In any organization, there are various factors that influence its operation that are either internal or external. These factors also influence the sports at various levels of operation depending on the size of a sporting organization. The level may vary from a small village team, a college sports team to the internationally recognized teams. This essay will focus on the various elements of professional, collegiate, and Olympic sports which influence the management of various sports.
Ownership
Rich (2000) notes that in terms of sports ownership, there is a common misconception that the ownership of sports is far removed from the corporate world. Over the last few spans, there has been a tremendous change in the types and kinds of sports ownership. In many organizations, the sports fraternity has changed drastically from the entertainment that spectator driven to enterprises that are profit driven. According to McDonald and Sherry (2010), “a sport that is modern has changed its playful character and its professional practice and has thus changed into a global media spectacle and a significant serious business and stable financially.” The kind of ownership however varies depending on the kind of sports. According to Rosner and Shropshire (2011), the management of the sports franchises and the other kinds of sports are owned depending on the nature of the scope. A good example is the Olympic games. This kind of sport is different to determine its ownership in that the ownership varies from the different countries that participate in it. It is the right to host the Olympic games that are most sought of by the countries that participate in the sports. This is because once the country wins the bid to host such a competition, all the image rights are given to the country, and this has huge financial implications. This also means that the country hosting the Olympics owns the sports. In other kinds of sports such as the football leagues, it is the federations of the respective countries that own the sports. The other kinds of sports that are similar to the sports in the Olympics such a football that are owned by the respective institutions such as colleges. The ownership of the sports impacts the sports in that the owners are in a position to make decisions based on the running of the running of the sports. A good example is the choice of the owners of the football clubs in Europe to invest lots of funds in the clubs in a bid to search for trophies. The level of sports also influences the kind of ownership. In some countries, individual ownership of sports clubs is not allowed. The ownership of the clubs is entitled to the fans or the members.
Facilities
Another factor that influences the sports organization is the facilities that are accessible to the organization. It should be comprehended that the kind of sporting facilities that are available to any sporting institution influences the level that the sport participates. In the bygone decade, there has existed a tremendous increase in the number of stadiums that are constructed worldwide. The professional sports that are normally targeted are the sports that attract huge masses of fans. The trend of the construction of these stadiums does not seem to stop. This is because there are huge implications financially in the sport. Is a certain sporting club has many fans, then it is their desire to ensure that all their fans are in a position to attend the live matches being played. The higher the amount of fans, the higher the revenues, collected in terms of ticket sales. The construction of big stadia also may be used by sporting organizations to reduce the prices if the tickets. This is normally the norm in instances whereby the club is grounded on the principles of fans being important. The huge stadia also attract top players as some of the professional players are spurred by playing for huge masses. The higher the numbers of fans attending the sports live means that the sales are high, and the players are paid higher wages and salaries. The facilities are not only restricted to the Stadia. There are other major facilities that can impact the level that a sports organization operates. It should be comprehended that better sporting facilities translate to better performances. This is however not the case always. There have been many critics who argue that it is the passion that sportsmen have that determine the performance of the sports organizations. This is also however not the case always. In some instances, the performance of an organization is only as good as its training facilities regardless of the passion that the sportsmen have. The facilities also have a huge impact in the area that they are located. The sporting facilities for most of the organizations are normally lining facilitated near the main stadia where the actual sporting takes place. If the training facilities are located far, then the performance of the team may be negatively impacted.
According to Slack and Parent (2006), "the manner in which the management of any sporting organization whether it is a collegiate, professional, and Olympic organization/institution also influences the operation of the organization.” The different levels of sporting mean that a different level of structuring of management has to be done. A small college sporting department would require a few individuals to manage it. Infant in some schools, it is the games master who is both responsible for ensuring that he/she attends the students in the class and then attends to the students sporting activities thereafter. In large sporting organizations, the level of management is deeply structured. In some cases, there are personnel who are responsible for managing the players themselves, and they take them through the various training and match selections for matches. The other level of management is normally the responsibility of the board, and they normally make the decisions that impact the sports organization in terms of development. It is the obligation of the panel to ensure that the organization is well-marketed in emerging markets and the maintenance of the traditions of the organization. It should thus be comprehended that the size of a sporting organization will influence how the organization is run.
Personnel are the other factors that impact the management of the organization. The kind of personnel that the organization has greatly influenced the manager of the organization. Slack and Parent (2006) notes that different sporting organizations have different purposes. If the sporting organization is a sporting organization for the people who are physically challenged, then the personnel working in such departments have to be specialized in some way. The personnel may also influence the management of the organization if the individuals that they are dealing with are not professional. The mental state of the personnel also influences the management of the organization in that the individuals who are not mentally stable require additional personnel.
