Challenges In Recruitment And Human Resource Management In Sports
Question
Task: Students will complete an essay delving into the current opportunities and challenges of hiring in sport management. This essay will require students to have a working knowledge of contemporary sport management and hiring practices which will be touched upon in class. However, students must also review the prescribed text in this unit, as well as seeking to incorporate traditional literature on human resource management, but may also sinclude cholarly research on group dynamics, unconscious biases, and psychosocial and behavioural aspects. Students must go beyond the unit textbook and lecture materials to find research on key theories and empirical studies.
Answer
Introduction
Recruitment is one of the most challenging activities and roles played by the human resources of any business or organization. Understanding the right abilities and skill sets of an individual to hire and create a strong workforce can be taxing in the current generation. The people all over the world do have several alternatives and many opportunities to flourish and that concerns the employers, as more options of jobs are available in the market. The business of sports is one of the most popular entertainment industry sectors of the world. The sports business not only entertains people on a daily basis but it also helps to give employment and services to thousands of people.
This particular essay is going to concentrate upon the various challenges, the issues that are faced in the hiring, recruitment processes and human resource management in sports. The essay aims to develop a sound and critical understanding on the ways recruitment activities are channeled in the sports management and related sector. The essay will use several secondary sources of information in the form of scholarly views and opinions, theories and ideas that will help in shaping the discussion of the essay. Nearing the end the essay aims to narrate a conclusion that summarizes the overall observations and understanding of the essay in brief.
Discussion
Briefly understanding the background of sports management:
Sports management has become a common term in the world business vocabulary in the present era. It is very important to note that human resource management in sports is also studied and considered a topic of research and subject in the contemporary times. It helps to deliver knowledge and information on the business of sports that enable students and researchers to find careers in the related fields. In simple terms, sports management can be described as the field of business that concentrates upon sports and recreation activities (Hoye et al., 2018). According to scholars, sports management refers to the working on the business areas of the sports industry ("What Is Sports Management?", 2019).
It is intriguing to observe that the sports management field of business and the activities require constant attention to detail and the recruitment of the best minds n the business. This is important in order to meet the changing needs and demands of the people. It is very important to understand that the business in sports has to welcome changes that are constantly emerging in the market. In order to analyze and address these changes, that often become challenges from environmental influences, the best professionals need to be hired and trained.
Scholars suggest that sports management is a broad and an ever-changing competitive field of business that incorporate various activities and agendas ("What Is Sports Management?", 2019). It must be noted that people who are working in the sports industry need to understand the multibillion-dollar industry that demands an employer to have several sets of skills and competencies. Human resource management in sports stretches from working in the Olympics and international platforms to working in small recreational and sports clubs of colleges and schools. Finding the right place to work can be easier than being hired for a long- term period. The sports management recruitment activities face several challenges and issues that adversely affect people’s interests and career goals. More information and detailed elaboration of this is drafted in the following sections of the essay.
Sports management recruitments
Just like any other industry, recruiting the right minds and the best professionals from the pool of talented and eligible candidates can be highly challenging t=in the business of sports. It is observed through research works that sports management hiring and staffing procedures are typically concentrated on three major areas. They are- people who are experts in making relations and are hired under public relation specialists and executives, post secondary admission and education administration jobs, and the administrative service managers who act as big game changes in the industry. the career opportunities are a lot in the field of sports management and business. Public relations, fund raising operations, facility management, broadcasting, sports agencies, development of administration, interscholastic athletic administration and many more can be termed as the job opportunities under this sector.
According to Darren Heitner, (2015), a leading contributor at Forbes, it can be stated that the sports industry will reach at $73.5 Billion by the end of 2019 ("Sports Industry To Reach $73.5 Billion By 2019", 2019). As one of the most invested and expensive sectors of the global market, the human resource management in sports recruitment services do face a massive number of aspirants who are willing to build their career in sports. The recruitments are conducted each year and millions of applications are found being submitted to various agencies and organizations. However, only a handful of people end up getting their desired post of jobs. It is also noted that there are several issues and obligations that one faces while opting for the sports management jobs. The issues are not always personal but are even influenced by external factors and agents. The problems are many and needs to be well analyzed before developing an understanding on the sports management and business in general.
