Sports Program at the University of Western Australia, UWA, Rugby Club - Term Paper Example

Assessment Task One – Facility Feasibility Study Submitted By Student Number Word Count Date 1.0 Executive Summary Rugby is a vital part of the Australian culture. Sports and especially rugby has a long history in the country dating back to colonial times. The University of Western Australia, UWA, Rugby Club is an establishment that offers sports facilities to Australians. The establishment offers teaching and learning facilities for interested sportspeople from all walks of life. The University of Western Australia, UWA, Rugby Club serves the community through offering young people with a chance to be fit, pursue their dreams through sports and to abstain from alternative activities like drug addictions. The purpose of this feasibility study is to determine whether or not the project for the University of Western Australia, UWA, Rugby Club should continue to serve the community. This will be determined through an assessment and evaluation of a number of factors within the facility’s feasibility research process. The factors mentioned will include the communal needs, funding, time, operational management plan, design, resources and risks. The factors will be assesses by the management team through comprehensive research study into the local council, community as well as government to make a determination of whether the project is viable to continue or otherwise. This feasibility study has identified the issues that are currently hindering the development and continuity of the Rugby Club and facility at the University of Western Australia. The issues include; lack of funds, lack of inclusiveness for women and the issue of bureaucratic processes seen under the public run management. The proposed recommendations are amendments to the failures and weaknesses of the system at University of Western Australia, UWA, Rugby Club. The Proposed recommendations will therefore work effectively to improve the system. Table of Contents 1.0 Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 2.0 Introduction 4 2.1 BACKGROUND AND SCOPE 4 2.2 Customer Expectations 5 3.0 NEEDS ASSESSEMENT 5 3.1 Assessment of main community values and organizational philosophies 6 3.2 Assessment of the existing provision 6 4.0 Management Plan to Resolve Problem 6 5.0 Application of Best Practice and quality Management Principles 8 Conclusion 9 References 10 2.0 Introduction 2.1 BACKGROUND AND SCOPE The University of Western Australia, UWA, Rugby Club is an establishment that offers sports facilities to Australians. The establishment offers teaching and learning facilities for interested sportspeople from all walks of life. The University of Western Australia, UWA, Rugby Club serves the community through various means like service to young people through maintaining their fitness, pursue their dreams through sports and abstinence from alternative activities like drug addictions. The facility is under the management of UWA Sports Park. This is a multi-purpose recreation and sporting reserve located in Mount Claremont in Western Australia. Overall, the University of Western Australia owns the establishment. The establishment is known for its effort to rehabilitate and nurture talent from both genders through a world class sporting and recreation setting. The sports facility strives everyday to ensure that sporting, recreation facilities and services offered are the best in global standards, and that the needs of the Australian youth have been met. The main elements to focus on for such a huge establishment are modern technologies and equipment. Without such efforts to maintain technological advancement for the sports facility, the global positioning of the University of Western Australia, UWA, Rugby Club and the ensuing services will decline in global rankings. This should never be the case since the sports facility not only provides fitness benefits and nurturing of talents to the Australian youths but also provides a sense of pride and belonging for the locals. If the facility were to drop in rankings and lose its value, there would be dire consequences not just to the locals but to the Australian public in general. This facility offers health benefits, social benefits and economical benefits to the region it serves. Therefore, if it does not continue, health, social and economic issues will be observed. University of Western Australia, UWA, Rugby Club employs talented and qualified staff members to oversee various departmental activities. The advantage of employing quality and well trained sports instructors is that one is guaranteed to attain the best there is in sports and training. Sporting facilities are superior over other facilities due to the simple fact that quality is assured. Apart from the rugby field, training and related facilities, the establishment offers other sporting facilities like sporting fields, swimming pools, tennis and basketball courts, gymnasiums as well as conference or meeting rooms. Within the facilities, other sports offered include, badminton, tennis, netball, basketball, dodge ball, squash, soccer, hockey and other indoor games as well as athletics. Therefore, it is quite clear that the sporting facility at the University of Western Australia is quite busy and packed. There is therefore, a need to have proper management. To continue being competitive and relevant within the sporting sector, there should be a clear focus by management on other modern strategies being employed elsewhere in the world. The scope of the paper is to identify means to make the establishment better and ensure its continuity. The establishment has different goals and objectives. However, through the service offered, participants are able to remain fit and maintain healthy lifestyles. The nature of the