competencies of sport managers in german sport clubs and sport federations

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This article was downloaded by: ["Queen's University Libraries, Kingston"] On: 01 October 2013, At: 11:47 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Managing Leisure Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rmle20 Competencies of sport managers in German sport clubs and sport federations Heinz-Dieter Horch a & Norbert Schütte a a Institute of Sport Economics and Sport Management, German Sports University, Cologne, Germany Published online: 01 Apr 2011. To cite this article: Heinz-Dieter Horch & Norbert Schütte (2003) Competencies of sport managers in German sport clubs and sport federations, Managing Leisure, 8:2, 70-84, DOI: 10.1080/1360671032000085684 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1360671032000085684 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http:// www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

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Page 1: Competencies of sport managers in German sport clubs and sport federations

This article was downloaded by: ["Queen's University Libraries, Kingston"]On: 01 October 2013, At: 11:47Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: MortimerHouse, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Managing LeisurePublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rmle20

Competencies of sport managers in German sportclubs and sport federationsHeinz-Dieter Horch a & Norbert Schütte aa Institute of Sport Economics and Sport Management, German Sports University,Cologne, GermanyPublished online: 01 Apr 2011.

To cite this article: Heinz-Dieter Horch & Norbert Schütte (2003) Competencies of sport managers in German sport clubsand sport federations, Managing Leisure, 8:2, 70-84, DOI: 10.1080/1360671032000085684

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1360671032000085684

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) containedin the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make norepresentations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose ofthe Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be reliedupon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shallnot be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and otherliabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to orarising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematicreproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in anyform to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: Competencies of sport managers in German sport clubs and sport federations

Managing Leisure 8, 70–84 (April 2003)

Competencies of sport managers in Germansport clubs and sport federations

Heinz-Dieter Horch and Norbert Schu ¨ tteInstitute of Sport Economics and Sport Management, German Sports University, Cologne,

Germany

Growing and diversifying public interest in sport demands greater professional competencies insport managers in clubs and National Federations. In 1995–6 this study sought to identify activitiesundertaken and competencies needed by such paid managers, through mailed questionnaires(response nó199, 30% from clubs, 70% from Federations). Factor analysis identified five groups ofactivities and seven groups of competencies. The activities of sport managers comprised strongcommunicative and social aspects. This must be considered more strongly than hitherto by includingcorresponding interdisciplinary management aspects in training and education courses. The inter-viewees particularly emphasized the importance of interpersonal communication—as indicated byseveral of Mintzberg’s managerial roles—as well as competencies like public relations, advertisingand techniques of personal management. Nevertheless the core of training should comprise aspectsof business administration. The interviewees particularly emphasized the management functionsand areas of financing, budgeting, sponsorship and event management. Sport management isbecoming differentiated from coaching and teaching. Sport managers had to know their respectivesports and be part of the culture, but physical education and sport science skills were generallynot needed. On the one hand, the evaluation of many competencies showed clear differences fromjob to job, but on the other hand the significant regression coefficients between different types ofactivity sets and different competency sets indicated that a broad qualification is needed, regardlessof the type of job.

INTRODUCTION ness clubs – although growing in numbers –only have 6 million memberships. Sport

Growth and change in the demand for sportclubs and federations are non-profit organ-

have lead in turn to rising requirements forizations. Even most of the clubs in profes-

professionalism in the management in sport sional sport leagues are still non-profitclubs and federations in Germany. Several organizations. Sport clubs mostly are stilluniversity training programmes appeared managed by volunteers, though not so sport(about 10), but until now the professional federations. The focus of this research isrequirements of practical application have paid managers, using the word in the broadhardly been studied systematically. For that English sense, encompassing all those whoreason, the Institute of Sport Economics and exercise business and management skills,Sport Management of the German Sports and not just top managers, as in the GermanUniversity, Cologne has made studying the usage. In the following we will review firstwork of sport managers one of its focal our theoretical approach and the presentpoints for research (Horch et al., 2003).1

state of related research, second, ourClubs are still by far the most important research methods and third, answer three

suppliers of sport opportunities in Germany. central questions:There are 87,000 sport clubs with 27 millionmemberships, or about one-third of the Ω What are the main activities of sport

managers in clubs and federations?population. In comparison, commercial fit-Managing Leisure ISSN 1360-6719 print/ISSN 1466-450X online © 2003 Taylor & Francis Ltd

http://www.tandf.co.uk/journalsDOI: 10.1080/1360671032000085684

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Competencies of sport managers 71

