What is meant by organization structure of a sport club?

What is meant by organization structure of a sport club?

An organization’s structure is the manner in which the workforce of the organization is organized into specific job roles and responsibilities to undertake work to accomplish the organization’s mission.

 

One common method by which the total of work is divided up is according to business function. In a manufacturing company, for example, business functions might include Production, Marketing, Sales, Administration, Maintenance, Human Resources, etc. Then people are employed at various levels to ensure each function is carried out.

 

There are multiple ways an organization can be structured to accomplish its mission. Factors to consider in developing an organization structure include: type of organization (profit business or non-profit organization), scale of operations (large, medium or small), key business functions and business philosophy.

Let's look at the organization structure of a typical non-profit sport organization and the discuss some of the features:

The above diagram illustrates that there are three important layers of the structure.

·       The top layer of the structure is the Management Committee (or Board of Management). This is the body of people who have the ultimate authority within the organization. All people who are part of the management committee are elected and the key positions are President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer. It is common for all persons on the management committee to be volunteers that is they are not paid to do the work they do.

 

·       The next layer is the salaried officer of the organization. In the above diagram there are only three people who are salaried (i.e. paid for the work they do) and they are the Executive Director, Development Officer and Coaching Director. This just an example. Many smaller non-profit sport organizations have insufficient funds to be able to employ anyone. Other sport organizations which are much larger may have a great many employees (as per the organization structure of a major football club below). Although the management committee have ultimate authority, it is the salaried officers that carry out most of the important work, and that is why they are paid.

 

·       The lowest layer in the above diagram is the very many people who perform voluntary roles. These voluntary roles may involve just 2-3 hours of work per week. In a sport organization, this level of the organization structure would include people who coach and officiate, raise funds for the organization, help with the events, run the website, look after the club's facilities and run the club's canteen.

 

 

It is important to understand that the manner in which work is divided up among the people of the organization is purely arbitrary. There will be differences between similar organizations.

Different organization structures suit different types of organizations. The organization structure of a non-profit organization can be very different to a for-profit organization.

Some more examples of organization structures can been seen below. The organization structure of a major football club depicted below was drawn from a real example.

Typical Sport Club (not-for-profit enterprise)

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Major Football Club (for-profit enterprise)

There is no perfect solution to developing an organization structure. There is always change and therefore organization management must review the structure of the organization and modify as necessary.

Some factors that impact on organization structure are listed below.

 

The mission of the            organisation	An organisation with a mission to provide service will be structured differently to an                    organisation that exists primarily to sell products. An organisation that is a non-profit                  organisation will be structured differently to an organisation that is a for-profit business.
The priorities of the         organisation	Managing an organisation is about dealing with the problem that there is always too much  to   do and too few staff to carry out the work. Management must determine which tasks are most   important and assign personnel to them. Therefore the organisation structure will  depend on   what decisions have been made by management with respect to priorities.
Goals and objectives to be achieved	Statements of "Goals" and "Objectives" represent what the organisation wants to achieve.       They change from time to time as a result of the changing environment in which the                    organisation lives. As Goals and Objectives change so will the organisation's structure.

Sports clubs need to consider and decide sustainable and viable organization in competitive business environment.

Moreover, professional clubs have to introduce competitive advantage management and democratic structure.

In addition, professional sport clubs have to set up strong customer centric sport marketing strategy and connect with supporters.

For expanding their business, clubs have to give exciting and valuable products and service to fans.