(b) to t r a i n members of the A35 and other Government personnel i n f i r s t a id;
- 3 -
(c) to a«t tip aux i l i a ry hospi ta l -units i n schools and o ther su i tab le prsmiaee;
(u) to reinforce ex i s t ing Government c l i n i o s and to s e t up addi t ional dressing s t a t i ons as required;
(e) to provide support to the ^abulance Service;
(f) to provide mobile F i r s t Aid Par t i e s and Forward L'edical Aid Units to work with e ther rescue Cervices;
(g) to provide teams trained in f i r s t aid and casualty handling in centres of population;
(h) to operate i so l a t ion centres es tabl ished by the -"edi-al and Health department i n a major epidemic;
( i ) to a s s i s t i n vaccination campaigns;
(i) to undertake any ether tasks requested by the Secretary f c r Security a f t e r consul ta t ion with you."
Pro-oosal for Arran.<rements/Amendments of Regulations for the Auxil iary Medical Services
3. Since the Auxiliary Medical Cervices have functioned for many years upon the l e g i s l a t i o n of the Essent ia l Cervices Corps (General) ".emulations as pr incipal r e f l a t i o n s , the proposed Auxiliary ".edicai Cervices Ordinance i s suggested to base, s t r u c t u r a l l y , on the pr inc ipa l regula t ions with su i tab le amendments and inc lus ions .
Reasons for the Proposal
10. The HCC Crdinanca and Subsidiary Legislat ions oerQ o r i gi s a l l y designed spec i f i ca l ly to ca te r for any emergency s i t ua t i on in war or peace and not for t r a in ing for and performance of medical c iv ic duties of a ncn-hasardcus nature during peaceful t i n e s . In consequence, the law as i t s tands doe3 not cover A.\TC volunteers i n the performance of t h e i r f u l l range of t a s k s .
1 1 . The Ordinance (Cap, 197) was l eg i s l a t ed to umbrella a l l Units and Cut-units of the Kssential Cervices Corps under general ter=3, with non-specif ic reference to the ro l e s and funct ions of the Auxiliary iledicai Cervices. .Moreover, an ordinance spec ia l ly designed and tailor-made for the Auxiliary Medical Cervices wi l l provide not only appropriate coverage on i t s a c t i v i t i e s but also for the be:tarment of a l l members se rv ing In the A.'i .S.
- 4 -
12. Under existing legislation, the following are either not covered at all or are not clearly covered or defined:
(a) Specific organization of the Sarvica.
(c) The establishment of the Service.
(c) The functions of the Service in its present role.
(d) Length of service on enlistment, and/or penalty for quitting before e:cpiration of the period of service.
(e) Procedures to be followed en failure to attend training or operational euty without a reasonable excuse.
(f) snrolment, retirement ages and tern of service ana re-engagement.
(g) Tower of the Corsniissionsr to raise a Cadet Corps.
(h) Pensions Regulations appertaining specifically to the Service.
(i) Power of Commissioner to direct training and to Gualify trained oersonnel (in particular, the legal racognition for A25 certificates in First Aid).
(j) Appointment and terms of offices of Commissioner.
(k) Appointment and responsibility of Chief Staff Officer.
(l) Procedures for enlistment.
(m) Hules for the training of Cfficer3 and Members.
(n) Training abroad and locally.
(o) Summary punishment for members.
(p) restriction a3 to publications and .giving of lectures without authority.
(q) Restriction as to meetings.
(r) P.eserve of officers and members regulations.
(e) Specific conditions for "requirements for Efficiency".
(t) Absence from liong Kong (leave application criterior)
(u) lensiona, Disabled members, widows.
(v) Retirement ages for members.
- 5 -
Princical objectives
13. The proposal for a separata and individual ordinance for the Auxiliary Medical Services will achieve the objective of providing the A.M.3. with a legal code upon which the A.2.C. will function. The suggested ordinance will not only allow the Commissioner to "be vested wit'-, sufficient powers to direct the roles and functions of the A.JS, but also provide 3e:nbers with proper legal coverage and backing for the services "shey render.
Implications of the f-rorosals
14. Adequate resources are available to meet the proposals.
15. There will be no effect on public relations as the proposed legislation is only reccgnizsing what is already happening.
