http://prezi.com/doxuxri22svt/globalization-of-professional-sport/
October 2011 Archives
Foreign athletes can now leave their respective nations and sports markets to go to better facilities, coaches, and opportunities; take the NBA and MLB for example. We brought up the Nishioka example because it demonstrates the changing of interest of different media groups with the changing of athletes coming in. We stated that sport organizations and franchises now realize the opportunities that creating global markets holds by playing games in other countries in order to spark interest. The Olympics is a prime example of a nation attempting to create a better image of themselves in the realm of athletics, politics, economy, environment, etc. There is a growing attention rate to world competitions which really generates fans globally.
Derek Wetmore, Daniel Kurtzweil, Kreg Blair
http://prezi.com/b6bhvotmb5xe/edit/?auth_key=q90e7ki&follow=wetmo013@umn.edu#2
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I think that the frat houses have many of the key elements of an organization. There are the elements of Membership there- you have to pay to be in a frat and you have to be part of the group and chose to join one certain one. There is a sense of Permanency, members come and they go, but through all of these transitions, the organization outlasts them. There is a division of labor, everybody has certain jobs to do. There is a hierarchy of authority, there are presidents and vice presidents, secretaries and treasurers. There are meetings where these people take over different parts. The organization does a lot of volunteering and events and these things need to be planned.
In sponsoring the new Gophers stadium, TCF continued its long relationship with the University of MN, and furthered many of the sponsorship objectives listed by Chelladurai on page 38 of the text. The primary benefit to TCF is the market access it gains. U of M students are inundated with the TCF logo on a daily basis, so market access gains from the student body are likely slim. Larger gains for TCF come from those watching or listening to Gophers football games who are now exposed to the TCF brand throughout broadcasts. A second benefit of sponsorship is the association created between TCF and Gophers football. The traditional association is that of the sponsor with an exceptional athlete/program, though in the case of Gophers football, the actual benefit of association is arguable.View image
TCF Bank Stadium can be considered an essential element of the University of Minnesota Sports Organizations. The stadium big screen would be classified as spectator service because it is used for the purpose of entertainment. It is where sports are played but also it is where sports are sold. Connected to the stadium is Goldy's Locker Room where all the Gopher's apparel is sold and along with that a basketball court size big screen. The production and marketing for the Gopher's is broadcast on that screen every game day. And throughout the weeks of the season there is a side screen that has multiple advertisements running and also statistics from the previous game. As these advertisements run the stadium can use these funds to generate revenue and create financial surplus.
I chose the Weisman Art Museum to represent sport management. I think this is a good example of structure, because it is a flexible construction. In sport management, the 'walls' (employees) of each 'building' (organization) need to be working toward a common goal, such as holding up the roof, but that doesn't mean there can't be flexibility or creativity in the construction. The Bolman & Deal structure article emphasized the need for variation and structural adaptation, which leads to a more educated and motivated workforce. This building is cool because although it is crazy and shiny on the outside, inside there is order and an obvious sense of coordination.
The picture of the scoreboard in TCF Bank Stadium represents the Minnesota Gophers football team. The scoreboard is located in the open part of the stadium, making it visible far away. The U of M brought football back to campus in 2009, trying to appeal to a bigger fan base. The athletic department focused on the change that was needed; a new facility for Gopher football. By building a brand new stadium, the Gophers (in theory) could recruit big-time players, and as a result, field a better football team. Management built the stadium with the motto "If you build it, they will come." Upper-level management hoped that it would be a sort of a top-down process: recruits want to play at a brand new stadium, more recruits means a better team, a better team results in more fans, more fans means more money for the Gopher organization.
By Derek Wetmore, Kreg Blair:
Part of a mission statement for any company is establishing a self-identity and a target market. Those two things are on display on 4th street running through campus just north of the Sports Pavilion. The Gophers' marketing team knows that its primary audience that it will be advertising to on campus is students. As such, it designed advertisements in convenient places(bus stops, signs outside the Pavilion) that students will pass by and see. One is advertising Gophers football season tickets. (It's pretty funny that the ad claims they have room for "one more fan," I've been to every game so far and there's A LOT more room than that.) The other is advertising a student-athlete, heavyweight Tony Nelson from the wrestling team. This helps establish the target market because students will realize that it's students competing in these athletics and may be more apt to stop by than if it were a professional sporting realm.
By advertising around the Sports Pavilion, the Gophers sports marketing team effectively established both an image and a target market, two essential elements of its advertising campaign.View image
An organizations structural frame is the cohesion of differentiation and integration, which is the basis Bolman & Deal Structure article. By establishing specialized roles, functions, and units, along with standards for operational procedures and policies, organizations can operate efficiently and effectively within their means. They gave 6 structural imperatives that can interrupt their success; Size and age, core process, environment, strategy and goals, information technology, and nature of the work force.
