The Development Process of the Work of Volunteer Dentists Team by Buddhist Peaceful Means: A Case Study of Sirivaddhako Dental Clinic, Buddhamahametta Foundation, Bang Pa-In District, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya

This dissertation was a study of the development process of the work of volunteer dentists team by Buddhist peaceful means: a case study of Sirivaddhako Dental Clinic (SDC), Buddhamahametta Foundation. The clinic has provided free dental treatments since November 2018 for especially monks and others upon pre-appointments. Due to limited accessibility to dental services in Thailand, the research would benefit both monastic people and general public. There were 3 objectives: 1) to analyze the working problems state and obstacles of the volunteer dentist team of SDC and study the developing theories of volunteer working team; 2) to study the process of developing volunteer working team by Buddhist peaceful means focusing on Saṅgahavatthu4; 3) to develop and present the working team process by Buddhist peaceful means for the volunteer dentist team of SDC. This qualitative research applied in-depth interviews and focus group discussions as key research instruments. Documentary and inductive content analysis were utilized for developing theories of 4 voluntary organizations: Tzu-Chi, Plum Village, Rotary and Village Health Volunteer plus related concepts of Buddhist peaceful means on Saṅgahavatthu4. Thus, the results were used as benchmarking tools to compare with the clinic.

                The research findings identified 5 main inspirations to participate in volunteer dentist team: faith and impression, happiness, making merits, connection, and opportunity to practice & learn new things. Six working problems and obstacles were identified: personnel, working processes, equipment maintenance, stock management, communication, and covid-19 measures respectively. The principles of Saṅgahavatthu4 were applied to solve problems successfully and the comparison with best practices showed common characteristics similar to those of the clinic. Consequently, the new model of the development process of the work of volunteer dentist team was presented with the pre-requirement of meditation practicing. The proposed model integrated the principles of Saṅgahavatthu4 and best practices consisting of 4 parts: 1) individual-volunteer mind; 2) voluntary organization; 3) Buddhist peaceful means/ 4C elements: contribution/ dāna, communication/ piyavācā, conduct/ atthacariyā, and consistency/ samānattatā; and 4) key success factors. The recommendations of the research study were: 1) applying a prototype model for other voluntary or non-profit organizations and service industries; 2) benefiting Human Capitals development focusing on mental aspects and soft skills training; 3) meditation practices and dhamma teachings; a pre-requisite condition, was a must and gatekeeper for successful development of the team as well as the single most important training instruments to develop volunteer team achieving both individual and organizational purposes; 4) the implication of peace concepts in volunteer mind cultivating inspiration and happiness at work thus supporting the development of volunteer team; 5) Buddha’s appreciation was the foremost core concept and strongly influenced on building volunteer spirit among the team;  6) applying 4C elements could not merely solving problems but also improving work operations and relationship within the team; and 7) sustainable success of SDC deriving from the combination of meditation practices and dhamma teachings together with voluntary work generating key success factors to maintain an on-going development and improving working processes in the long run.