Recreational Sport
Management & Careers
Management
As we look to describe management, we must first
recognize that it is a term that takes on varied
interpretations.
•
Product: The existence of something can be
called a product
–
•
the core product is the central focus of management
interests such as:
» seeking to accomplish something
» being successful
» working for a profit
» gaining satisfaction and/or meeting set goals
and objectives.
Definition of Management: influencing
operational functions and resources to reach a
goal.
Influence
• What role does ‘influence’ play in
management?
– leadership
– Modern terms
• Influence defined: affecting a person or
a course of events or simply to affect
an outcome or change.
– 2 key areas of management:
• Administrative Operations
• Delivery Operations
Administrative Operations
•
The Authority….Big Kahoona
•
The ultimate system (executive) that
applies functions that influence the desired
results or outcome.
•
Influences product creation through
•
•
•
–
Information
Theory
documents
Operation Areas (functions):
1.
2.
3.
4.
Planning
Organizing
Directing
Controlling
Administration Operations: Functions
•
Planning: a predetermined and theoretical
thinking that is designed to accomplish set
goals and objectives.
•
Organizing: the idea of recognizing or
identifying and then designing or structuring
all workers/employees duties and
responsibilities plus areas/space into a
system that should produce positive results.
•
Directing: the process of guiding and
channeling individuals and/or groups to
pursue common goals.
•
Controlling: represents the process within
administration of assessing and correcting all
resources as they affect product success.
Delivery Operations
• The idea of working on bringing a product
forward to a user or a participant.
– Can be described as:
• Integration of the resource
– Employees, $, facilities and equipment
• Administrative functions that create and maintain
interests which lead to purchase/use
– Operation Areas (functions):
1. Production
2. Support
3. Auxiliaries
4. Maintenance
Delivery Operations - Functions
•
Production: the contact efforts and information, out
front activities, daily tasks and responsibilities that
are applied that create the product to be experienced
by a given audience.
•
Support: activities that take place behind the scenes
or are a backup, and not out front or in contact with
the product benefactor.
•
Auxiliaries: specialized products management may
need to consider that are outside the core product
and its delivery in bringing the product forward in a
production effort.
•
Maintenance: the idea of keeping facilities and
equipment in proper, safe, and functional condition
can be described as maintenance or what could be
thought of as a support function.
Resources
• Critical Resources in Management
– Employees
– Money
– Facilities
– Equipment
• Play critical factor in management
• Greatest challenge to management is
proper use of resources
Resources
•
Employees: Management cannot take place without
there being human involvement with the product
throughout the total effort.
•
Money: Nothing about management can create such
attentiveness as does money as a resource, whether
it is as an income or expense.
•
Facilities: The greatest physical responsibility in the
management effort is the existence of a facility
(indoor or outdoor) where the product is produced
and delivered.
•
Equipment: any item, object, or thing (mechanical or
otherwise) that enhances operational efforts.
Reach
• The effort to reach out (or marketing)
to increase use of a product
incorporates assessing a targeted
population as well as creating specific
strategy that helps accomplish product
availability and success.
Goal
•
No matter what the specific product or how
recreational sport is designed, management
always wants to accomplish something,
move forward and find success, or simply
meet predetermined expectations.
•
Service Goals: the idea of wanting to provide a positive
and meaningful experience for users or recipients
without the incentive for making money.
•
Profit: Whether the production is a sale of an item or the
use of an environment for an experience for a charge,
the end result or the continuance of the organization
revolves around generating a level of income that
ultimately reflects a profit.
Careers
•
Professionalism: The character of
professionalism is important, because it is
the feature that distinguishes you in your
career.
•
Professional Basics: recreational sports is a specialization
within leisure recreation and/or sport.
»
Worldly Impact: to people all over the world, recreational
sport is a significant field that delivers a very unique and
popular product with the basic principles and practices of
sports for all with fun and fitness as the incentive.
»
Knowledge: all professions have what is known as
unique, classified, and categorized information that is
formally recognized as having been developed for the
purpose of academic professional preparation or
training.
»
Control: incorporates various strategies that ultimately
assess and correct the activities of the profession.
Leadership Systems
Leisure recreation and/or sport have many varied
leadership systems that influence what is taking
place throughout the world or more specifically the
United States.
•
Association: true professions have formal associations or
societies that influence the members. These structures
represent a variety of systems depending on the scope
and nature of the profession.
•
Specialty Organizations: professional organizations,
usually specialized, focusing on a specific recreation or
sport activity. (note fig. 5.2, p. 54)
•
Trade Groups: trade groups provide up to date, relevant
facts and information that can enhance the delivery of
recreational sports. (note fig. 5.3, p. 54)
Production Choice
Job opportunities within the field of recreational
sport can be divided into two broad
specialty areas identified as systems
having either a program emphasis or a
sport emphasis.
1. Programmer: represents those learned
competencies that are found in the different
recreational sports delivery and program areas to
include instructional sports, informal sports,
intramural/extramural sports, club sports, and
special events.
2. Specialist: involves management systems that
require specific training in one particular sport
activity.
Career Paths
There are two general career paths to
be considered in looking at
employment options:
1. Public: The idea of recreational sport in a public
setting is rather extensive to include local, state, and
federal governmental management systems.
2. Private: Management systems of this nature are
designed to sell a sport activity as a product with
high emphasis on marketing and accurate
accounting of funds.
Career Stages
•
Fundamental to understanding your career
options and choices is to realize the different
stages or management levels that exist.
1. Early: Entry level and early career employment usually
occurs and lasts between one to six years, primarily with a
role that involves specific delivery of sport activity to
participants.
2. Middle: Middle management responsibilities usually occur
between five to fifteen years depending on the agency,
organizational structure, career options and movement
opportunities. In this stage a professional may find
themselves in charge of other employees.
3. Late: Late or upper management represents the executive
and administrative effort of leisure recreational services
within a particular agency.
Application Exercise
You are seeking an entry-level recreational
sport specialist position as you begin your
career. Conduct a self-assessment to
determine your potential for employment
noting your background, positive traits, and
career path expectations. Also, explain how
you see yourself as a professional,
identifying what leadership system(s) with
which you hope to become associated, and
how you hope to make professional
contributions to the field of recreational
sports.