Challenges in hiring processes
The job itself is an issue: Careful observations will reflect the fact that the jobs at the sports business require talents and skills that together combine the unique competencies to provide the best services to the sports industry. The jobs at the industry witnesses high and super high stakes that often become intolerable for people (Berendt & Uhrich, 2016). It is observed that the sports are all about competing against one another and to win means everything. As it is a game with the actual objective and aim to winning, the stakes becomes high and often lead to issues of rivalry and enmity between the people as supporters (Wicker & Frick, 2016). The partner’s interest and activities need to be balanced between the various teams, and their supporters. Researchers have termed that the sports management and sports business jobs are the most physically and mentally exhaustive jobs in the whole world(Foster, O'Reilly & Dávila, 2016). This is where many people do not find huge interest in opting for several vacancies and end up not being a part of the sports business. As jobs that demand extremely high physical and mental commitment, the issues is the job itself, becomes a serious challenge in the recruitment and hiring processes of human resource management in sports.
The challenges of employee motivation: The business of sports require the employees to stay uplifted and motivated mentally all the time. The sports men, the coaches and the agency representatives and executives need to be physically and mentally fit and must encourage their peers and colleagues to make the team perform well in any competition. Careful observations will reflect the fact that the team spirit and the overall team’s performance is largely dependent on the factors of encouragement and motivation that predominantly comes from coaches and sports executives (Taylor, Doherty & McGraw, (2015). However, it can be stated that providing motivation to all the sports council agency members and players is not always possible. This can be due to the lack of concentration that is obvious and expected in many sports before competitions and even due to lack of right mindset and expertise. Lack of motivation also results in adverse ways in players to resolve from tough situations (Guest, 2017). This is a challenge that is faced by many agencies and organizations while they try to hire new professionals and they are not fully equipped and able to provide motivation in the most effective ways.
The continuous conflicts at workplace: Mistrust, hidden rivalry, and disagreements are the key terms to discuss this issue. It is something very natural in all organizations to have employee conflicts in some form or the other. Often it is observed that competition and relentless approaches to work harder than the peer member leads to rivalry and many times the employees do not simply agree on similar and specific matters. In the business of sports, these are even observed in all levels of operations. As the business deals with sports that invariably brings competition and rivalry issues, it becomes extremely difficult for the employers to build teams that can work together to reach any specific aim or objectives (Chelladurai & Kerwin, 2018). Teamwork requires effective communication and a great connection between teammates. However, due to hidden rivalries, and disagreements, the employees are often not able to work in teams and do not share similar views or interests. This is certainly one major issue that is faced by the employers of sports management while conducting hiring and recruitment processes.
Issues in disciplines: Discipline is a word that has become synonymous with the sports of the world. It is indeed important to develop proper discipline at work under all sectors. However, in the sports business discipline plays an important role as it helps the employees to deliver their services in the best potentials and even helps to develop fellow workers. In the stadiums and grounds, maintaining discipline is very important as it provides a proper balance amongst the team members and also in between the employees. In most millennial generation young individuals the lack of discipline in life is emerging as a major challenge while conducting any recruitment drives for sports management.
Indiscipline activities, according to Subhani Hassimdeen- the former National Football Captain & National Coach, are becoming a major concern in the field of football ("Indiscipline among our Footballers is cause for serious concern | The Sunday Times Sri Lanka", 2016). This is one of the most significant articles that were first published on 10th July, in the year of 2016, that articulated the coach’s concern in seeing indiscipline activities. These are certainly major areas of concern and are challenges while understanding and judging the right personnel who are expected to provide great deal of services in sports.
Challenges of focusing on negative stories: The negative stories always attract people of all ages. In terms of entertainment the negative stories, the controversies and the scandalous incidents do provide entertainment to people and that is also a big challenge of hiring process in the sports industry. It must be noted that the young professionals do not tend to opt for the companies or agencies that have been reported on a controversial issue (Jones et al., 2017). Nobody would willingly want to pursue a career where his or her reputation will be in stake. Due to the facts that the media over exaggerate the negative stories, people do start to perceive sports as a field where matches are fixed and a lot of bidding goes on. The impact of these stories does result in bringing issues to the employers who face a lack of employees to work in the sports management.