Ω What competencies do they need? The growth of North American universitycurricula in sport management was accom-Ω What differences were found, and how

can they be explained? panied in the mid 1980s by a great numberof empirical studies of practical managementrequirements. On the one hand these found,APPROACH AND RESEARCH STATUSfor instance, that employers preferred a

When one wants to discover the require- business-oriented curriculum (Parkhouse,ments for qualifications for a new profession, 1980); on the other, many experts were ofshould one proceed simply from the logic of the opinion that business competencies area scientific discipline like business adminis- not sufficient and that sport managerstration, or should one also look at the should also have specialist sports knowledgeexisting practice of it, even if rudimentary? and experience (De Sensi et al., 1990). InOn the one hand, when it concerns business these studies, public relations, communi-and management, one can undoubtedly learn cation, resource management, financing andmuch from economics, business administra- an internship were again and again identifiedtion and management science, especially in as the most important components of thethe case of organizations like sports clubs, training. These findings resulted in curricularwhich until now have been run in a tradi- recommendations (Brassie, 1989) and stand-tional, unstructured rather than rational way. ards of accreditation (NASPE-NASSM JointOn the other hand, when looking down from Task Force, 1993).2

the ivy tower of science, one may fall victim Of special interest for our project areto myths about managing, that do not have studies that dealt with sports managers inmuch in common with the actual activities clubs and federations. Cuskelly and Auldof a manager, as may be learned from (1991) compared the importance of jobMintzberg’s (1973) studies of work activity. responsibilities in four different non-profitThis danger is probably even greater when and for-profit types of organizations in Aus-it comes to sports clubs and federations, tralia. In order to evaluate this they ques-because the concern is with products, organ- tioned volunteer, part-time and full-timeizations and cultures, which the so-called managers. Financing and legal issues were‘general’ business administration textbooks more important in sports clubs and federa-only deal with peripherally, if at all. It tions than in commercial sports organiza-is important, therefore, to draw on the tions. This may be explained by the relativeknowledge of current practicing managers. importance of governmental subsidies andIn the US this approach to research is privileges. Exercise and health issues werecalled the ‘competency based approach to more relevant in sports clubs, federationscurriculum development’, a competency and commercial organizations than inbeing defined as ‘a knowledge, skill or atti- municipal sports agencies (that is, for man-tude needed to carry out properly an activity agers in organizations which directly pro-to succeed in one’s professional life’ (Lam- duced sports services). Managers of federalbrecht, 1991, p. 34). While interpreting the sports federations gave computing moreanswers of practitioners, however, one must weight than those in local and regionaltake into account that it concerns subjective bodies, perhaps because they had to dealperceptions and interpretations, which with greater numbers of members. Managersamong other things will be influenced by in governmental agencies stressed thetheir state of knowledge and the courses of importance of personal development moretheir professional careers, as well as by than those in local sport clubs. Cuskelly and

Auld’s interpretation was that this had to dopractical problems and trends.

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72 Horch and Schutte

with the fact that the latter managers were managers and sports experts by means of amostly volunteers who concentrated on dir- qualitative interview. Questionnaires wereectly producing sport services ‘and therefore mailed to the first three groups. Here we willmay have perceived technical skills (e.g., only report those parts of the study involvingexercise physiology, fitness testing) to be written questionnaires from paid managers.more important than personal development’ The organizations and the positions that(Cuskelly and Auld, 1991, p. 43). were studied were not chosen at random,

Are there cultural differences or do such but purposefully in order to include as manyfindings apply to any country? Comparable different organizations as possible, so as tostudies have hardly been conducted in study their similarities and differences. InGermany. At the time of our research, there this, we sought to make the following com-were two studies of the activities of gradu- parisons, between: clubs and federations,ates of the Sport Economics Programme of and between professional/high performancethe University of Bayreuth (Buchmeier and sport and leisure sport organizations. InZieschang, 1992, 1995), but these cannot be detail we included organizations of theseen as representative of the field. Parallel following types: clubs which we knew hadto our research in 1997, Nichelmann (1999) paid managers or which we supposed tocarried out a similar study on sport man- have paid managers, i.e., large multi-sportsagers in different for-profit (fitness, market- clubs with a membership above 1000;4 pro-ing) and non-profit organizations (clubs, fessional sport clubs playing in the firstfederations, municipalities). Though he gave divisions of football, handball or ice hockeyno details of how his samples (totalling 172 and prestige sport clubs offering golf, tennisor a 37.4% response) were constructed, his or field hockey; sport federations repre-results were mostly in accord with those senting single Olympic sports and regionalwe set out below. Concerning the required multi-sports federations on the federal, statecompetencies, he found only minor differ- and municipal level. As for the positions,ences between managers of for-profit and mostly top positions but also some middlenon-profit organizations. Marketing, advert-

