Sports management and administration Sports management and administration David C.Watt E & FN SPON An Imprint of Routledge London and New York First published 1998 by E & FN Spon An imprint of Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003. Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 © 1998 David C.Watt All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-203-47529-1 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-78353-0 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-419-19640-4 (Print Edition) Contents List of figures ix Acknowledgements x About the author xi Introduction 1 It is not everybody’s cup of tea 5 Sport and politics 6 1 Sport—what it’s all about 9 Parameters and definitions 9 The history of sport 11 Trends in sports participation 13 Pricing of sports participation 15 The economic impact of sport 16 Sports clubs 17 Sports clubs’ effectiveness 19 Issues facing sport 21 Trends affecting sport 22 2 The sporting context 23 Sport 24 The role and importance of sport in our society 26 The benefits of sport 28 The aims and objectives of sport 30 Current issues 32 Sport and society 36 Sport and health 39 The European dimension 40 Where we practise our sport 43 3 The voluntary sector 47 Voluntary organizations 47 Sport is a voluntary concept 49 Voluntary ethos 50 v vi Contents Voluntary sports organizations 51 Management of voluntary organizations 52 The nature of voluntary organizations 55 Organizational structures and personalities 56 Governing bodies 58 Volunteerism and change 60 Voluntary commitment—paid staff dynamic 61 How to retain volunteers 63 4 Sports development 64 The many roles of the sports development officer 68 5 Leadership 72 Transactional or transformational 73 Leadership qualities in the sports situation 75 6 Working together 78 Partnerships and liaisons 78 Agencies involved in sport in the UK 80 7 People 92 Performance appraisal 92 Managing people 93 What makes a manager? 95 Staff appraisal 96 Staff motivation 97 Delegation 100 Communication 101 Getting the right people 102 Team building 104 Team development 108 Personnel management 109 8 Organizational management 112 The role of the sports manager 112 General management approaches 113 Quality management 113 Strategic management 121 Measuring performance 127 The complexity of sports management 127 Planning 128 Objectives 129 Control 129 Organizational change 130 The management of change 130 Decision making 134 Contents vii 9 Management in practice 135 Management processes 135 Financial management 136 Legislation 140 Management of safety 145 Health and safety at work 146 Managing support services 149 Administration 149 The management of sport as a public service 150 10 Management challenges 152 Citizen’s charter 152 Competition 152 Financial control 153 National standards 153 Pressure for change 155 Voluntary implications 155 Philosophical challenges 156 Investors in people 156 11 Marketing 158 Marketing ethics 164 Marketing participation 165 Implementing the marketing process 166 Marketing activities 166 Public relations 167 Fundraising 168 Sports sponsorship 172 12 Event management 173 Events feasibility 173 Event planning 181 Event requirements 182 Event evaluation 190 13 Education and training 193 Coaching awards 194 Education versus training 195 Sports management education 198 Running sport 202 14 Personal skills 208 Time management 208 Time management action plan 209 Where time is being made 209 viii Contents Managing meetings 210 Meetings in practice 213 Personal management 216 15 Into the future 221 Conclusion 223 Appendix 226 Useful sports contacts and addresses 226 Relevant media addresses 239 Independent regional television 242 Newspapers 244 Press agencies 245 Sports photographic agencies 246 Bibliography 247 Index 254 Figures 3.1 ‘Social club’ organizational model 57 4.1 The sports development process 68 7.1 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs 94 8.1 The strategy process 122 9.1 Financial management—a structure for policy and control 140 10.1 The financial management cycle—organization 153 12.1 A fun run checklist 184 12.2 A simple chart 185 12.3 A simple checklist 186 12.4 Alternative event structures 187 ix Acknowledgements Sincere appreciation is expressed to the following organizations and individuals who helped in the compiling of this book. Their advice, guidance and comments proved most beneficial. Colin Billyard; Peter Bilsborough (University of Stirling); Phil Collier (English Sports Council); Slava Corn (Canada); Penny Crisfield (National Coaching Foundation); Kees DeKonning (Netherlands); Amanda Killingback, Edith Henry and Claudia Campisi at E & FN Spon; Jayne Ford (Scottish Sports Council); Fiona Grossart (Bell College); John R Hinton; Institute of Leisure and Amenity Management—Information Centre staff and past staff Nigel Benton and Ian Fleming; Jan Klumer (Juliana Welzijn Fonds); Dr Jozsef Leitner (Hungarian School and University Sports Federation); Anthea McWatt; Ralph Riley (Institute of Sport and Recreation Management); Graham Ross (formerly Scottish Athletics Federation, now English Sports Council); Sports Council for Wales; Brian Stocks (National Indoor Arena, Birmingham); Tony White (Scottish Sports Council); Ian Whyte (Bell College). To all the typists who listened to lengthy mumbling tapes and helped produce the text at the end of the day—Joyce, Yvonne and in particular Kelly; and not to mention Maggie who as ever helped push, tidy and ensure it all came together. x About the author David C Watt has over 30 years’ experience in sports administration, having started as a willing volunteer even before leaving school and having continued that commitment in a variety of voluntary and public organizations, within a number of different sporting organizations. He has held a number of different posts in a range of bodies, including six years as president of a national governing body. Like so many others, he became involved in sports organization and administration as a volunteer who was identified as having some ability and then had an increasing number of tasks piled upon him. Also, like others, he had no formal training in sports administration or management, although he has a background in physical education, further enhanced by a degree in social sciences and an advanced diploma in educational management. A few years ago, he established his own business in sports and leisure, specializing in staff training and general consultancy, particularly in event organization, organizational management and strategic reviews. This work has allowed him to take a wider look at provision in the field of sports management and to get involved in programmes such as ‘Running Sport’, which focus on training for sports administrators and managers. With this background and experience he felt that a book dealing with some of the practical issues would be of benefit to others in the field of sports management and administration—so this text was written, hopefully, to assist others involved and raise the standard of sports organizations to match the growing standards of participant performance and coach education. David was recently appointed to a Fellowship of the Institute of Leisure and Amenity Management and the British Institute of Sports Administrators. xi Introduction Sport is the unalienable right of every person European Sports Conference Sport is the most precious commodity we can hand on to the next generation Ron Pickering The level of participation and degree of excellence attained within a given sport is dependent, at least in part, on how that sport is organized. Sport has traditionally been organized in an ad hoc way, relying on volunteers who are committed to their particular sport. It is now clear that to encourage higher levels of participation and international excellence, new ideas about organizing need to be diffused to those involved in the management of sport Sue Newell and Jackie Swan from Warwick University Journal of Sports Management, 1995, published by Human Kinetics It is to be emphasized in this introduction and throughout the book, that this text is written from a practitioner’s and not an academic’s point of view. The contents are meant to be of assistance to the student and practitioner of the business of sports administration and management—it is to be hoped that all practitioners continue to be students of their business as well. The contents cover a number of areas selected by the author from his considerable experience in sport. They are a personal selection of issues thought to be important and relevant to sports administration in the United Kingdom and beyond. It is felt that UK lessons apply in most other countries of the world as far as management and organization are concerned, even though many countries are more advanced than the UK in sports participation levels and standards of performance. No list of contents would be comprehensive enough to cover such a sizeable area in a relatively new occupation or study as diverse as sport, which has well over a hundred governing bodies and many thousands and millions of participants, at a wide variety of levels. 1 2 Introduction The author has been involved in sport as a volunteer, an employee, a participant, a coach, a local authority official, a national governing body official, a tutor, a trainer, an official, an administrator for a national organization, an administrator for a local league, a co-ordinator for an industry training organization, a member of a professional institute—almost every conceivable role available.