16. No other parties are likely to be affected. In fact, the new legislation should not affect ether parties as there is no intention to change the AMD operational role in natural/san-made disasters/emergencies or in war.
CnnBen-.?e7itial a.T,endnento to existing legislation
17. Since the Auxiliary Medical Services will adopt it3 new ordinance and thereafter the existing legislation (Cap. 137) upon which it currently functions will no longer apply, it is envisaged that no acendcents to the Essential Services Corps Crdinance be necessary.
Transitional and aavinp: ̂ revisions
13, No transitional or caving provisions are envisaged as being necessary pursuant to the implementation of this proposal.
lie trcs-psctive operation of the law
19. Ihere will be no requirements for retrospective operation oT the law relating to this proposal.
LegCoPaper No. CB(2) 1457/96-Q" ( The minutes have been seen bv the Administration)
Ref : CB2/PL/SE/1
LegCo Panel on Security
Minutes of meeting held on Monday, 2 December 1996 at 8:30 am
in Conference Room A of the Legislative Council Building
Members present
Hon James TO Kun-sun (Chairman) Hon Mrs Selina CHOW, OBE, JP (Deputy Chairman) Hon CHEUNG Man-kwong Hon Emily LAU Wai-hing Dr Hon Philip WONG Yu-hong Hon Howard YOUNG, JP Hon Zachaiy WONG Wai-yin Hon CHEUNG Hon-chung Dr Hon LAW Cheung-kwok Hon Bruce LIU Sing-lee Hon LO Suk-ching Hon Margaret NG Hon TSANG Kin-shing Hon Lawrence YUM Sin-ling
Members absent
Hon Fred LI Wah-ming Hon Andrew CHENG Kar-foo Hon Albert HO Chun-yan Hon IP Kwok-him
] ] other commitments ] ]
Public Officers attending
Agenda Item III
Mrs Carrie YAU, JP Deputy Secretary for Security
Mrs Nancy TSE Assistant Director (Family and Child Welfare) Social Welfare Department
Mr M W HORNER Chief Superintendent, Crimes Headquarters Royal Hong Kong Police Force
Action (a) consider the submissions made by the Hannony House and
Kwan Fook Women's Concern Group to identify the areas of improvement or. the services to be provided to the victims; and
(b) analyse the cause of wife battering with a view to suggesting preventive measures.
18. Mrs Selina CHOW requested and the Administration agreed to Adm provide after the meeting the following information for members' reference :
(a) since the setting up of the Working Group, the number of spouse bartering cases reported to the Police, the Hospital Authority and the Social Welfare Department; and
(b) the number of spouse battering cases in which prosecution was instituted by the Police.
IV. Proposed legislation related to the establishment and regulation of the Civil Aid Services and Auxiliary Medical Services (LegCo Paper No. CB(2) 533/96-97(03))
19. Principal Assistant Secretary for Security (PAS(S)) briefed the meeting on the Administration's paper. She said that the Essential Services Corps Ordinance (ESCO), which was enacted in 1949, provided for, inter alia, the establishment and operation of the Civil Aid Services (CAS) and the Auxiliary Medical Services (AMS). It was too generalised for modern day applications. With the passage of time and in deeping with the changing needs of the community, the roles and services of CAS and AMS had expanded. The Administration intended to introduce separate and updated legislation for CAS and AMS to reflect their current services and operations.
20. In response to members' questions, the Administration made the following points :
(a) The spirit of the Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force Ordinance, the Government Flying Service Ordinance and two proposed legislation on CAS and AMS was the same though they might differ in technical details. The proposed legislation aimed at updating the existing legislative provisions relating to CAS and AMS and would cover all the provisions in ESCO. When the proposed legislation for CAS and AMS were enacted, ESCO would become obsolete and could be repealed.
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL BRIEF
Essential Services Corps Ordinance (Chapter 197)
AUXILIARY MEDICAL SERVICE BILL; AUXILIARY MEDICAL SERVICE REGULATION
CIVIL AID SERVICE BILL; CIVIL AID SERVICE REGULATION
INTRODUCTION
At the meeting of the Executive Council on 25 March 1997, the Council ADVISED and the Governor ORDERED that the Auxiliary Medical Service Bill (Annex A) and the Civil Aid Service Bill (Annex B) should be introduced into the Legislative Council.
