Pages: 16

Managing sport employees and volunteers is of critical importance for every sport organization. Attracting, developing, and retaining talented people can provide a sport organization with the resources it needs to prosper, grow, and, ultimately, gain competitive advantage. Key human resource issues that affect sport organizations include increased competition for talent, commercialization, and digitalization. Taking a strategic human resource management approach provides a basis for a sport organization to respond to changes and uncertainty, considering aspects such as recruitment, selection, training and development, and orientation and rewards in alignment with the organization’s goals. Strategic human resource management also provides the framework for policies, practices, procedures, and systems that influence the behavior, attitudes, values, and performance of people who work for the organization and the basis for improved performance of sport organizations.

Pages: 19

Strategic approaches to human resource management are increasingly necessary for sport organizations. In adopting a strategic human resource management framework, sport organizations can explicitly position their human resources to gain competitive advantage through optimal use of human capital. For many organizations, the first step in this process is to conduct a SWOT or PESTLE analysis, as this can assist with strategic planning. Influential theoretical frameworks on strategy, such as the Porter Five Forces model and the Resource-Based View (RBV), are fundamental to HRM approaches and overall planning frameworks. Strategic HRM emphasizes the need for alignment between the external and internal environment (strategic fit) and the importance of an organization’s internal resources and capabilities in helping it achieve its strategic objectives. A strategic approach serves as useful for both strategy planning and strategy implementation in relation to various HRM activities with the objective of maximizing organizational performance.

Pages: 26

It is important to know about the individuals who bring their unique attributes, competencies, personalities, and values to the sport workplace. These characteristics have implications for the attitudes and behavior of employees and volunteers, and so are an important consideration in strategic human resource management practices aimed at promoting performance and organizational effectiveness. Biographical attributes such as age and gender, intellectual and physical competencies, personality, and values and beliefs constitute surface- and deep-level characteristics that may predict, explain, and distinguish individuals, and which may contribute to diversity in the workplace. The benefits and challenges of a diverse organizational workforce – including the potential for bias based on individuals’ characteristics – must be effectively managed in sport organizations.

Pages: 22

HRM planning translates sport organizations’ broad strategic objectives into detailed operational plans on how to meet strategies and goals through the optimum use of its workforce. Effective planning requires the sport organization to have a clear picture of its current workforce, to assess the organization’s internal and external environment, and then map the HR requirements to meet current needs and future projections. After gaps are identified, action plans are developed with specific activities for job analysis and design, recruitment and selection, training and development, performance indicators, rewards, and evaluation methods, etc. Some small-medium-sized sport organizations may choose to outsource the HR planning or other HR functions.

Pages: 24

Attracting and selecting the best individuals for the organization is a critical strategic human resources management decision. Appointing the right people, in terms of skills, knowledge, and cultural fit can improve the sport organization’s performance, facilitate its success, and assist with the achievement of its goals. On the other hand, there are high direct and indirect costs associated with selecting the wrong candidate (e.g., reduced productivity, strained interpersonal relationships, decreases in team morale). New appointments can be made via internal or external recruitment, depending on the nature of the position and the organization’s requirements. The wide array of selection techniques that can be used to choose the “right” person is discussed in this chapter.

Pages: 28

Orientation or onboarding is about socializing individuals as they transition to and within their sport organization. Organizational socialization happens before entry, during entry, and on a continuing basis in the organization. Successful socialization has implications for role clarity, self-efficacy, social integration and fit, and further positive attitudes and performance in the workplace. There are a range of onboarding strategies that can be selected depending on the context and content of newcomer socialization. A particular goal of orientation/onboarding is the alignment (or realignment) of the employee and volunteer’s psychological contract with the sport organization. Another goal is to transmit the organizational culture – shared values, beliefs, and assumptions that evolve over time – so newcomers can learn and adjust to “how things are done around here” as quickly as possible.

Pages: 22

Strategically planned and delivered training and development can provide a range of benefits for a sport organization and its employees and volunteers, including enhanced capacity, increased job satisfaction and motivation, reduced turnover, and improved operational efficiencies. Typically, “training” refers to technical, job-related skills and abilities, while “development” is more directed to improving the interpersonal capabilities of the person. A five-step systematic approach can be taken to training and development: 1. Undertake a training needs analysis, 2. Determine training goals, 3. Design training or development interventions, 4. Implement, and 5. Evaluate. There is an expanding range of training and development methods and solutions that can be used to assist the sport organization to deliver its strategic outcomes. An investment in people and in the development of their skills, knowledge, and capabilities should yield productivity and financial benefits as well as maintaining and improving intellectual capital and contributing to individual well-being.

Pages: 17

Performance management is a process through which the strategic goals of the organization are integrated into work activities, behaviors, and defined job outcomes in ways that support employee performance. Performance management includes work and job design, training and development and policies for evaluating (appraisal), rewarding, and improving performance. Effective performance management systems are designed and implemented to achieve beneficial outcomes for the sport organization. A staged model of performance management can be used to guide organizational decisions about how to implement an effective and holistic system in the organization. Performance appraisal is a key component of performance management, involving the setting of performance objectives and the monitoring and evaluation thereof. There are a range of performance appraisal methods and criteria which a sport organization can use, and each organization needs to make decisions about the most appropriate system to meet its needs.

Pages: 27

Organizational rewards are a critical tool for effective strategic human resource management. Their impact on attracting, influencing, and retaining valuable employees and volunteers is based on individuals being motivated to satisfy unmet needs, whether those are for basic food and shelter, for a sense of belonging or affiliation, or a sense of achievement. These needs may be met in the workplace through pay, workplace interaction, and personally challenging assignments. Content and process theories of motivation help to explain how rewards can be attractive and influential in the workplace. Both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards are important aspects of a rewards management system in sport organizations, and job design specifically can help to ensure work that has a high potential for motivation, with implications for personnel performance and retention, and organizational effectiveness.

Pages: 25

A productive workplace, staffed by satisfied employees, is the focus of strategic employee-management relations. It can be achieved through a working environment that is characterized by organizational justice, where decisions are seen to be fair and transparent, and through the organizational involvement of employees and volunteers by means of effective communication and meaningful participation in decision-making. Another critical aspect of effective employee relations is employee and work wellness, and the availability of employee assistance to help staff maintain positive mental health that may affect their performance. Termination or the end of an employee or volunteer relationship with an organization is almost inevitable, whether it is by dismissal, resignation, or retirement. There are different ways to handle such departures, including taking the opportunity to gather valuable insight to the organization through the former member’s experiences.

Pages: 18

Artificial intelligence and technology, athlete agency, and emerging market countries are but a few phenomena that have changed the face of sport and will continue to impact the “managing people” activities of sport organizations. The continued sustainability of a sport organization will be linked to its ability to identify and plan for change and map the implications of these changes for the management of its human resources. A systematically developed and implemented change plan recognizes and responds to resistances to change. A strategic human resource management approach can help sport organizations ensure effective operations, motivated and satisfied employees and volunteers, and ultimately competitive advantage as they consider responses to change in the future.