Managing People in Sports - Coursework Example

MANAGING PEOPLE IN SPORTS 0 Introduction The increasing rates of globalisation, accountability and commercialisation in the sport industry during the past years have led to numerous changes in the management of sport organisations. Sport organisations are adopting management styles that are more complex and focused on generating profits (Taylor, Doherty & McGraw 2008). These changes continue to change the scale as well as the delivery of competitions amongst sport organisations and the manner of organising sports activities. In addition, these changes have also changed various directions of flow of coaches, athletes, executives and managers both at national as well as international levels. Today, almost all sports have developed and assumed a professional status and most organisations have attained a worldwide equity of their brands. A good example in football is Manchester United, Realmadrid and AC Milan. This means that all the theories regarding the management of these organisations including the human resource field have found great application in these organisations. This article will identify three major issues regarding the people managers in the area of sport and discuss one of them in detail, analyising the core challenges and the manner of dealing with them to enhance the performance of sport organisations. 1.1 Key issues for people managers There are numerous issues that affect the performance of an organisation. However, despite the fact that all issues have a contribution to the overall performance of a sport organisation, there are some issues that are more critical and need extra care, knowledge and expertise in handling them. This section highlights three of these issues and provides a brief explanation. 1.1.1 Attracting and selecting the right talents One of the key issues is the process of attracting and selecting the right persons for the organisation. In the sport industry, this is a very critical issue in the decision of strategic human resource management. The strategy that aims at achieving the set goals for the organisation start with the quality of people the organisation hires to serve the organisation. The method employed by the organisation in hiring and selecting its employees directly reflects to the performance and the capability of meeting its goals as well as the efficiency in executing the various functions (Armstrong & Baron 1998). There are a number of reasons that prove the importance of employing the best method in attracting and selecting the persons to serve in the organisation. First, the people are the foundation of all the processes carried out by the organisation and the amount of energy employed by individuals greatly vary from one person to another. This means that the selection strategy must aim at reaching the best people that will contribute maximally for the organisation. This has become a very critical issue in the management of sport organisations evident by the rapid managerial changes observed every year in many organisations. The scientific method for the selection and recruitment of new employees is thus very important since success and failure for the organisation start at this point (Taylor, Doherty & McGraw 2008). Secondly, the people hired in the organisation greatly influence the organisational culture that again becomes a very powerful determinant for the future recruitment into the organisation (Adkins & Caldwell 2004). For example, the introduction of a new player or coach into the organisation can enhance and motivate players and act to improve the performance. On the other hand, if the proper selection of the player or new coach happens wrongly, it can lead to demoralisation and poor performance for the organisation. Practical example is the departure of Sir Alex Fergusson and entry of David Moyes as the new head coach in 2013 transferred Manchester United from a winning team to a losing team. According to the resource based model of strategic human resource management, organisations in the modern world are mostly relying on internal strategies for transformation based on the speed of operations and efficiency rather than the old strategies based on location (Amis, Pant & Slack 1997). This means that attracting and selecting the most appropriate talents is a significant strategy for ensuring excellent performance. 1.1.2 Training and development in sport organisations The attraction and selection of best talents cannot optimally benefit the organisation if the organisation does not employ a good training strategy for its members. The sport organisation that has a good training and improvement strategy for its members has a great potential of retaining its skilled workers including players as well as volunteers (Goldstein & Ford 2002). This will ensure that the organisation will ever have the potential for delivering on the strategy of the organisation and provides people who will fill the vacancies created in the future because of retirements of the existing individuals. This is a very key factor in ensuring consistent results for the organisation since sport organisations always suffer from great fluctuations in performance. The idea of the organisation to invest in the persons serving the organisation has an impact of establishing a high degree of loyalty in its employees. This will also build a sense of commitment that in turn will benefit the organization (Taylor, Doherty & McGraw 2008). The training and the development of employees has an effect of enhancing the overall performance of the organisation, quality of the service offered by players and other workers, reputation of the organisation, building good relationships within the organisation that results to increased profits and elimination of absenteeism (Judge & Cable 1997). Strategic training and the development of workers in a sport organisation aims at