2 Members took note of the Auxiliary Medical Service Regulation (Annex C) and the Civil Aid Service Regulation (Annex D).
BACKGROUND AND ARGUMENT
General Background
3 The Essential Services Corps Ordinance (the Ordinance) was enacted in 1949. The main objective of the Ordinance and its subsidiary legislation was to establish units of trained persons capable of assisting in the Government's response to natural disasters or other emergencies. The Auxiliary Medical Service (AMS) Unit was established in 1950, and the Civil Aid Services (CAS) Unit was established in 1952 both under the Ordinance.
Change in the Role and Functions of the Services
(A) The Auxiliary Medical Service
4 At its inception, the AMS was intended essentially as a standby medical unit for emergencies. With the passage of time, the unit has expanded its activities into non-disaster related areas. It provides
Ref: SEC
supplementary resources to augment regular medical and health services, both in times of emergency and in other situations. Its roles include -
(a) deploying members to accident scenes to provide immediate treatment to the injured;
(b) providing non-emergency ambulance transfer services;
(c) rendering medical and nursing care to patients in both acute and convalescent hospitals;
(d) providing first aid coverage at major public functions, school activities, and in country parks and at cycle tracks;
(e) assisting in health surveillance and vaccination campaigns;
(f) assisting in the running of methadone clinics,
(g) providing education and training concerning safety and first aid to members of the public; and
(h) organising training and providing paramedic consultancy services for Government departments and other organisations.
(B) The Civil Aid Service
5 When first formed in 1952, the training of the CAS concentrated largely on civil defence duties. However, in the intervening years, although its primary role remains support for Government departments in emergencies, the tasks of the CAS have become much more diverse and now include -
(a) duties during typhoons, landslips and floods;
(b) search and rescue in collapsed buildings;
(c) patrolling country parks and fighting forest fires;
2
(d) managing refugee camps;
(e) combating oil pollution at sea;
(f) crowd control duties;
(g) mountain rescue operations (and training for Government departments);
(h) promoting mountain and hiking safety to schools and the general public; and
(i) providing marshalling services at charity fund-raising activities and other public functions.
The Need for Separate Legislation
6 The Essential Services Corps Regulations are too generalised for the requirements of toda)'. They do not describe the current operational functions of the AMS and the CAS; nor do they provide for the training and other activities of their members and cadets. We therefore propose to introduce separate and updated legislation
THE BILLS
7 The purpose of the two Bills is to provide for the establishment of the AMS and the CAS, to replace the Auxiliary Medical Service Unit and the Civil Aid Services Unit currently estabhshed under the Essential Services (Auxiliary Medical Services) Corps Regulations and the Essential Services (Civil Aid Services) Corps Regulations respectively. Since the purpose and functions of the two Bills are the same, their content is very similar.
8 Part II in both Bills deals with the constitution and functions of the Services. Clause 3 in this part provides for the raising of the AMS and the
" Note The AMS and the CAS arc the only two auxiliary services that do not have their own legislation. Separate legislation has already been enacted for the Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force and the auxiliary section of the Government Flying Service.
3
CAS by the Governor. Clause 4 sets out their principal functions - to provide assistance to regular medical and health services in emergencies in the case of the AMS, and to provide civil support services in the case of the CAS. It is also made clear that the two Services will perform such other duties, commensurate with the training of their members, as may be directed by the Governor, and will provide non-emergency services for the general benefit of the community.
9 Part III provides for the calling out of the Services and the performance of voluntary duties.
10 Part IV deals with the disciplinary matters, including the discharge of members and the handling of complaints.
11 Part V provides for the establishment of the AMS Cadet Corps
and the CAS Cadet Corps.
12 Part VI vests all property of the Services in the respective
Commissioners. Clauses 24 and 25 in this part create certain offences with
respect to misuse of Service or public property.
13 Part VII deals with miscellaneous matters, including medical
and hospital treatment and pay, summary remedies, etc.
LEGISLATIVE TIMETABLE
14 The legislative timetable will be -
Publication in the Gazette 4 April 1997
First Reading and commencement of 9 April 1997
. 4 .