positions were chosen.ising and financing were somewhat more

The response rate was 57% (nó531), ofimportant in for-profit organizations, whilewhich 199 answers came from paid man-sports science was more important in non-agers. The response from the federationsprofit organizations.was particularly good, with up to 80%, andthe response from the professional sport

METHODS clubs at 36% was particularly low. The paidmanagers, whose statements we will presentOur project was conducted during 1995–96.3

below, amounted to 70% from federationsTogether with questions concerning recruit-and 30% from clubs, 60% from leisure sportment, activities and competencies of sportand 40% from high performance sport. Thus,managers we also asked about the organiza-the results described cannot be consideredtional context of the activities, in contrast toas representative of all clubs, since normalthe custom in the US studies. The interviewssmall clubs in particular were excludedalso covered questions concerning the pres-because they neither need paid managerssures and resistance to professionalizationnor do they possess the means to payin voluntary work. The questions posed werefor them. But the results found may beadministered using complementary researchconsidered typical for those clubs and fed-instruments. Coaches and voluntary man-

agers were interviewed, along with paid erations which had paid managers.

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Competencies of sport managers 73

SELECTED RESULTS management functions: analysing, planning,organizing, leading, evaluating, or those man-First, we will briefly present a few generalagement roles empirically determined byresults of the study, as background informa-Mintzberg (1973), in which communication,tion. The tendency for jobs to become profes-cultivating social relations and tasks of exter-sionalized was noticeable, with security ofnal representation also constitute centraltenure (four out of five having unlimitedactivities. What significance do sport pedago-contracts) and high salaries (on averagegical activities like teaching and coachingabout DM 4,500/month net). Two-thirds ofhave? The sport managers were asked tothe post-holders held diplomas (havingestimate, on a scale from 1 (very unimpor-studied for four years, after 13 years oftant) to 5 (very important), the importanceHigh School), corresponding exactly to theof 21 activities for their job. On average thefindings in a general study of German busi-following results were found (see Table 1):ness managers (Scheuch and Scheuch, 1995).

Contrary to general impressions about how Ω Relatively important (average scoresunprofessional management in clubs and from 4.3 to 3.7) were some classic man-federations is, a surprisingly high number, agement functions of organizing (4.2),that is one-third, had had training in business controlling (4.0), setting objectives(compared to 50% of the Scheuchs’ sample (planning) (4.0), analysing (3.8), togetherwho had a business administration degree), with Mintzberg (1973) roles like initiatingwhereas only 23% had training in sport new projects (entrepreneur) (3.9), seek-science. ing (monitoring) (4.1) and passing on

We found that sport has a strong, self- information (disseminator) (4.3), estab-contained culture; nearly all managers had a lishing outside contacts (liaison) (4.2),strong link with sport – 48% were formerly lobbying for the organization (spoke-competitive athletes, 43% leisure sport ath- sperson) (4.2), and problem solvingletes, 29% paid or honorary coaches, 43% (disturbance handler) (4.2).voluntary members of the board and 23%

Ω Sport pedagogical activities of coachingpaid managers. Being part of this sport

and teaching were the least importantculture is vital to getting a job in such(scoring averages of 1.6 and 2.6).positions. Without having specifically sought

it, the qualitative interviews gave evidence We can summarize the results as follows:that the organization of co-operating with sport managers above all fulfilled manage-volunteers was a typical management prob- ment tasks and only to a lesser extentlem. Two out of three of the paid managers sport pedagogic ones. At the same timefavoured a model where voluntary and paid Mintzberg’s (1973) findings were confirmedmanagers shared executive functions in this study. The rational management func-equally. The predominant opinion of the tions were not sufficient to describe theinterviewees was that in future experts will activities of sport managers. Interpersonalbe needed who have, first, an academic communication, information tasks and exter-training (62%) and who, second, understand nal representation as well as social tasks aresomething of general business administra- central components of their activity. This istion as well as the specifics of the sport why they should be given equal considera-industry (84%). tion in basic and advanced training

frameworks.SPORT MANAGERS’ ACTIVITIES A factor analysis (see Table 2) showed

that the 21 activities can be empiricallyWhat are the main activities of German sportmanagers? Are they the classical rational summarized into five groups:

