On designing a better sport infrastructure in T&T Why is it important to understand the effects of size, strategy, environment and technology on sport before deciding on structure and design? The structure and design of a sport organisation is adopted to help an organisation achieve efficiency and effectiveness in accomplishing its mission, vision, goals and objectives. These four points may vary depending on what sector of sport the organisation becomes involved in. The organisation may be involved in the public sector ie: Ministry of Sport and Sport Company, the non profit and volunteer sector i.e. national sport organisations, Community Sport Organisations or Professional Sport ie: T&T Pro League. The variables that influence structure and design of sport organisations are size, strategy, environment and technology. Strategy can be defined as the course of action taken and resources needed to achieve goals. Strategy is linked to organisational productivity, businesses may have a cost leadership strategy where they reduce the cost of their product, a differentiation strategy that provides a product/service that is difficult to recreate, or provide services to and dominate market share of a niche market (a focus strategy). But what factors determine the chosen strategy? Remember that sound strategic planning dictates that organisational resources must always be used to exploit opportunity. The Mckinsey Quarterly suggests that the greatest possible gains for organisations may come by focusing on areas in the economy that have been overlooked or stagnating due to protection by interests. The London School of Economics predicts that competition will force historically badly managed organisations to improve productivity. What does this mean for the strategy that sport organisations and sport administrators must use going forward? How will this determine the structure and design of national sport organisations? Organisational size can be assessed in four ways: By the size of membership; The size of an event or stadium; The volume of output ie: number of athletes; and organisational wealth. Size will determine the degree of specialisation needed and the number and type of departments. Significantly size does not necessarily mean increased staff (particularly with modern technology), although it usually means increased complexity. The Environment: The political, economic, sociocultural, technological and legal environment also affects the size of an organisation. The world is changing and sport is changing along with it. Mckinsey Quarterly indicates that companies no longer need armies of managers to coordinate staff, recruit workers or set bonuses. Management needs to focus on motivating staff and game changing thoughts. They advise that the financial hubs of the world can now be found in 400 cities in emerging markets. What does this mean for the sport industry that is growing at a rate that faster than the worlds GDP. Where would the future competitors and consumers of our sport products be located in Ghana and Qatar or Britain and Germany? Organisational design is the patterning of structural elements of an organisation to enhance its ability to achieve its goals. Our goals are established by understanding purpose and analysing the environment. Organisational efficiency is important, proper strategic planning and auditing of financials. This involves sensible utilisation of human and physical resources. It means division of labour, rules and regulations, technical competence. There is the danger however that stagnation may occur as the organisation now becomes focused on internal processes rather than goals. The same old structure of governance remains in place though efficiently run. Innovation may be suppressed, leading to an inability to exploit the local and international opportunities existing in the environment by using creative strategies and unconventional and flexible organisational designs. Think out of the box then create a structure. • Today’s Things That Matter Column is written by Stacy Cateau—sport management thought leader and former T&T Olympic Committee general manager who is currently doing his Executive Masters Degree Thesis Research on Volunteerism in T&T Sport. Source:: Guardian Sports The post On designing a better sport infrastructure in T&T appeared first on Trinidad & Tobago Online. #trinidad
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 04:48:25 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015