Second Reading debate
Resumption of Second Reading debate, to be notified
Committee Stage and Third Reading
BILL OF RIGHTS IMPLICATIONS
15 The Attorney General's Chambers have advised that the provisions of the Bills are not inconsistent with the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Pohtical Rights as applied to Hong Kong.
FINANCIAL AND STAFFING IMPLICATIONS
16 As the AMS and the CAS will continue to operate on the present basis, there will not be any additional financial or staffing implications.
PUBLIC CONSULTATION
17 The Legislative Council Panel on Security was briefed on 2 December 1996, and supported the proposal to introduce separate legislation for the AMS and the CAS.
PUBLICITY
18 The Bills will be gazetted today while a press release will also be issued.
ENQUIRIES
19 For enquiries, please contact Mr Edward TO. Assistant Secretary for Security at 2810 3948.
Security Branch 4 April 1997
Speech by the Secretary for Security
Second Reading of Auxiliary Medical Service Bill and
Civil Aid Service Bill at the LeeCo Sitting on 9 April 1997
Mr President,
1 move that the Auxiliary Medical Service Bill and the Civil Aid
Service Bill be read a second time.
The Bills seek to introduce updated legislation for the Auxiliary
Medical Service and the Civil Aid Service to reflect their modern functions.
The Essential Services Corps Ordinance was enacted in 1949.
The main objective of the Ordinance and its subsidiary legislation was to
establish units of trained persons capable of assisting in the Government's
response to natural disasters or other emergencies. The AMS Unit was
established in 1950, and the CAS Unit was established in 1952 both under
the Ordinance.
At its inception, the AMS was intended essentially as a standby
medical unit for emergencies whilst the CAS mainly carried out civil defence
duties. With the passage of time, the units have expanded their activities into
non-disaster related areas. They provide supplementary resources to
augment the regular forces, both in times of emergency and in other
situations.
The Essential Services Corps Regulations are too generalised for
the requirements of today. They do not describe the current operational
functions of the AMS and CAS; nor do they provide for the training and
other activities of their members and cadets. We therefore propose to
introduce separate and updated legislation for the Services.
The purpose of the two Bills is to provide for the establishment
of the AMS and the CAS, to replace the AMS Unit and the CAS Unit
currently established under the Essential Services Corps (AMS and CAS)
Regulations.
Part II in both Bills deals with the constitution and functions of
the Services.
Part III provides for the calling out of the Services and the
performance of voluntary duties.
Part IV deals with the disciplinary matters, including the
discharge of members and the handling of complaints.
Part V provides for the establishment of the AMS Cadet Corps
and CAS Cadet Corps.
The Legislative Council Panel on Security was briefed on 2
December 1996, and supported the proposal to introduce separate legislation
for the AMS and CAS. Early enactment of the Bills will be welcomed by
members of the AMS and the CAS, who have done and will continue to do
so much in support of overall Government's efforts to maintain order,
security and safety of the community. I urge Honourable Members to give
the Bills speedy consideration.
TOTAL P. 04
Auxiliary Medical Service Bill
Resumption of Second Reading Debate on 4 June 1997 Speech hy the Secretary for Security
Mr President,
The Auxiliary Medical Service (AMS) Bill was introduced into this Council together with the Civil Aid Service (CAS) Bill on 9 April 1997 this year. The CAS Bill is very similar to the AMS Bill. The two Bills seek to introduce updated legislation for the AMS and the CAS to reflect their modern functions.
2 I am grateful to the House Committee for the great care and speed they have taken in scrutinising the Bills and the constructive suggestions they have put forward to improve the Bills.
3 The principal amendments in respect of these Bills which I will propose at the committee stage include -
(a) To clarify that a non-member, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, has in his possession Service equipment or uniform shall be punishable.
(b) To delete references to injury pensions and death gratuities as they have been covered by the new Auxiliary Forces Pensions (Miscellaneous Amendments) Ordinance 1997 which has come into operation on 9 May 1997. The rights of AMS and CAS Unit members to apply for pensions or death gratuities under the new pension scheme are reserved.
(c) To make suitable consequential amendments to the Bills necessitated by the authentication of the Chinese text of the Pension Benefits Ordinance, the Essential Services Corps Ordinance and the Pension Benefits (Judicial Officers) Ordinance.