enhancing job satisfaction and commitment amongst the paid employees as well as the volunteers, reducing the rate of turnover of both the employees and the volunteers and improving the efficiency in the operations and delivery of services (Huselid 1995). In addition, it intends to improve the capacity of adopting new methods and technologies as well as enhancing the capability of managing risks regarding best knowledge of requirements of compliance. The process of training and developing employees entails the alignment of the strategic goals of the organisation with the capabilities of the workers who enable the organisation to achieve the set goals (Van der Wagen 2007). For example, a centre for community fitness with the objective of being the first option for community fitness in the area can come up with a training program that focus on customer care or management of relationships to make sure that its workers have good knowledge on satisfying customers to guarantee the retention of customers and enhancing their loyalty. The training can thus assist employees in gaining more knowledge, effectiveness, commitment, job satisfaction that in turn leads to quality service delivery (Doherty 2005). The training and development program ensures that employees have the opportunity of learning and acquiring new skills, attitudes and knowledge that will enable them to gain better capabilities of dealing with problems facing the sport organization (Taylor, Doherty & McGraw 2008). The training and development program can target specific individuals or groups for various reasons in connection to the needs of the organisation. Specific training and development programs can aim at enhancing a specific skill highly required in the organisation, to enhance one of the components of a person’s profession, when performance evaluation shows that a specific area needs improvement and if the process is a strategy that aims at creating a common mindset and method of decision making among the employees (Millmore et. al. 2007). Conclusively, training and development means the creation and improvement of techniques related to the job or the development of skills related to the job as well as others that do not necessarily relate to the job but in one way or the other will benefit the sport organisation. 1.1.3 Managing changes in a sport organisation Any sport organisation that wishes to achieve better results and maintain its good performance all the time must understand that changes are necessary. The changes must respond appropriately to the change in the sport environment and the change should also align with the objectives of the organisation. Therefore, good management of changes in the organisation is very important for the success of the organisation (Kikulis 2000). The change can occur in the products or services that the sport organisation is offering, the technology that the organisation uses in achieving its goals, the structure of the organisation as well as the people behaviour in the organisation. The changes in the products or services that the organisation offers to its clients are usually the most common change. This however, may also influence changes in the other areas in the organisation. For example, when a fitness organisation changes its programs such as removing step classes and replacing with spin classes, the move may have some implications for the workers in the organisation. The move may necessitate the employment of new workers qualified for the new program or may decide to train the existing workers to master the new program. The management has the responsibility of evaluating the options and introducing the best change that will greatly benefit the organisation. This is among the most striking issues in the management of sport organisations (Wolsey, Minten & Abrams 2012). The changes in the technology of a sport organisation come as a result of the improvement in information technology and use of the internet. Failure by any sport organisation to be in touch with new technology means that the organisation will be missing an important mechanism of passing or exchanging ideas with the employees, volunteers, clients and other participants including fans in the case of clubs such as football or basketball (Wolsey, Minten & Abrams 2012). Other changes in technology may include the change in the mode of production or service delivery. The replay of video, use of computer in judging score and athlete testing of drug are among the few examples of technological changes in sports. The changes in the structure of the organisation or system incorporate manipulation of duties assigned to the various departments and employees or the hierarchical power in the sport organisation. A sport organisation may decide to establish differentiated sections to meet the various features of the business such as the representation of athlete, the human resource department or the finance department (Taylor, Doherty & McGraw 2008). Change to a system of an organisation can come by a complete or partial revision of the sporting goods payment structure of the retailer. A good example is the elimination or introduction of a compensation system based on commission. The changes in the people come through the shifting or modifications among or within the employees or ranks of the volunteers. The changes in the people may entail hiring of new people, promotion of the current employees, transfer of employees from one department or task to another or movement to another place in the same organisation (Trenberth & Hassan 2012). These changes may happen after training and acquisition of new skills, change in values and attitudes within the workplace. All the changes are basically products of training as well as professional advancements. The change comes to align with the new qualities acquired so as to assist in the operations and service delivery to clients. The