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74 Horch and Schutte

Table 1 Importance of activities of paid German sports managers

Mean StandardRank Activity value deviation n

1 Passing on information (disseminator) 4.3 0.7 1982 Establishing and maintaining outside contacts (liaison) 4.2 0.9 197

Negotiating, communicating, public speaking 4.2 0.8 198Solving problems (disturbance handler) 4.2 0.9 199Organizing (organizing) 4.2 1.0 197

3 Seeking information (monitoring) 4.1 0.8 1954 Motivating, supervising subordinates (leader) 4.0 1.2 198

Writing, for example, letters, articles 4.0 0.8 196Lobbying for the organization (spokesperson) 4.0 1.0 196Setting objectives and strategy (planning) 4.0 1.1 196Controlling (evaluating) 4.0 0.9 198

5 Initiating new projects (entrepreneur) 3.9 1.0 1946 Analysing organization, market and other outside forces

(planning) 3.8 0.9 1987 Internal and external representation (figurehead) 3.7 1.0 1978 Cultivating social relations 3.5 1.0 195

Settling conflicts (negotiator) 3.5 1.1 197Administering, for example, members, clients, spectators,

finances 3.5 1.3 1969 Allocating money and facilities (resource allocator) 3.1 1.4 196

Taking care of every possible minor task 3.1 1.3 19810 Teaching 2.6 1.1 19111 Coaching, training 1.6 1.0 192

Scale: 1 (very unimportant)–5 (very important)

Ω leading and managing (top management disciplinary social science skills, as empha-functions); sized by American business administration

Ω coaching tasks combined with lobbying and management sciences? The sport man-for external support; agers were asked how they estimated the

Ω communication (and information); importance of 25 competencies for theirΩ social contacts and problem solving; activity. Because of lack of space, we did notΩ administration (and management of ask for competencies which only mirror

clients and central resources). activities we had already asked for. So, forexample, we did not ask about management,communication and social competencies.The following results were found (as shownCOMPETENCIES SPORT MANAGERSin Table 3):NEED

Ω Relatively important (average scoresWhat competencies do sports managersfrom 4.3 to 3.8) were public relationsneed – managerial ones only, or also those(4.3), personal management (4.3), basicfrom physical education, purely economicknowledge about sports (4.1), financingcompetencies as suggested by classical

German business economics, or also inter- (4.0), budgeting (4.0), sponsorship (3.8),

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Competencies of sport managers 75

Table 2 Composition of activity factors

Factors

Variables 1 2 3 4 5

Setting objectives and strategy (planning) 0.76 0.07 0.02 0.08 0.04Motivating, supervising subordinates (leader) 0.69 0.00 ñ0.17 0.22 0.23Analysing organization, market and other outside forces

(planning) 0.68 0.27 0.09 0.01 0.05Controlling (evaluating) 0.68 ñ0.08 0.19 0.18 0.24Negotiating, communicating, public speaking 0.64 0.17 0.08 0.28 ñ0.04Initiating new projects (entrepreneur) 0.54 0.32 0.10 0.33 ñ0.02Internal and external representation (figurehead) 0.36 0.29 0.05 0.13 0.001. Leading and managing

Coaching, training ñ0.11 0.73 ñ0.09 0.02 0.28Teaching 0.22 0.64 0.01 0.05 0.06Establishing and maintaining outside contacts (liaison) 0.48 0.58 0.14 0.24 ñ0.16Lobbying for the organization (spokesperson) 0.44 0.55 0.16 0.10 ñ0.302. Coaching tasks combined with lobbying forexternal support

Writing, e.g., letters, articles 0.05 0.04 0.72 0.06 0.02Passing on information (disseminator) 0.09 0.08 0.68 ñ0.07 0.03Seeking information (monitor) 0.16 ñ0.04 0.67 0.12 0.03Taking care of every possible minor task ñ0.37 ñ0.10 0.61 0.08 0.363. Communication (and information)