establishment is not to make profits only but to inspire people to be the best they can be through sports. Nonetheless, having a sports facility attracts investors and sponsors that help to drive the economy of a region. The University of Western Australia, UWA, Rugby Club caters to young people from the region. Talents are nurtured and grown into professional careers. Service delivery in the University of Western Australia, UWA, Rugby Club is in terms of charity and volunteer services. This means that the facility lacks the necessary motivation to perform better. . Although it is not entirely a policy, women often lack a voice or participation within the facilities. Young men are preferred to girls thus creating a gap. Public ownership of the establishment means that development is hindered by bureaucratic manoeuvres. As such, the paper proposes activities to promote the continuity of the establishment through commercialization of activities and social amenities, gender sensitivity and sponsorship deals. Other activities to be undertaken include placing the applicable fees at levels that are reasonable to the clients and the establishment, staying afloat the modern technologies and regular promotional activities like holding competitions at the facility. For a system to be effective, a sports facility must strive to increase and strengthen the advantages of service delivery while the weak points are dealt with for improvements. Gender insensitivity, lack of funds and bureaucracy in decision making are the main concerns of the facility. 2.2 Customer Expectations Identifying service delivery aspects that deemed important by users of the sports facilities at the University of Western Australia and the examination of the desires and needs of the users is important for the facility. However, it is not within the scope of this feasibility study. Therefore, this paper will look at the management practices that must be done to kill the problems that are currently within the establishment. The proposed activities include placing the applicable fees at levels that are reasonable to the clients and the establishment, staying afloat the modern technologies and regular promotional activities like holding competitions at the facility. The customer expects to be served with quality technicalities, modern facilities and up to date equipments. Additionally, the customer expects to receive training and instructions from qualified members of staff that are competitive nationally and globally. As the world moves towards a more customer focused orientation in marketing and service delivery, it is important for the sports facility at University of Western Australia to adopt the same strategies. Part of the problem involves inclusiveness of women in the sporting activities and lack of motivation and funding. The customer expects to be treated with high regard. Therefore, the establishment must devise ways to ensure that the establishment is inclusive and maintains the best management styles. 3.0 NEEDS ASSESSEMENT The main reason to conduct a needs assessment is to make an evaluation of whether the recreation and sporting needs of the people of Western Australia are met within the establishment. It is also essential for the feasibility study to identify whether a redevelopment of the establishment is a requirement or whether it is needed by the community. 3.1 Assessment of main community values and organizational philosophies Under an assessment, one realizes that there are several community values and organizational philosophies. These community values and organizational philosophies add up to the communal needs in terms of recreation and sports provisions. These are outlined below using the main values of the major stake holders of the Western Australia region. The University’s sports facility in the region serves the community through sports and recreation facilities. Western Australia administration has specific mission and vision statements and key values that are applied in guiding the direction of the sports facility offered by the University of Western Australia. These key values are used in the attainment efforts of the best for the local community as well as national needs of the thousands that flock the facility every year. The mission is to use evidence and direction to decide on the direction of the community. The vision is to create a vibrant self sustaining community through unity of purpose in sports. 3.2 Assessment of the existing provision The University of Western Australia, UWA, Rugby Club has a number of recreation and sporting facilities that need renewal and redevelopment in line with the above mentioned proposals. These redevelopments and renewals are definitely in line with the overall needs of the local and national community. The University’s sporting facility serves the community through offering young people with a chance to be fit, pursue their dreams through sports and to abstain from alternative activities like drug addictions. The purpose of this feasibility study is to determine whether or not the project for the University of Western Australia, UWA, Rugby Club should continue to serve the community. Within the facilities, other sports offered include, badminton, tennis, netball, basketball, dodge ball, squash, soccer, hockey and other indoor games as well as athletics. Therefore, it is quite clear that the sporting facility at the University of Western Australia has a lot of activities going on. These facilities can be said to be performing well and offering good services. However, the service provision needs to be improved from a mere local standard to international levels of management and service delivery. 