changes in an organisation can come because of pressure both within the organisation as well as outside the organisation. Internal pressure comes from forces within the organisation that may include financial problems, inefficiency in operations or discontented workers. For the sporting organisation to deal with financial challenges, it has to introduce changes like reducing the number of employees, change the structure of pricing or sell some of the products (Taylor, Doherty & McGraw 2008). For example, a football club may decide to lease or sell off some of its players to correct a balance deficit. The organisation can also hire new workers to diversify its operations and improve the efficiency in its service delivery. On the other hand, external forces for change in a sporting organisation come from the outside environment from factors that the organisation lacks direct control. The organisation can only take measures to align the changes and escape any adverse effect of the changes. These may include pressure from the rivals, change in government policies and legislation from sport controlling bodies. The organisation can also face pressure from demographic changes as well as the economy in which the organisation operates. For example, a large influx of old adults into an area where there is a local swimming may be necessary for the organisation to shift from learn to swim classes into offering sessions fit for seniors. The change comes to deal with the external stimulus where the organisation aims at either taking step to benefit from the change or to eliminate harmful effects brought by the change. This is a very crucial factor for the success of any sport organisation since changes are inevitable. 2.0 Training and development in sport organisations Having introduced the three main issues that affect people in a sporting organisation, this section aims at discussing in length the best practices that the organisation can use to achieve this objective. It will also have a look at the challenges encountered and some proposals on how to deal with them. This is because, of all the three issues discussed, this is the most important issue that greatly determines the effectiveness in dealing with all the other issues. Despite the fact that it is important to do the selection of the right people during recruitment, one should remember that no individual will come into the organisation with all the skills required by the organisation. Training is necessary to impart the very specific skills required and the effectiveness of the process determines the success of the organisation (Abney 1991). Changes also require training and with good training it is easier to implement the changes. This explains why the article has selected the issue for deeper examination to ensure that the process is effective and produces the best results for the organisation. 2.1 The training and development process The process of training and developing employees in a sport organisation, where talent development is the most determinant factor for success has to be very efficient and comprehensive. It must be systematic and reflect to the needs of the organisation and efficient to minimize costs for the organisation. A good system of training and developing workers in a sport organisation must start with an analysis of the training needs, followed by the establishment of the goals of the training and the implementation of the specific initiatives. However, the implementation process of the specific needs must go together with the evaluation of the entire training program (Taylor, Doherty & McGraw 2008). Figure 1. Training and development model (Source: Baumgarten, 1995: 209). 2.2 Analysis of the training needs The major benefit of conducting a good analysis of the training needs is that it enables the management to acquire information that will help in the establishment of the training strategy and the training objectives. This process mainly entails three approaches based on the level. First, is the level of the organisation analysis that aims at examining the manner the training and the development strategy can empower the strategic movement of the organisation and that it is aligned with the goals of the organisation? It reveals the area that needs the training and the specific goals that the training will meet (Kirkpatrick 1998). An example is when a golf club observes a gap in the performance that occurred from a dwindling number of renewals of memberships and reduced satisfaction with the service offered. The data that will be used for analysis may include the strategic goals of the golf club, the process of quality assurance, culture, and turnover of employees and the rates of absenteeism. This will lead to the identification of the training requirements in the organisation. The second level of analysis is on the operational task that aims at identifying the nature of the tasks as well as the skills, knowledge and the specific abilities needed to effectively perform the job. The analysis reveals the needs required to effectively perform the tasks. The data utilised in this analysis may include descriptions of positions, criteria of performance as well as market research concerning the requirements of other similar posts in various organisations (Kirkpatrick 1998). The last level of analysis is the individual level performed to establish the level of perfectness a particular individual can do a particular job. This analysis aims at identifying the individuals that need training and the kind of training they need according to the evaluation of their current capabilities against the level of performance required (Kirkpatrick 1998). Both the employees and the volunteers can require training to update or improve knowledge and skills, to fill a vacant in the performance of the management process and to fill a growth or expansion gap if there is the need of promoting the individual to another post within the organisation. Useful data may include performance appraisal, external and internal feedback from customers as well as observations (Barrick & Mount 1991). 