Settling conflicts (negotiator) 0.30 ñ0.02 ñ0.03 0.81 0.07Cultivating social relations 0.05 0.32 0.17 0.73 ñ0.11Solving problems (disturbance handler) 0.41 0.02 0.01 0.68 0.154. Social contacts and problem solving

Administering, for example members, clients, spectators,finances 0.00 ñ0.03 0.19 ñ0.08 0.79

Organizing (organizing) 0.31 0.08 0.16 0.08 0.72Allocating money and facilities (resource allocator) 0.10 0.36 ñ0.26 0.16 0.525. Administration (and management of clients andcentral resources)

nó192 paid managers; Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin testó0.83.

event management (3.9) and Information the business functions (advertising,Technology (3.8). human resource management, calcula-

Ω Relatively unimportant (averaging from tion of costs, new offers, accounting,2.8 to 2.0) were choice of location/ production of services) were situateddistributing (2.0), stock management between these two groups.(2.0), purchasing (2.8), facility manage-

We can summarize the results as follows: ament (2.1) as well as sports medicinesports manager must therefore dispose of a(2.1), sports science (2.3) and safetybasic knowledge about the sports of his/issues (2.8).

Ω Other competencies, including most of her organization, but beyond that, special

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76 Horch and Schutte

Table 3 Importance of required competencies

StandardRank Qualification Mean deviation n

1 Public relations 4.3 1.0 1952 Personal management, like time and stress management 4.2 0.9 1973 Basic knowledge of the sport(s) of the organization 4.1 0.9 1974 Financing 4.0 1.1 198

Budgeting 4.0 1.1 1985 Event management 3.9 1.1 1966 Sponsoring 3.8 1.1 196

Information Technology 3.8 1.0 1987 Advertising 3.7 1.1 1958 Civil and commercial law, including club and federation law 3.6 1.3 1989 Human resource management 3.5 1.2 197

10 Calculation of costs 3.4 1.2 197Tax law 3.4 1.3 193

11 Development of new offers and products 3.3 1.3 19612 To gain more members/clients 3.2 1.4 19613 Accounting 3.1 1.3 198

Production of services 3.1 1.3 195Foreign languages 3.1 1.2 193

14 Purchasing of material and equipment 2.8 1.1 196Safety issues 2.8 1.3 197

15 Sport science, coaching 2.3 1.2 19316 Construction of facilities and management of facilities and

equipment 2.1 1.2 196Sport medicine 2.1 1.2 196

17 Stock management 2.0 1.1 194Choice of location, distributing 2.0 1.2 192

Scale: 1 (very unimportant)–5 (very important)

knowledge in Physical Education was not Ω resource management;Ω service offers;reckoned to be needed, and, in accordance

with the US studies, communicational skills Ω sport science;Ω information technology.in the area of public relations have a central

importance. From the sphere of business The order of the factors says somethingadministration financing (specifically spon- about how much each can differentiate thesorship) and budgeting are very important. competencies of sports managers (see theOther specialist business administration explained variance in Table 5), but nothingaspects are of moderate importance. about how important each was viewed on

A factor analysis showed that the 25 average (see means of newly constructedcompetencies can be empirically divided factor variables in Table 5).5 Thus competen-into seven subgroups, as shown in Table 4: cies ‘accounting/law’ and ‘facility manage-

ment’ differentiated best between differentΩ accounting, financing and law;Ω facility management; sport managers, but were listed only fourth

(3.5) and seventh (2.4) in importance. MostΩ marketing for professional sport;

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Competencies of sport managers 77

Table 4 Composition of competencies factors

Factors

Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Tax laws 0.82 0.16 0.01 0.18 0.12 0.06 0.02Accounting 0.80 0.26 0.05 0.04 ñ0.10 0.04 0.18Calculation of costs 0.79 0.22 ñ0.05 0.25 0.03 0.04 0.08Law 0.77 0.02 0.00 0.17 0.18 0.04 0.16Financing 0.62 0.00 ñ0.03 0.56 0.06 0.04 ñ0.171. Accounting, financing, law

