Human Resource Management in the Sport and Leisure Industry

Chris Wolsey, Sue Minten, Jeffrey Abrams

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781134102167
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

The sport and leisure sectors possess unique characteristics that pose particular challenges for managers and human resource professionals. The age profile of workers, seasonality, the pressure to achieve short-term results, media intrusion, wide differences in pay between elite and community levels, and the importance of competition and consumer (fan) behaviour, all combine to set sport and leisure apart from 'mainstream' business and management. Human Resource Management in the Sport and Leisure Industry is a comprehensive and accessible introduction to HRM in sport and leisure that examines these challenges in the context of organisational structure, systems, and individual and group behaviour, encouraging the reader to develop a strategic approach to HRM, and emphasising the importance of reflective professional practice.

The book explores the full range of key issues, themes and concepts in contemporary HRM, including:

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• the labour market in sport and leisure

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• personal skills in HRM

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• recruitment and selection

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• learning, training and development

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• evaluation and performance appraisal

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• change management

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• coaching and mentorship.

Covering private, public and voluntary contexts, the book includes a wide range of examples and cases from the real world of sport and leisure management. Each chapter also includes highlighted definitions of key concepts, review questions, summaries and learning objectives, to guide student learning and help managers develop their professional skills. Effective human resource management and development is essential for business success, and this book is therefore important reading for any student or professional working in sport and leisure management.

Chapter 1

Human resource management
in the sport and leisure
industry

Learning outcomes

By the end of this chapter you will be able to:

• define human resource management and associated models;
• locate human resource management within a wider systems and strategic management framework;
• identify the unique nature of sport and leisure management in the context of this textbook.

1.1 Introduction

For us, our employees matter most. It just seems common sense to me that if you start off with a happy well-motivated workforce, you're much more likely to have happy customers. And in due course the resulting profits will make your shareholders happy.

(Richard Branson, 2009:410)

Richard Branson operates a number of businesses in the broad area of sport and leisure and highlights the critical role of people in their successful operations. This opening chapter will both define and explain the origins of human resource management (HRM) and its ongoing relationship with wider management issues such as organisational strategy and performance. Moreover, it will locate such discussions within the specific context of the market for sport and leisure, in all of its various guises. In doing this, it will provide a ‘systems’ context in which all the following chapters can be located. This requires a discussion of the functional elements of HRM, such as recruitment and training, but also an understanding of the interrelationships between each area and the wider organisation environment.

Concept check

Systems context

Slack and Parent (2006) argue that a ‘systems’ approach dominates organ-isational theory as applied to sports management research. Within related management literature ‘systems thinking’ and ‘systems theory’ refers to the contention that an organisation is made up of many interrelated parts. To change one is likely to affect the workings of another. It is, therefore, necessary both to understand and to extrapolate the effects both of decisions and of subsequent actions upon all areas within the organisational system.

Although there are both practical and conceptual challenges involved in this endeavour, a deeper understanding of workplace complexities is more likely to lead to better strategic and operational decision-making. This, in turn, allows for a much more considered approach to the implementation of decisions through enhanced individual, group and organisational performance.

1.2 Sport and leisure

It is important to identify what is meant by sport and leisure in order to set out the scope of what will be included in this text and the specific context in which pertinent examples will be applied, developed and/or understood.

Sport and leisure refers to an extremely wide range of activities delivered by a wide range of providers in a wide number of different settings (also see Chapter 2: The market for labour in leisure and sport). With regard to sport, there has been much debate over its definition and, as a consequence, there is ‘no universal agreement about the meaning, purpose, and organisation of sports’ Coakley (2003:25). Furthermore, Horne et al. (1999:xv) argue that sport ‘has different meanings in different societies and refers to different activities at different historical moments’. This view is acknowledged by Coakley (2003:25), who states that any definition of sport ‘reflects the structure and organisation of relationships and social life in a particular society at a particular point in time’. This establishes the importance of context when considering management issues and their likely positive and negative affects upon a variety of stakeholders.

Concept check

Stakeholders

This refers to all parties who can either yield a tangible effect upon and/or can be affected by the decisions and actions of any given organisation or industry.