4 The House Committee has recommended support for the Bills subject to the Committee Stage Amendments. Early enactment of the Bills will be welcomed by members of the AMS and CAS, who have
1 9 9 7 1 0 : 4 6 SB CB DIVISION) + 852 2S6S 9159 P . 0 3 / 0 6
contributed, and will continue to do so in the future, so much in support of the regular forces' efforts to maintain public order and safety of the community.
5 Mr President, with these remarks, I recommend the Bills to this Council.
DRAFT Auxiliary Medical Service Bill
Committee Stage Speech hv the Secretary for Security
I move that clauses 28(1), 30(2), 32(1), 32(3), 32(4), 32(5), 33(1), 33(2) and Schedule 3 be amended as set out in the paper circularised to Honourable Members.
2 The amendments to clauses 28(1), 30(2), 32(1), 32(3), 32(4), 32(5), 33(1) and Schedule 3 have already been referred to in the Second Reading debate.
3 Amendments to clause 33(2) is technical and clarificatory in nature to better the presentation.
4 All the above amendments have been discussed in detail by the House Committee and have received the Committee's endorsement.
5 Mr Chairman, 1 beg to move.
6 INDEX TO LOCAL REGULATIONS, ETC.
Date of Gazette L.N. No. Pat
A—Contd.
Auxiliary Medical Service Ordinance (57 of 1997)— Contd.
Resolution amending the Regulation 27. 6.97 357 B270
Auxiliary Medical Service Regulation 13.6.97 316 B227
13. 6.97 316 B227
27. 6.97 357 B270.
B
Banking Ordinance (Cap. 155)—
Banking Ordinance (Amendment of Tenth Schedule) Notice 1997 7. 3.97 88 B322
1997 7. 3.97 88 B323 Banking Ordinance (Declaration under
Section 2(14)(d)) Notice 23.5.97 280 B2124
23. 5.97 280 B2125
Banking (Amendment) Ordinance 1997 (4 of 1997)—
1997
Banking (Amendment) Ordinance 1997 (Commencement) Notice 1997 31.1.97 59 B200 (No. 2) Notice 1997 9.5.97 225 B1262
1997 31. 1.97 59 B201
1997 9. 5.97 225 B1263
INDEX TO LOCAL REGULATIONS, ETC. 5
Date of Gazette L.N. No Page
A~Conld.
Auxiliary Forces Pay and Allowances Ordinance (Cap. 254)—
Auxiliary Forces Pay and Allowances
(Pensions) Regulation 2. 5.97 184 B812
2. 5.97 184 B813
Pay Classification (Auxiliary Medical
Service) Assignment Notice 13.6.97 318 B2306
13. 6.97 318 B2307
Pay Classification (Civil Aid Service) Assignment Notice 13.6.97 319 B2310
13. 6.97 319 B2311
Auxiliary Forces Pensions (Miscellaneous Amendments) Ordinance 1997 (20 of 1997)—
Auxiliary Forces Pensions (Miscellaneous Amendments) Ordinance 1997 (Commencement) Notice 1997 9. 5.97 226 B1264
9. 5.97 226 B1265
Auxiliary Medical Service Ordinance (57 of 1997)—
Auxiliary Medical Service Ordinance (Commencement) Notice 1997 13.6.97 323 B2324
13. 6.97 323 B2325
Auxiliary Medical Service
The Auxiliary Medical Service (AMS), formerly known as the Medical Civil Defence Unit under the former Medical and Health Department, was established in December 1950 as a corps of professional doctors and nurses together with trained volunteer members to perform tasks to augment the regular medical and health services. The primary purpose of establishing the unit is to tap the manpower of the volunteers in tackling natural disasters and calamities in times of emergency. In recent years, the service has begun to work on the development of disaster medicine in Hong Kong.
Organisation: The AMS was formed in 1950 with a small membership of a mere 2 000 and has grown to the current establishment of 5 258. These members come from all walks of life with about 1 000 being professionals comprising doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dispensers, radiographers and paramedical personnel working either in public or private practice. By law, the Director of Health is the Commissioner of the AMS.
The service is commanded by the Commissioner through the AMS Headquarters which in turn directs the operation of the Operations Wing, the Hospital Wing and the Logistics Wing.