Club Atletico Boca Juniors is one of the most prestigious and prolific soccer clubs in the world. They are a breeding ground for players who rank amongst the most prodigious in the world. Decisions about the organization are made by the 23 board members along with scouts who travel to recruit players. The scouts are responsible for recruiting new, young, talented players. There is also a General Manager, who oversees the work of 10 managers that deal with everyday issues (finances, marketing, legal, security... etc.) to keep the organization running fluently. Many of the decisions are influenced by the 60,000 members of the club and what they believe to be the most important; winning. However, there is a vast financial influence as well.
Budgeting and getting money is difficult for them because they get it through selling all their good players but selling all their good players would drastically change their record and reputation. The Boca Juniors had rights to the athlete's careers but there were ways to legally dismiss these rights.Size and age, the Boca Juniors have been around for a long period of time and cover a large array of ages. The environment of the soccer world imposes constraint over teams without lucrative finances to purchase or keep soccer players. As with most sport team organizations, winning is a constant goal, but making members of the organization happy and attaining financial stability are goals of the board members of the organization. The recruiting age is low and there are multiple teams within the organization. There is a stable structure of organization because they have continually done the recruiting and training for years.
By Debbie Brzozowski and Micah Hegerle
In their article Bolman & Deal outline the different structural assumptions we see in organizations. These organizations range from aircraft carriers to UPS delivery, but today we looking at how the same concepts can be applied to the world of sports. We chose to look at the University of Minnesota Women's Rowing team, which is a unique sport and has been a growing presence on campus over the past decade. Looking at the rowing team it is easy to see a hierarchical structure of authority. Starting with Wendy Davis the head coach, the hierarchy descends to assistant coach, novice coach, graduate assistant coach, coxswain and finally rower. Decisions are made based on individual testing such as timing distance runs, and how well the rower moves the boat on the water during daily practices. While Wendy Davis makes the final decisions about who will row in the top boats on the team, the assistant coach has a voice in the process and overall rank on the team also comes into play.
As the team has grown over the years, the standards have changed for the athletes. With team members pushing each other, the expected level of fitness has been raised by over five minutes on timed tests since rowing became a varsity sport at the U of MN. The core processes of the team are aimed toward competition, and although strategies may vary with each season, the overall focus is the spring season, with the common goal of the team to reach Big Tens and the NCAA national championship.
The environment of the team is focused around a family aspect. There are rules in place and authority figures, but there is also a comfortable familiarity between teammates, and everyone knows their place and value within the team. As part of the pursuit to be better both personally and as a part of the team, there are additional workouts, with the athletes' weight lifting and running 4 miles twice a week with heart rate monitors to record their efforts. These monitors open up the technology of being able to see heart rate improvement and efficiency over the course of a semester, and also give the flexibility to for the athlete to monitor their progress without the presence of a coach. Having this ability is a great motivator to push harder with each workout. The team also uses logbooks to record daily workouts to track progress over the seasons. The logbooks help with planning personal goals for tests, and also becoming more educated about lifestyle choices such as diet and amount of sleep averaged each night. Since the coaches review the logbooks, they provide a way to stay accountable in daily decisions, but also a way to be more independent and learn the effects of certain choices and what works best for each individual, leading to a healthier more successful workforce.
The Bolman & Deal Structure article focuses mainly on 6 core structural imperatives. These imperatives include size and age, core processes, strategies and goals, information technology, and the nature of the workplace. Each of these imperatives make up an organization. Depending on the organization, and according to Bolman & Deal, the organization could be loosely structured or tightly structured. Even though these imperatives seem so simple, they make the organization structure so complex. Challenges and tensions are created which affect the structural design. The type of structure an organization uses affects that organization's ability to be successful.
The organization that we chose to elaborate on was the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The NCAA was founded in 1906 intending to protect young people from the dangerous and exploitative athletic practices of the time. It consists of multiple organizations to overlook and supervise including 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals. The NCAA has many core processes. An example would include recruitment. When recruiting an athlete, a college scout receives a National Letter of Intent from the distinguished athlete. The athlete participates in the desired sport, receiving instruction on technique, proper form, and other areas of skills. The team also provides study hall as a time to complete homework, and if additional help is required, the team then provides a tutor. The player, after training for years, is then displayed in front of thousands of fans, providing the excitement and talent the individual has learned throughout his/her tenure at the university.