Given the potential complexities associated with defining ‘sport’ and wider notions of ‘leisure’, the book will utilise the more restricted typology provided by SkillsActive, the UK's Sector Skills Council for Active Leisure and Learning (refer to Table 1.1).

Broadly speaking, ‘SkillsActive’ defines the area in terms of facility and institutional provision. As a consequence, the book will tend to concentrate upon sport and ‘active’ leisure. We will use this typology, but will also extend this to wider notions of related commercial provision, such as sports retailing, as appropriate.

1.3 Management

The generic term of management has been explained in a number of ways. Lussier and Kimbal (2009:12) posit that there are four main management functions; namely planning, organising, leading and controlling. These are overlaid with the management roles of dealing with interpersonal, informational and decisional issues. All act concurrently to produce a performance outcome that, typically, is measured against the prevailing objectives of the organisation.

Table 1.1 Categories of organisational settings in sport

Sport and recreation	Sport and leisure facilities, sports clubs, stadia/arena facilities, sports services, sports administrators, sports development, national governing bodies of sport, community/youth centre, coaching, activity leadership.
Health and fitness	Private fitness clubs, hotel-based clubs, multi-group clubs, workplace clubs, public leisure centres, residential clubs.

Source: SkillsActive (2005).

In many ways, such contemporary notions of management represent little change from the early ‘classical management’ theorists such as Henri Fayol's (1916) and Frederick Taylor's (1911) related concepts of ‘classical’ and ‘scientific’ management, respectively. Fayol argued that there were six basic functions of management:

1. forecasting
2. planning
3. organising
4. commanding
5. coordinating
6. controlling.

Although, contemporary notions of management have tended to conflate the terms planning, forecasting and commanding under a more generic ‘leadership’ banner, there has been surprisingly little movement over the last 100 years in this regard.

Where Fayol advocated a general theory of management, Taylor was much more concerned with the efficient use of available resources to produce the most advantageous and productive outcomes for the organisation. By identifying the best way to achieve defined outcomes (typically with regard to manufactured products), it should then be possible to incentivise the workforce based upon the production systems in place.

However, although both approaches have to be placed within the prevailing socio-political and economic context of the time, what neither factored into their thinking was the pivotal role that ‘people’ can play in securing organisational performance. Under such early notions of management, workers were merely a cog in the wheel; an important cog, but a cog nevertheless. It was the managers’ role to ‘command’ and then ‘control’ specified actions in order to maximise production and thus profit.

In 1945 the social psychologist, Elton Mayo, moved the thinking forward by attempting to better understand the motivation of individuals within groups and thus, management ‘systems’ of organising, commanding and controlling. Mayo ‘argued that managers would only succeed if these groups accepted their authority and leadership. He concluded that it was a major role of the manager to organise teamwork and so sustain co-operation’ (Stacey, 2003:27) . . . rather like the role of the coach in team based sports (also see Chapter 10). As a consequence, a ‘Human Relations’ school of thought developed, based loosely upon behaviourist principles and the notion that understanding people's motivations and influences is critical to ensuring business success (see Chapter 4). Interestingly, what was beginning to emerge was a realisation that there needed to be an alignment between the values and goals of the worker(s), the manager(s) and, by implication, the wider organisation. Such symbiotic behaviour necessitates management recognition of the unique importance of workers and requires an ongoing confidence and trust between both parties.

Concept check

Behaviourism

Behaviourism is founded on the study of observable behaviours. The major flaw in this learning theory is that it does not seek to consider the reasons for action, merely the consequences. This can be related to classical and scientific notions of management by providing information on the behavioural effect(s) of external stimuli, e.g. the effect of working conditions on productivity.

Hence, early notions of management were dominated by a preoccupation with production. Although certain aspects of the sport and leisure industry fit with such ideas, e.g. sports retailing, a significant proportion of sport and leisure provision is dominated by more intangible notions of ‘experience’ and ‘customer service’.

1.4 Sport and management

In the world of contemporary sport it is commonly claimed that, at its elite end at least, sport's management is complex because the product it delivers to participants and fans are so idiosyncratic. This claim is accompanied by the view that while professional sport is in large part just another form of business, it has a range of special features that demand a customized set of practices to ensure its effective operation.