The Operations Wing: It consists of about 4 000 uniformed members. Its principal function is to provide first aid coverage, to undertake casualty evacuation and to operate emergency medical centres. The wing is organised on a regional basis, namely, Hong Kong and Islands, Kowloon, New Territories East and New Territories West, with a total of 18 districts. For operational reasons, the districts are demarcated in a way conforming to those under police and fire commands. AMS members at district level are under the overall command of a District Commander. In each district there are four teams.
The Emergency Response Task Force (ERTF) was established in 1992. It is a team comprising medical doctors, nurses and specially trained volunteer members to provide on-the-spot paramedic services. This special squad operates round the clock to respond to any urgent calls and it will arrive at the scene in 30 to 45 minutes after a call out.
The Hospital Wing: When a major emergency occurs, the Hospital Wing will be alerted to establish the following units: * Dressing Stations (DSN) — These stations will act
as buffer to the casualty clearing hospitals by treating the lightly injured and also act as general dispensaries or clinics for the general public living in the vicinity.
* Casualty Clearing Hospitals (CCH) — These will be reinforced by AMS personnel and emergency supplies rendering them suitable for accepting casualties from the incident site. In practice these hospitals will provide a great number of additional beds.
* Convalescent Units (CU) — These institutions are used for reception of convalescent patients from
casualty clearing hospitals. This would ensure that empty beds are readily made available at every acute hospital throughout the emergency period.
The Logistics Wing: AMS operations are supported by several administrative divisions, e.g. Welfare and Liaison, Transport, General Store and General Administration.
Roles and Functions: The service/duties of the AMS can be divided into emergency and general duties. In times of emergency and natural disaster, the AMS will supplement the medical and health services by providing treatment to the injured on the spot, to convey casualties to hospitals, and to care for patients at both acute and convalescent hospitals. With its teams of uniformed members trained in ambulance manning techniques and first aid, the AMS also helps reinforce the regular ambulance service and provide first aid coverage at public functions.
Mobilization: Request for mobilization of AMS can normally be channelled through the Deputy Commissioner (Operations). However, direct contact for assistance can also be made with any volunteer commander. Some of the headquarters staff are also available through mobile telephones for the purpose of channelling such messages. The Headquarters Control Room is set up and manned whenever Typhoon Signal No. 8 or black rain storms warning has been hoisted or during emergencies. Requests for call out are normally referred from the Fire Services Headquarters or the Government Secretariat Emergency Co-ordination Centre.
Emergency Duties: Upon the hoisting of Typhoon Signal No. 8 or above, AMS members will report to Fire Services Department Ambulance Depots/Stations to set up first aid coverage for the general public in case of need. AMS will also augment the regular ambulance service by providing an additional ambulance crew at various designated ambulance depots/stations.
In the unlikely event of any nuclear accident, the AMS is also charged with the responsibility of manning monitoring centres and scanning points for decontamination process/operations under the nuclear emergency contingency plan.
Supplies and Appliances: As part of the contingency scheme for AMS operation, emergency stores have been stockpiled at various government clinics and hospitals. These supplies are stored in over some 30 locations in both urban and rural areas for easy retrieval.
General Duties: AMS also provides a variety of general services for the community such as providing first aid coverage for community events like the Walks for Million, Fireworks Display and manning first-aid posts at the country park areas during weekends and public holidays. The teaching and validating of first aid skills for civil
servants and other employees in large organisations are routine duties of the AMS.
Currently, members of the AMS are assisting the Department of Health in running all methadone clinics with related clinical tasks.
The AMS is operating a Non-emergency Ambulance Transfer Service (NEATS) for the community. It serves patients attending Department of Health clinics and residents of Social Welfare Department institutes attending public clinics/private hospitals.
At present AMS has six NEATS ambulances operating daily from 0800 to 1800 hours except Sundays and Public Holidays.
Training: Recruit training is conducted regularly to provide those newly joined with the necessary basic skills and requirements of the AMS. On completion of the basic training, further or more advanced general regular sub-unit training will be provided to each and every member.
