Sports Management and Marketing
Management is tasks. Management is a discipline. But management is also people (Drucker, 1999) Management is a very broad term and has been given many different definitions. Smith and Stewart (1999) define it as ‘The system of planning, organising, actuating and controlling the co-ordination of resources for the efficient and effective delivery and exchange of products and services’ (p7). This definition incorporates 4 major principles that almost every definition will include. These 4 categories are compressed functions that G. R. Terry developed in 1960. They are planning, organising, actuating (leading) and controlling. This is a development of the 1916 description by Fayol who, instead of inserting actuating (leading), inserted command and coordinate. The Smith and Stewart (1999) definition includes the modern conception of human resource management. It considers people as individuals to lead instead of personnel management which identifies people as the collective to command. This type of management is implemented in many different organisations both sporting and in general business. Honda implements this notion and has an ethos where everyone in the organisation, from the cleaners to the CEO’s has a voice. They express this notion of individual importance in their slogan † ‘the power of dreams’. Leadership, therefore, is a very iconic part of management and is too vast an area to identify as a single behaviour. The term ‘leadership’ is often confused with ‘management’. Even within a work organisation you cannot identify a manager necessarily by a person’s job title (Mullins, 1999) but by the way they lead (Cole, 1999). A manager, therefore, is a title whereas leadership is a personality trait that a manager should possess. Leadership qualities can be broken down to sub categories or behaviours such as ‘communication’. Communication in the basic skill form is obviously invaluable to a manager’s success. Managers spend most of their time communicating by spoken, written or electronic means with their supervisors, peers, subordinates or customers (Mintzberg, 1973). The importance and differences in communication can be seen in most sporting contexts form football (where Jose Mourinho passed notes to his Chelsea players to communicate his instructions privately) to boxing (where the coach is ever present and vocal during the fight in their designated corner).Therefore it is clear that the continued development of this skill will ultimately underpin a successful manager (Boddy & Patton, 1998). This, however, is communication in its basic form.
Leadership is the ability to influence employees to voluntarily pursue organizational goals. Leadership is vision, enthusiasm, love, trust, passion and consistency. Management is to pursue organizational goals efficiently and effectively by integrating the work of people through planning, organizing, leading, and controlling organizations resources. Leadership and management are not the same. They are not interchangeable. Leadership is coping with change and management is coping with complexity (Williams 444).
The business of sports marketing has become both lucrative and influential in shaping sport in general and the individual athletes. The desire for endorsement offers and profitable media coverage has become a crucial facet of modern sport. With a selection of athletes making millions of dollars a year, outside of their sporting arena, it is obvious to see the impact of marketing and advertising on sport. In this essay I will examine the ways in which marketing effects the athletes and sport in general. Also, I will identify the characteristics of a marketable sporting "celebrity" and further look into African American athletes specifically and the way the African American community is marketed.
Has there ever been a sporting event without some sort of logo, sign, or advertisement? These are all forms of sports marketing and they are the publicity that many companies thrive off of. Sports marketing is a necessary and booming industry that has evolved in the past years. In the article, “Overview of Careers in Sports Marketing,” the author discusses the skills and experience needed for beginners and those looking for low-key entry level sports marketing jobs. Along with the typical list of necessary attributes, if an individual wants to hold a specific more serious position in sports marketing the author of the article “Career and Professional Development: Sports Marketing” explains some of these positions and companies. Mihai Alexandru provides information on how to actually plan and organize specific marketing elements like commercials, advertisements, etc. in his article, “The Strategic Sports Marketing Planning Process”. No matter what, if a person wants to become more in the sports marketing industry they can climb their way up to work with highly successful companies and individuals. Jordan Powell’s article, “From Team Sports to Moto: Matt Piva’s Journey Into The Industry”, introduces a kid named Matt Piva who followed his dream to become the Motocross Marketing Manager and everything he does while sports marketing for individual athletes and events. Red Bull is another company that someone can work for in order to have a job in the sports marketing industry. Red Bull has been highly successful due to the endless list of events and teams they own and athletes they endorse according to Chris Conway in the article, “A Sports Marketing Success Story.” Sports marketing has many different levels; the out-dated and inexperi...
I have choosen to use th XFL as a marketing vehicle for my energy/supplement bar. The XFL has been able to position itself as a fast paced hardcore football league. The nature of the leage would compliment the nature of my product in that people will assosiate my product with the action on the field. The league is focusing on a younger active audience and that is the same target market that I am looking to reach with my product. The high awareness and anticipation for the league makes this an ideal time for my product to be introduced to the market.