4.0 Management Plan to Resolve Problem Despite the staggering spending evidenced by sports and recreation facilities in Australia, the economic development strategy at the University of Western Australia is rife with mediocre information on the main issues the relate to management of the projects at the facility. Major decision makers usually face a limited grasp and understanding of the actual cost and benefits of the sports establishment. The incomplete understanding of the capacity, capability and real benefits of the establishment has often resulted in unforeseen expenses at amounts far beyond the projected budgets. Unlike many literature that discuss sports and sporting facilities, this paper has its focus on a specific institution and the problems that it is facing in the efforts to deliver quality services to the communities. If the proposed changes are not met, then the sports facility is likely to fall in terms of ratings and thereby affect the general performance and economic performance of the establishment. Therefore, the decision makers must be careful to follow the best route towards making the sports facility serve the needs of the community through top of the class quality services to ensure continuity of the University of Western Australia Sports Establishment. In Australia today, sports facilities have turned out to be an economic development staple. As expected in a country that has a culture of sports, advanced and well developed facilities in sports and recreation are a good sign of progress. This illustrates that despite the tough economic times, sport centers are still significant and very active areas for culture and commerce. Such facilities offer evidence that public sectors in the country can pursue revitalization and redevelopment strategies to keep the culture and commerce of regions active. Sports facilities in Australia have over time grown to be businesses. As seen earlier, the nature of the University of Western Australia, UWA, Rugby Club establishment is not to make profits. Nonetheless, having a sports facility attracts investors and sponsors that help to drive the economy of a region. Therefore, there is a problem of the general attitude of the club ownership and management. There must be processes of refreezing to facilitate change. Change is inevitable and therefore the University of Western Australia, UWA, Rugby Club must learn to move with the current times. Club ownership is public. This limits the clubs abilities to make fast decisions in terms of management and redevelopment ideas. However, in order to take on the challenge that is to meet the needs of the community, University of Western Australia, UWA, Rugby Club must transfer ownership and decision making to management that runs differently from the University’s affairs. Public ownership of the establishment means that development is hindered by bureaucratic manoeuvres. The management must aim to please the customer. In this context, the customer is the community of sportspersons that frequent the facility. They include the locals who use the facilities like the swimming pools and the gymnasiums as well as nationals from all over the country and students within the University and nearby campuses. The customer expects to receive services with quality technicalities, modern facilities and up to date equipments. Additionally, the customer expects to receive training and instructions from qualified members of staff that are competitive nationally and globally. As the world moves towards a more customer focused orientation in marketing and service delivery, it is important for the sports facility at University of Western Australia to adopt the same strategies. Part of the problem involves inclusiveness of women in the sporting activities and lack of motivation and funding. As such, the management must run a number of new programs to solve the problems identified earlier. These problems include; lack of funds, lack of inclusiveness for women and the issue of bureaucratic processes seen under the public run management. The problem of limited funding for projects and development is a nuisance to development and continuity of the program. Service delivery in the University of Western Australia, UWA, Rugby Club is in terms of charity and volunteer services. This means that the facility lacks the necessary motivation to perform better. To counter this issue, the University of Western Australia, UWA, Rugby Club will have to pursue strategies that will attract sponsors and investors into the club sporting and recreation activities. This feasibility study proposes creation of events and tournaments that will attract target audiences. These target consumers of the events and tournaments will be the main attraction for sponsors to flock in and help the club to develop. Once the club receives investors and sponsors, the issue of funds will be taken care of in the long run. When the financial resource in an establishment is lacking, then development cannot be attained. The management must therefore include the proposed solution to the issue of inadequate funds in order for the club to ensure that development for the facility continues. A communal need for women participation in the sporting activities has been identified. Currently, the global atmosphere is changing such that women are involved in all kinds of sports. There are no longer special games or those that exclude women. A facility that has facilities favouring males only is perceived to be gender insensitive. Gender inequality is an issue that has the power to take away potential clients. In Australia today, organizations are under pressure to ensure that gender equality is maintained in all spheres. For the University of Western Australia, UWA, Rugby Club, women have been neglected in the programs that are currently being offered. Although it is not entirely a policy, women often lack a voice or participation within the facilities. Young men are preferred to girls