Issues of funding: Money is an important area that needs special attention. The sports business has billions of dollars of money that are invested and earned each year through the sports and recreational activities ("Why the push for more sports funding is absolutely necessary", 2019). It must be noted, according to the researchers from the Economic Times that in many countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh etc, there is a lack of funding in sports. The lack of funding in many agencies do not allow great sports person to join the agency, and pursue the career of a sportsman ("India needs a complete revision on where and how its money for sports has been spent", 2016). The actual issue is that the lack of money results in lack of opportunities of growth and development. In many cases, it was realized that the lack of funding from various sources did not allow an organization to provide necessary and sufficient training and development to the employees and that can be highly catastrophic for any sports business. Ellina Mhlanga (2018), in his popular and much discussed article on lack of funding in Zimbabwe from government and corporate funders and how that affects the overall sports community ("Lack of funding haunts Zim sport", 2018).
On the other hand, it must be noted that female based games and sports management activities are not given the first priority to opt for funding. There is significantly less amount of money invested in women’s cricket, football and hockey as compared to the traditional men’s teams (Minter, 2015). Considering these issues, the employees do not feel the urge to join the industry as they are facing lack of money in several areas of operations. In addition, there is a lack of funding in organizing global recruitment sessions from many agencies and organizations.
Critically understanding group dynamics, unconscious biases, and psychosocial and behavioural aspects in recruitment processes
Alongside understanding the various challenges that are found in the recruitment and hiring processes of the human resource management in sports and sports business, it is also important to understand how several factors like the group dynamics, the unconscious biases and the behavioral and psychological factors play an important role in the hiring processes. The following content of the essay is going to discuss these in detail.
Unconscious biases are a phenomenon that is very common in any recruitment process. It is reflected through examining and analyzing someone’s CV or details and comparing that person to the perfect candidate for the job post. However, it must be noted that there is no one who is perfect and that comparing the applicant to the best version of the candidature is something that is not fair. According to Dr. Pragya Agarwal, (2019), a contributor at Forbes and a popular mental health campaigner, one can certainly reduce the unconscious biases while screening job applications. The researcher also argues that the underprivileged and marginalized sections of the society are the people who are facing the most disadvantages and discrimination through these unfair selection procedures ("How To Minimize Unconscious Bias During Recruitment", 2019).
Scholars and researchers do state that the human psychology and their behavior play an important role in assessing any candidate under changing circumstances ("Behavioural Science of Recruitment & Selection | Reports | CIPD", 2019). A person’s mood and mental state determines his or her willingness and comfort in assessing someone based on his or her competencies and skills. However, in many situations it has been observed that the psychological and behavioral aspects in staffing processes end up taking wrong judgments, as the candidate is not judged based on true merits and the recruitment is influenced by personal preferences and tastes.
In the same nerve, it can be added that the group dynamics or a certain stereotypical agenda or belief can hinder in taking the right and the most unfair decision while staffing the best minds in the business. In the area of human resource management in sports, it needs to be noted that the field is highly competitive and full of market rivals. Hence, taking the best decisions in the most ethical, fair and effective way is not always happening under many influences and circumstances. The group dynamics is something that influences any recruitment decision of any agency or organization. The unanimous belief or the opinions may not always be true and moral and that allows the issues of recruitment grow and create lack of jobs and best practices in the sports management. The group dynamics allow the candidates to be judged on social dimensions and their abilities to manage and control situations being in a group. There are, however, many loopholes in such recruitment activities and that result in the unfair staffing procedures ("Group dynamics - Job interviews and selection tests - USC", 2019). On the contrary, it can be stated that the group dynamic process of analyzing someone’s group or team working abilities is highly important and much needed in a sector like sports business and management.
Conclusion
This essay has been highly educational and enriching in observing the issues and the challenges that are faced in the recruitment and hiring processes of sports management. The essay has been highly inspired from various researches that eventually helped in developing arguments and point out facts and details. It has been realized that the challenges that are faced in selection processes in human resource management in sports can be mitigated by the use of right strategies and activities. The greatest issue, as observed through the essay, relates to the lack of funds and the unethical and unfair recruitment processes. Overall, this has been a highly enriching essay. It provided opportunities in researching various secondary sources and developed knowledge with an understanding on the theme of sports management and related recruitments. Human resource management in sports assignments are being prepared by our human resource management assignment help experts from top universities which let us to provide you a reliable assignment help online service
Reference List
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