"If industry is to be successful in dealing with public opinion . . . it must learn the language of the people, it must consider the study of public opinion as important as any phase of its operations. It must recognize that public opinion can be measured, and utilize the increasingly scientific methods developing today for gauging it"(Ross)
The Current Scale and the Economic Importance of the Sports Industry Over 100 years ago the scale of the sports industry has increased gradually. Not all sports have followed in the same path or footsteps. A slow increasing level of control has been affecting the sports industry since 1960Â’s. Mainly standardisation and commodification of sport. More money has been put into the industry equivalent with the efforts that the sports organisations have put in, to increase their potential at the professional end of the scale, and the voluntary end they remain sustainable.
Presently many of us have learned that managers are primarily administrators who have learned to write business plans, utilize their resources and keep track of progress. We must learn that we are not limited by job title, and that means we can utilize our management skills in any position that we are in. We must also know that we can use our leadership skills in the same situations. On the other hand we have also learned that leaders are people who have an impact on those that surround them. The main difference that separates these two roles is that management is a function that must be utilized in any type of business, and leadership is the relationship that the leader has with his followers, which in turn can motivate and energize the organization.
"Money makes the world go 'round." Sports could not exist without the presence of money. You have high paid athletes asking for multi-million dollar contacts, while at the same time you have doctors not even making close to that amount. There are corporations buying out sports teams, buying stadiums, and buying everything that has to do with sports. Someone may ask why they do this. Sports are one of the most profitable industries in the world. Everyone wants to get their hand on a piece of the action. Those individuals and industries that spend hundreds of millions of dollars on these sports teams are hoping to make a profit, but it may be an indirect profit. It could be a profit for the sports club, or it could be a promotion for another organization (i.e. Rupert Murdoch, FOX). The economics involved with sports has drastically changed over the last ten years. In the United States, we spend about 13% of all money on sports and entertainment. Sports has obviously done its job; entertained and drained money out of our pockets.
I realized that I was going to school for the wrong reason -- to play ball. The
Choosing a career is one of the most important decisions a person will make in their life. Most people try to pick the career with the best financial gain and something they would like to do for the rest of their life. Foremost it is wise to see what the job entails. Sport Management is perfect for those who enjoy helping and working with people, especially when dealing with sports. The next part of the decision-making process is looking through the various schooling and training required. Lastly, take into consideration the advantages and disadvantages. Usually with great salaries comes a big responsibility with high stress. “The sports industry in the U.S. is a $200-billion-dollar-plus powerhouse, with superstar athletes, lucrative endorsement deals, and all the free press an ego can handle” (Lawyue 1). The profession of a sport management professional has a very specific work description, requires specific schooling and training, and comes with a variety of benefits and disadvantages.
The method of leadership is almost as similar as management, and a leader can be a manager. “Both management and leadership are seen as positions of responsibility or accountability in an organization” (Edwards, Schedlitzki, Turnbull, & Gill, 2015). Leadership and management can relate and overlap within the roles and functions and are similar within one another in meaning. Together leadership and management direct the actions of a group or individually.
The main purpose of advertising is to sell a product or service to the consumer market. Advertising uses many different types of appeal and a number of media to achieve a variety of goals. Advertising is the most effective means to get the word out about products, services, events, charities, and just about anything else that one can think of. Where would sports be today without advertising? Advertising in sports has helped the sports world grow into one of the most profitable industries in the world.
Honestly, coming into this class, I had no idea what to expect. I have never been in a sports management class, and honestly don’t know much about sports with the exception of baseball. All I knew coming into this class is that it was online, which was a benefit to me as in I’m a better learner when I get to work at my own pace. However, when I read the syllabus and figured out that this class would be mainly writing proposals on different topics, it began to worry me. The last time I had written an essay was my senior year of high school, so I knew I’d have to bring out some of the old knowledge to be able to write a quality paper again. Even though writing papers is a dislike of mine, these proposals turned out to be a good experience
Leadership and management are two words that are commonly mistaken; the relation and the differences between them are often unclear. Leadership can be defined as the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a vision or a set of goals." Managers are there to plan, organize, lead and monitor employees' activities. Leaders also have to be able to guide an organization through change. As we will see later, vision is a crucial component in the success of this task.
Leadership and management are two fundamental concepts which are involved in the effective management of organizations. Leadership in my opinion is a complex concept, which includes association of human qualities and the result of their activities. To be a great leader means not only following own visions, but also work towards company’s goals.