(Smith and Stewart, 2010:1)

Exhibit 1.1

The impact of the external environment on English rugby

Adcroft and Teckman (2008) looked to develop a conceptual model that applies performance and competitiveness to the Rugby World Cup. Unsurprisingly, they conclude that it is a complex area reflecting the interplay of the internal characteristics of the teams and the external conditions. This is a feature of all organisations and can be demonstrated by the evolution of rugby union during the period 1995–2010.

In 1995 the International Rugby Board ushered in a new era of professionalism to the game. This represents a common theme in many sports where popularity raises the possibility of a more commercial focus. In rugby, this resulted in non-sanctioned rebel tours and an increasing number of ‘stars’ moving code to rugby league, where the perception was that their talents would be better remunerated. Under such external pressures, governing bodies, in an attempt to retain some degree of control, are often forced to acquiesce to the pervasive tide of profit and professionalism.

Fast forward to 2010 and we can see the difficulties of attempting to balance the competitive ‘on-pitch’ pressures of rugby union, with those relating more directly to its management off the pitch. This continues to be problematic for a number of high profile clubs who continue to struggle to pay costs, particularly player wages, from insufficient revenue streams. This reflects a common theme within many professional sports. This has also attracted an influx of several overseas investors into the UK game who are not heavily influenced by the prevailing amateur rugby culture. In 2008, South African businessman Johann Rupert invested £7 million into Saracens and appointed fellow South Africans Brendan Ventera as Director of Rugby and Edwards Griffiths as Chief Executive. Griffiths argues: ‘I think some people still haven't grasped the full overall reality of English rugby which is that many of the clubs rely for survival on what amounts to charitable donations by individuals. That's not sustainable’ (in Kitson, 2009:11). Griffiths is currently overseeing a significant organisational change at Saracens who, according to Kitson (2009), are reported to be losing around £2 million per season. This is designed to inject a much more commercial focus which has also entailed cost controls resulting in an unprecedented 15 players being released by the club. Despite the bad feeling and discontent generated by such moves, Saracens won the Guinness Premiership in 2009 and continue to push on with their business plans, for example, a revenue generating match at Wembley Stadium with South Africa in November 2009 which Saracens won 23–22.

Whilst South African Rugby players are moving to England, several of England's rugby stars are moving to France and farther afield; largely influenced by the external pull of higher wages and a different lifestyle. This has important implications for the English game. Ian McGeechan was the former Director of Rugby at Wasps before leading the British Lions tour to South Africa in the summer of 2009. He argues:

If a player wants to play for the money, that is his decision . . . It's a bigger problem that maybe the RFU are facing. With the Euro and the pound as it is, the majority of money is in France and I think the concern must be that we'll end up with players who are probably still having an ambition of playing for England not playing as part of the Premiership and I don't think that is a good thing for English rugby.

Source: Stafford (2009:9)

In France, many professional rugby clubs are owned and subsidised by the local authority (Stafford, 2009). In many ways this gives them an advantage over English clubs who survive purely upon commercial criteria. In economic terms, France is attractive because of the poor value of the pound against the euro and the more favourable tax treatment for professional sports performers in France, although this is currently under review. Combine this with the fact that, from April 2010, in the UK, those earning more than £150,000 will have to pay a further 10 per cent in tax. It is clear, therefore, that sport does not exist in its own vacuum and will be subject a variety of external influences and pressures. This has consequences for both club and international rugby as the RFU does not have the same ‘release’ agreements with French clubs as they have negotiated with their English counterparts. This will continue to cause issues until resolved to the mutual satisfaction of players, agents, clubs, c...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Human Resource Management in the Sport and Leisure Industry
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• List of Exhibits
• Preface
• 1 Human resource management in the sport and leisure industry
• 2 The market for labour in leisure and sport
• 3 Organisational structure and culture
• 4 Individual and group behaviour
• 5 The changing nature of sport management and the personal skills required by sport managers
• 6 Recruitment and selection in sport and leisure
• 7 Learning, training and development
• 8 Evaluation and performance appraisal in sport and leisure organisations
• 9 Organisational development and the management of change
• 10 Coaching, mentorship and the learning organisation
• Bibliography
• Index