Media
The media are an external factor that influences most of the sporting organizations nowadays. Disposing of the notion that sporting organization requires the media currently is detrimental to the development of sporting organizations. In effect, it is the media that has the responsibility of informing the general population on how a certain sporting organizations are performing. The impact of the media also has huge financial implications towards the sporting organizations. In today’s sporting organizations, the professional sporting clubs ensure that they negotiate for their image rights with certain media outlets. The sporting clubs have also ben used as a platform of advertisements in that the sporting organizations have shirt deals and endorsements of certain products of the firm being advertised. Additionally, the management of the sports Organization has the media to thank in several instances in the management of the sports organization. The media can be used to disseminate information about the existing state of businesses in the organization. The media also play a big role during the management of crisis in the case of an occurrence of one. The media however are a double-edged sword in that it can both be recycled for the good of the organization or the worse. If a certain media house does not support certain sporting organization, the media house may decide to give a media blackout to that organization. This may influence the daily sales revenue of the club.
The political environment is another factor that influences the management of sporting organizations. For sporting organizations to be stable, the political environment must be conducive for such organizations to conduct business. A good example of the impacts of the political environment is the case of ownership of sporting clubs. In some countries, the ownership of sports organizations is strictly reserved for the local people. The foreign investors can only be allowed to invest on the clubs albeit they do not have a majority stake at the clubs.
According to Rosner and Shropshire (2011), there are three foremost factors that influence the management of sporting organizations. These factors include the size of a sporting organization, the political environment existing at the country of the sporting organization and the ownership of the organization. When these factors are evaluated, the kinds of impact that they have on the organization has to be considered. These factors also have different levels of influence on the sporting organizations. In terms of the ownership of the sporting organizations, the influence level is on the decision-making process. The owners of the sporting organizations want to be seen as making the right choices for the development of the club. The decisions of the owner are normally final. In the case whereby the sporting organization is owned by the fans, the fans elect members to the board to help them make the decisions. The level of decision making thus shifts from the fans to the representatives in terms of the board members.
In terms of the political influence, the sporting organization can be impacted if the policies of the national government have a set up structure to manage such organizations. If the country that the organization is based on requires all sporting organizations to have a board of governors, then it is up to the respective clubs to ensure that they set up a board. The political environment may also not allow certain nationalities to own sporting clubs in certain countries. This is normally seen in Germany whereby all the football clubs have to be owned by the management. The other impact politically in terms of management is the requirement of the management to disclose all its sources of funding. In other countries, the level and structure of the boards of governors be not dictated by the government. The nationality of the owner is not also deeply considered.
The size of a sporting organization will dictate the kind and level of management of the sporting organization. If the sporting organization is a large organization, then there will be many levels of management. Each continent may have its different management team, and it is up to the different boards to create an executive board. When the sporting organization is small, then there is no need to have different levels of management (Slack and Parent, 2006).
Pedersen (2011) notes that in terms of the ownership of the sporting organizations, then there should be different levels of management especially if the organization is large. In the case of the sports franchises, the management of the franchise reserves the right to make the decisions on the levels of management. In private ownerships of the sporting organizations, the owner may delegate some of his duties to the club managers however the final decision is with the proprietor (Pedersen, 2011).
Constantly, sport is continuously developing. In the ensuing ten years, there may be many vicissitudes that occur as a result of what happens today in the sporting world. In the subsequent ten years, there may be many factors that will influence the management of the sporting organizations. According to McDonald and Sherry, (2010), “One of the foremost factors that will impact the decisions made at the sporting organizations is the gender equality.” In the current term, there is the changing notion that the sporting world belongs to the male gender. Different gender equality rights organizations have been fighting for the equal treatment in organizations. The existence of the female gender in the different boards all over the various sporting organizations boards. The other factor that will influence the level of management is the technology present at the time. McDonald and Sherry (2010), argue, “The continuous advancement in technology that is present at this time depicts that the by the next ten years, the activities of the management will have been reduced drastically.” Individual owners of the sporting organizations will try and minimize costs through the adoption of technology in management. Political influences will continue impacting the nature of the management of the sports as everyone is entitled to his or her opinion (Rosner and Shropshire, 2011).
In the inference, it is apparent that there are many factors that influence the management levels of sporting organizations. The main factors include the ownership of the sporting organizations, the political environment at the places of origin of the sports organization and the size of the sporting organizations. In the next ten years, the management of the organizations sporting will change and the factors that will have tremendous impact will be the adoption of technology and the political environments (Rich, 2000).
References
Rosner, S., & Shropshire, K. L. (2011). The business of sports. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Pedersen, P. M. (2011). Contemporary sport management. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Slack, T., & Parent, M. M. (2006). Understanding sport organizations: The application of organization theory. Leeds: Human Kinetics.
Rich, W. C. (2000). The economics and politics of sports facilities. Westport, Conn. [u.a.: Quorum Books.
McDonald, H., & Sherry, E. (2010). Evaluating Sport Club Board Performance: A Customer Perspective. Journal Of Sport Management, 24(5), 524-543.