General training related to casualty handling, nursing, life-saving, and practical sessions at hospital wards. Accident and Emergency Departments are available to members. Members are also provided with training in the field of leadership, supervisory techniques and management. A newly developed programme on Disaster Medicine which aims to qualify all members at Disaster Medicine Assistant level will be introduced by
1999 with a three-year plan of implementation. Throughout the training curriculum, great emphasis is placed on the spirit of service to the community.
Special training connected with disaster management is introduced through inter-departmental seminars and exchange of information with disaster management authorities at international level. Some AMS personnel have attended courses conducted by overseas disaster management institutions.
Summary: The AMS has tried every endeavour to augment the regular medical and health services. Over the years, members have been mobilised and deployed to assist in mass educational schemes on health campaigns against epidemics and the promotion of community awareness on first aid education.
The AMS will further strengthen its role in disaster management by adopting a more proactive approach. Through promotion and l iaison with other overseas specialist organisations, the role and function of the AMS can be more vividly projected into the community, thus facil itating the fulfi lment of its primary charter of reducing loss of life during emergencies.
(Auxiliary Medical Service Home Page Address: http://www.info.gov.hk/ams/)
Published by the information Services Department Printed by He Printing Department. Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government HKSAR Government Website http//www.mfo.gov.hk
1998
Auxiliary M
edical S
ervice Existin
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perations & Training
Officer
Operations &
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Senior E
xecutive Officer
Executive O
fficer II
Chinese Language O
fficer II
Senior C
lerical Officer
Clerical O
fficer
Assistant C
lerical Officer
Clerical A
ssistant
Senior H
ospital Foreman
Hospital Forem
an
Personal S
ecretary II
WW
II = Workm
an II
SS
I = Supplies Supervisor I
SS
II = Supplies Supervisor II
AR
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= Motor D
river
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mbulance S
ervices Section
I
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Developm
ent Section
CS
= Civil S
ervant Training S
ection
LS
= Logistic 3. Support S
ection
Auxiliary M
edical Service G
eneral Organization of the A
MS V
olunteer Structure
* Note :
The C
hief Staff Officer is a full-tim
e government official w
ho is responsible to the C
omm
issioner for the efficient administration, planning, training
and operation of the AM
S.
Establishm
ent
(AM
S.CH
AR
T X
LS)
AMS Pay Code and Rates of Pay with effect from 1.10.2002
Appendix 'K'
Pay Hourly Rate Daily Rate
Rank Appointment Code of Pay of Pay
enior Grade VII Officer Commissioner C 148.60 1.188.80
irade VII Officer Deputy Commissioner D 127.20 1,017.60
Assistant Commissioner D 127.20 1,017.60 Chief Operation Officer D 127.20 1.017.60 Regional Commander D 127.20 1.017.60
Grade VI Officer Senior Operation Officer F 113.40 907.20 Deputy Regional Commander F 113.40 907.20 Branch Commander F 113.40 907.20 Assistant Branch Commander F 113.40 907.20 Medical Officer I F 113.40 907.20
Senior Grade V Officer Operation Officer I 91.70 733.60 Liaison Officer I I 91.70 733.60 Medical Officer II I 91.70 733.60 District Commander I 91.70 733.60 Division Officer I 91.70 733.60
Grade V Officer Assistant Operation Officer L 70.80 566.40 Liaison Officer II L 70.80 566.40 Assistant District Commander L 70.80 566.40 Assistant Division Officer L 70.80 566.40
Senior Grade IV Officer Supervisor P 63.20 505.60 Assistant Liaison Officer I P 63.20 505.60 Nurse I P 63.20 505.60
Grade IV Officer Assistant Supervisor R 53.50 428.00 Assistant Liaison Officer II R 53.50 428.00 Nurse II R 53.50 428.00
Grade III Officer Senior Auxiliary Dresser V 45.50 364.00 Senior Auxiliary Nurse V 45.50 364.00 Senior Driver V 45.50 364.00
Grade II Officer Auxiliary Dresser I Z 37.10 296.80 Auxiliary Nurse I Z 37.10 296.80 Driver I Z 37.10 296.80
Grade I Officer Auxiliary Dresser II AG 30.50 244.00 Auxiliary Nurse II AG 30.50 244.00 Driver II AG 30.50 244.00 Recruit AG 30.50 244.00
An analysis of the motivation of volunteer members in the Auxiliary Medical Service
Questionnaire (Total 4 pages)
2