2.3 Setting training goals This is the second step and therefore the goals set should outline the expected outcome and should align with training requirements identified during the analysis. The most popular training programs for most employees as well as volunteers are communication skills, negotiation skills, customer service, skills required in developing specific codes of conduct, matters regarding conflicting interests, issues regarding corporate social responsibility, diversity matters, better corporate governance, coaching, volunteer management and officiating (Goldstein & Ford 2002). 2.4 Designing training and development The goals and the objectives of the training will shape the design of the training strategy. The design of the training strategy will also base on the method of instruction, content, material, sequencing and exercises. The content of the strategy for training should directly connect with the areas identified during the assessment and be compatible with the goals of the training. The various techniques employed during the design include cognitive, psychomotor and interpersonal skills (Campion 1989). Cognitive skills relate to the process of solving problem, understanding and the requirements of the knowledge. Interpersonal skills relate to interactions with the other members including colleagues and volunteers. It incorporates a very wide range of skills like communication, leadership, conflict resolution, team building and negotiation. The psychomotor skills relate to the physical or manual activities that need special movements of the body. 2.5 Evaluation of training The process of evaluating the training and the development process occurs at all stages before, during as well as after the implementation of the entire program. Regarding the effectiveness of the overall goals and the objectives of the training and development strategy dictates the method used for evaluation. Validity, accuracy, reliability and practical relevance are among the most important characteristics that the evaluation process should possess (Cabrera & Cabrera 2003). 2.6 Limitations of training strategies in sport organisations There is a very wide range of approaches available for the training and development of employees and volunteers in sport organisations. The techniques required in implementing these strategies are always many and very complicated (Amis, Slack & Berrett 1995). The choice of the best method that suit the organisation is thus a very great challenge. Additionally, there is very great challenge in the process of predicting the outcome in some areas since some skills are more difficult to learn. This is especially the skills that involve body movements or physical fitness. In this condition it is very difficult to optimally assess the effectiveness of the training strategy in imparting the exact skill required (Kirkpatrick 1998). With proper analysis and accuracy of the data obtained, together with proper identification and definition of the objectives of the training, it is possible for the organisation to identify the best training approach that the organisation can use to achieve its objectives (Beer & Eisenstat 2000). It is also possible to learn and identify the best techniques required for the implementation of the training strategy. In cases the skill is very important and needs a specialist in the field then the organisation can source such an individual outside the organisation. This will ensure that the training delivers the intended skills optimally and in the most efficient manner. Finally, it is possible to enhance the effectiveness of the assessment process by splitting each component of the training strategy into its constituent elements followed by critical examination. With all the necessary measures put in place, the organisation can conduct a very successful training exercise for its employees and volunteers. 3.0 Conclusion Management of people in sport organisation is increasingly becoming a very significant matter because of the rapid changes in the manner people perceive sports in the modern world. The planning and the management strategy aim at improving the manner people work to achieve the objectives of the organisation. Apart from being workers for the organisation, employees and volunteers help the organisation to achieve a perfect competitive advantage and sustainability in the environment that it operates. The people who work for the organisation are the ones who determine the reputation and image of the organisation, the culture of the organisation, services delivered to customers, competitiveness, creativity, innovation and the means of introducing changes in the organisation. The employees and the volunteers in a sport organisation are very important to the establishment and implementation of the values, customs, policies and objectives of the organisation. Hence, it is necessary to engage them through various participatory programs to help them realise their needs, aspirations and the recognition they deserve. The success of any sport organisation comes from the contribution by the persons straightly connected to the desired results. The process of selecting and recruiting new staff should be designed to attract the best talents and properties required by the organisation. The training and development strategy should bring good results based on the objectives of the organisation. This training should also act to motivate both the employees and volunteers serving the organisation. 4.0 Bibliography Abney, R. 1991, ‘Recruiting and mentoring sport leaders’, Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, Vol. 62, No. 3, pp. 48–51. 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