Essay On The Role Of An Athletic Director

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Introduction For many high school students, participating in interscholastic sports is an important part of their school experience (Trottier, 2014). During their time in high school, these student-athletes are at the peak of their emotional and physical developmental years (Trottier, 2014). Thus, they may be at the stage of maturing where they can be most influenced and impressed of their growth of ethics and values (Trottier, 2014). Moreover, the development of life skills, such as social and mental maturity for a student-athlete can be fostered through the involvement in organized interscholastic athletics (Trottier, 2014). Through participating in organized sports, these student-athletes may gain a distinctive benefit in their ability …show more content…

This will require the athletic director to lead the employees through many cross-functional activities, conflict resolution between staff and student-athletes, delegating responsibilities, motivating each coach to reach team goals, and utilize interpersonal communication skills among all stakeholders (Masteralexis, 2012). In order to manage a department with various levels of activity, delegating responsibilities is one of the main leadership skills that is needed. This is important for the fact that an athletic director cannot physically or mentally carry out each role of the department. The athletic director must be a master of transferring his vision and mission to each coach and staff member in order for the assigning of responsibility and accountability to be successful (Masteralexis, 2012). Hence, the athletic director leads through example and mentoring the coaches and staff to take ownership of their role in the department delegating his authority through them. Thus, each employee will know what their responsibility is and begin to fulfill their role in the organization. Furthermore, the athletic director’s role is very active in the day to day operations and must create solutions to the challenges that may arise among each of the employees and positively motivate them to work as a team (Masteralexis, …show more content…

What each one has in common is they have a leader in the organization such as an athletic director, sports manager, general manager, or sports administrator that has learned how to influence those around them to carry out the vision and mission through proper leadership. In order to gain proper insight on how a successful sport manager has developed a program with the tradition of winning while maintaining a culture of ethics, conducting an interview would bring about the philosophy, the decision-making process, culture, ethics and impact the program

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