thus creating a gap. The current facilities and sporting activities have not been modified to favour all genders. The club has majored on activities that are more masculine. Female football and rugby sporting activities are not offered. Camping facilities for young people is currently available for young men only. This means that young females with talent and passion for sports are left out of the programs. This feasibility study has identified that there is a communal need for women participation . therefore, management must work to introduce policies and programs that are exclusively for women and integrate female participation in the facility. This will work to attract more customers for the club and couple up to serve the communal need for female participation and inclusion. The last problem identified in this feasibility study is the issue of bureaucratic processes seen under the public run management. Public ownership of the establishment means that development is hindered by bureaucratic manoeuvres. Every decision within the establishment must go through the University’s board for review and approval. This means that decision making processes are excruciatingly slow. As such, the management of the facility is not in a position to make quick decisions that regard the facility. Public ownership is a good management strategy since it ensures that the facility is not misused and graft cases are reduced. Nonetheless, privately managed programs do much better in comparison to the board run programs. The club aims to serve the community and to become a world class establishment in terms of sporting and recreational activities. This feasibility study has identified that commercialization of certain social amenities and sporting activities will allow the management to run through both platforms of public ownership and private management. Therefore, the establishment will enjoy the benefits of public ownership as well as private management. 5.0 Application of Best Practice and quality Management Principles Principles of quality management and best practices application utilize quality assurance as well as control process to attain quality that is consistent over long periods. Quality management will ensure that the organization of the University of Western Australia Rugby Club, services and facilities offered will remain consistent. Over the past decade, a majority of Australian sporting establishments have adopted principles of quality management in specific or general forms. It is worth noting that American sporting and recreational facilities have, over the past decade, made super normal profits due to adoption of principles of quality management. As such, it is clear that the utilization of these management practices is feasible for a sports establishment. Overwhelming evidence suggests that even when applied partially, quality management provides a significant tool for a sporting organization to enhance its strengths and improve its focus, competitiveness, returns on investments and performance. As such, there are various strategies in quality management that the University of Western Australia Rugby Club can adopt towards the above mentioned objective. Customer focused management in a market driven organization will be a good move towards meeting the needs of the society and community. However, the stakeholder’s needs are left out if the organization decides to pursue a customer focused quality assurance and management principle. This means that the organization must integrate stakeholder focused total quality management with the customer oriented focus so as to attain optimum conditions of growth and development. As such, this feasibility identifies the best strategy for the company to be the continuous improvement oriented total management principle. This management approach favors an integrated and holistic quality management structure that aims to meet the expectations of every beneficiary and participant of the sports activities at the University of Western Australia Rugby Club. Conclusion In Australia today, sports facilities have turned out to be an economic development staple. As expected in a country that has a culture of sports, advanced and well developed facilities in sports and recreation are a good sign of progress. This illustrates that despite the tough economic times, sport centers are still significant and very active areas for culture and commerce. Such facilities offer evidence that public sectors in the country can pursue revitalization and redevelopment strategies to keep the culture and commerce of regions active. This feasibility study has provided solutions to the issues facing the University of Western Australia. Further, the study has identified means to make the establishment better and ensure its continuity. References Events and Conferences. (2007). Sport Psychologist, 21(3), 370-371. Hancock, P., Cooper, T., & Bahn, S. (2009). Evaluation of a Youth CaLD (Cultural and Linguistically Diverse) Sports Program in Western Australia: Resettling refugees using sport as a conduit to integration. Tamara Journal For Critical Organization Inquiry,8(1/2), 159-172. Jones, R. (2002). Home and Away: The Grounding of New football Teams in Perth, Western Australia. Australian Journal Of Anthropology, 13(3), 270. Paccagnella, M., & Grove, J. R. (1997). DRUGS, SEX, AND SPORT: AN AUSTRALIAN PERSPECTIVE. Journal Of Sport & Social Issues, 21(2), 179-188. Sargent, G. (1998). Sport psychology research. Sports Coach, 21(3), 34. SPORT MANAGEMENT MEMOS. (2007). Journal of Sport Management, 21(4), 609-610. Sport Recreation + Alliance. (2013). Future Trends. Retrieved from http://www.sportandrecreation.org.uk/webforms/future-trends#sthash.jf7mHefj.dpuf University of Western Australia Rugby Union Club (2015) retrieved from http://www.uwarugby.com.au/ Read More