The NCAA has a complex environment- many legal issues constantly surrounding athletes, boosters, scouts, and coaches of what they can/cannot do. Despite formal hierarchy of authority, many personnel are involved in decisions around the country at different institutions.
Some of the strategies and goals that the NCAA strives to accomplish are the pursuit of excellence in both academics and athletics. The NCAA pursues this goal through a network of people, including the example of above (scouts, coaches, tutors). Universities/colleges also provide well-educated professors who help students and student athletes reach their academic potential.
Information technology is another structural imperative. With this imperative, The NCAA markets its programs to TV/cable channels- major tournaments (Bowl Championship Series, March Madness) are almost like holidays to fans. The NCAA also uses live streaming of games via Internet, which is accessible on smart phones, computers, and iPads to provide opportunities to its customers and fans. The widespread use of multiple technologies allows NCAA officials to communicate more effectively and at higher frequencies. This allows the NCAA to be more efficient and flexible in terms of information production.
One last structural imperative is the nature of the workforce. Competitive field allows NCAA to hire highly educated individuals. Membership organization is composed of mainly of four-year higher education institutions and conferences; representatives from these institutions and conferences create NCAA rules and policies. A presidential committee leads each division (DI, DII, DIII): the Board of Directors (DI), and Presidents Councils (DII, and DIII). Representatives from these groups form the NCAA Executive Committee, which ensures each division operates with basic purposes, fundamental policies, and general principles of the league.
Every organization has to make decisions. The decisions made could be small or could be extreme. The NCAA's decision maker is the President and CEO Mark Emmert. Mark Emmert faces tough decisions to make, especially considering the NCAA's budget of $5.64 billion- Employees, fans, and the public want things done certain ways and Mr. Emmert must try to keep everyone happy which is probably one of the most difficult parts about his job. One might ask what else influences the decision making process? The NCAA national office, consisting of paid staff members, assist the membership with the development, interpretation, and enforcement of the rules in intercollegiate athletics. The structure of the whole organization plays a role in basically every aspect in running the company. Because the structure of the NCAA is so tight and defined, a very successful organization is able to remain the head of college athletics.
Kasey Keener & Matt Dovenberg
BY: Derek Wetmore, Kreg Blair, Josh Harvey, DanKurtzweil.
The Minnesota Vikings of the NFL: In the Bolman & Deal structure article, they mention six core structural imperatives.
Size and age: The complexity of the front office has increased with the age of the team, which has been around for years. The primary area of growth has been on-field coaching staffs, who now include specialty coaches like RB coaches and LB coaches (rather than just offensive and defensive coordinators that originally ran the field).
The front office has remained small.
Core Process: In the case of signing a free agent, perhaps the head coach has the idea to sign him. Then, in theory, he discusses with his other cronies (Spielman and Wilf) to discuss and approve or reject the signing. In other organizations, there may have to be upward flow up the ladder to get to the top, but this triumvirate essentially resides at the top together.
Environment: The Vikes have a simple environment because the owner remains constant (mostly) and the organizational structure is clearly defined. It's sort of like a pyramid from the top down, starting with the owner, moving to the coaches, then players.
Strategy and goals: Yearly goals include winning the Super Bowl and selling tickets to increase revenue (including concessions, merchandise, etc).
This year's goal to remain competitive enough to keep people's interest and convince the legislature they need a publicly-funded stadium.
Information technology: Email communication and the internet allows the important people in the front office to communicate with scouts and other important people. The IT needs are not that great for the team though because they have only a few important people at the top of the organization, who have offices in the Metrodome and at Winter Park, so communication between them is fairly constant.
Nature of the workforce: Last season, Leslie Frazier was just a defensive coordinator, but had aspirations to be a head coach. He's been thrust into autonomy by working his way up the company ladder. The more experience he gained, the more he felt he deserved a head coaching job. Wilf could have brought in an experienced coach from another organization, but with Frazier convinced him that he's educated in coaching and professional enough for the job so he was given all the duties and discretions that come along with being a head coach.
Also how are decisions made? What influences the way those decisions are made?
In the Vikings convoluted idea of a decision-making process, the head coach has the unilateral power to hire or fire employees (Randy Moss, Brett Favre, etc).
They don't have an organized decision-making structure, but rather a three-headed monster consisting of the head coach, owner Zygi Wilf, and VP of Player Personnel Rick Spielman. The three of them presumably talk about draft picks and trades, but it's never clear who has the final say or who has the power at any given time.
When Childress cut Moss last year, Wilf was reportedly furious, so he presumably had no say in the matter. On the other hand, when Childress courted Favre three years ago, there was no involvement from Spielman or Wilf until the latter stages in the process - something at which neither one complained.
