PART. I Foundations of Sport Management

Using Management's Four Functions in Daily Athletic Department Operations $($Continued$)$

leading, and evaluating: In this case study, you are asked to apply each of these functions in a different setting within a college athletic department. Big State University $($BSU$)$ is an NCAA Division I institution in a Power Five conference. Located in a major metropolitan area, its teams consistently bring home conference titles in many of its $21$ sports. Success on and off the field is important, and the university highly prizes both athletic and academic success.

Using this scenario, focus on how athletic administrators in selected departments rely on the four functions of management in day$-$to$-$day situations.

Planning

Blake Austin is the Associate Athletic Director for Student Athlete Academic Services. Thanks in part to a gift from a major corporate donor, the Academic Services department will be moving into a new academic center in two years. Blake now needs to $-$ draw up the plan for the move from the old academic center to the new one. This is a very exciting time for the department, especially for the student$-$athletes.

Questions for Discussion

In drawing up the plans for the new center, who does Blake need to include in the planning meetings? Why?

Which specific input would each of these people or groups$-$provide?

What might be some key elements or strategies Blake will need to consider?

Organizing

Gail Williams is the Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information. The athletic department has just been given permission to add three new positions to work with social media. The new positions will be added to Gail's staff, which currently includes five

staff members with specific sport responsibilities $($e$.$g$.,$ one person is responsible for softball, field hockey, and men's tennis, while another works with women's soccer, baseball, and men's golfl as well as two television production workers.

Questions for Discussion

How should Gail organize the Sports Informa. tion department to best utilize these three new employees?

How might current job responsibilities be altered?

Which duties might the new members take over?

What might be some additional duties?

How will Gail prioritize these roles and positions?

Leading

Becky Slater is the Associate Athletic Director for Business Operations. As such, she oversees all the personnel decisions when it comes to hiring new staff. While BSU is located in a diverse metropolitan area, its athletic department is lagging behind the other conference members in hiring a diverse staft. Becky has been instructed by her supervisor to add more diverse staff members in the department Using the decision$-$making model from this chapter, discuss how Becky will be an effective leader in this situation.

Questions for Discussion

How will Becky ensure the athletic department reflects the truly diverse nature of college athietics? How will this help to build success into the future?

Which elements from the decision$-$making model will Becky need to concentrateron?

Which type of leadership do you think will be most effective to create inclusion?