Stock management 0.08 0.80 ñ0.01 0.13 0.13 ñ0.04 0.19Purchasing of materials and equipment 0.17 0.78 0.07 0.15 0.05 ñ0.03 0.19Facility management 0.31 0.65 ñ0.01 0.06 0.18 0.21 ñ0.14Safety issues 0.43 0.57 0.28 ñ0.07 0.01 0.14 ñ0.192. Facility management

Advertising ñ0.02 0.08 0.72 0.07 0.49 ñ0.02 ñ0.09Public relations ñ0.04 ñ0.20 0.71 0.09 0.38 0.11 0.06Event management ñ0.01 0.21 0.67 0.01 0.12 0.06 0.02Foreign languages ñ0.19 0.02 0.51 0.41 ñ0.16 0.15 0.17Basic knowledge about sport(s) 0.17 0.01 0.47 0.00 ñ0.13 0.43 ñ0.073. Marketing for professional sport

Budgeting 0.40 0.13 0.06 0.72 ñ0.08 ñ0.03 0.02Human resources management 0.27 0.32 ñ0.04 0.63 0.15 0.10 ñ0.10Sponsoring 0.25 ñ0.04 0.47 0.54 0.10 0.11 ñ0.17Personal management 0.10 0.03 0.16 0.53 0.14 0.23 0.304. Resource management

Development of new offers and products 0.14 ñ0.02 0.20 0.02 0.82 0.05 0.13Choice of location and distributing ñ0.07 0.37 0.07 0.16 0.66 0.15 ñ0.20Gaining members and clients 0.32 0.21 0.29 ñ0.08 0.55 0.10 ñ0.08Production of services ñ0.08 0.36 0.07 0.39 0.49 ñ0.20 0.405. Service offers

Sport science 0.02 ñ0.01 0.13 0.08 0.07 0.89 0.04Sport medicine 0.06 0.12 0.08 0.13 0.12 0.89 0.036. Sport science

7. Information technology 0.42 0.17 ñ0.04 ñ0.05 ñ0.05 0.08 0.73

nó192 paid managers; Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin testó0.81.

important were ‘resource management’ (3.9), answered by looking not only at the meanvalue, but also at the standard deviationinformation technology (3.8), and ‘marketing

for professional sport’ (3.7). (see Table 3). Thus, on average one can seeobvious differences, but these turn out tovary from competency to competency. Thus

DIFFERENCES AND THEIR EXPLANATIONthe spreads of ‘personal management’ and‘basic knowledge about sports’ were rela-Are competency requirements uniform or

are there differences? This question can be tively low (0.9), and therefore these are more

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78 Horch and Schutte

Table 5 Importance of competencies (factor variables)

Varianceaccounted for Standard

Rank Required competencies (factor variables) (%) Mean Deviation

1 Factor 4: Resource management 6.5 3.9 0.82 Factor 7: Information technology 4.3 3.8 1.03 Factor 3: Marketing for professional sport 8.3 3.7 0,84 Factor 1: Accounting, financing, law 25.8 3.5 1.05 Factor 5: Service offers 5.6 2.9 1.06 Factor 2: Facility management 12.7 2.4 0.97 Factor 6: Sport science 4.5 2.9 0.9

Accumulated variance accounted for in per cent 67.7 nó192

Scale: 1 (very unimportant)–5 (very important).

general skills. The spreads of ‘tax law’, is minimum significance of Fó0.01. Thisprocedure is used as a descriptive tool‘development of new products’, ‘gain moreto find the best simple linear predictionmembership’, ‘accounting’, ‘production ofequation, simply meaning ‘deleting inde-services’ and ‘safety issues’ were relativelypendent variables that do not add sub-high (1.3), and so these are more specificstantially to prediction accuracy, onceskills.certain other independent variables areHow can such differences in the compet-included.’ (Nie et al., 1975). The results ofency requirements be explained? We formu-the regressions are shown in Table 6, andlated hypotheses concerning seventhe hypotheses tests are discussed below.independent variables, and tested these

hypotheses first with bi-variate correlations(Kendall’s tau b) and then with multiple CENTRE OF ACTIVITYregression analyses. The independent vari-

One possible explanation for differences inables in the regressions were the sevenrequired competencies is that they relate tocompetencies factors. The dependent vari-differences in the centre of activities. Forables were the five activity factors (centrethat reason, Parks and Quain (1986) sur-of activity), ranking of jobs (level of manage-veyed sport managers in six different sportment), number of paid managers (differentia-organizations or careers. We suggest thattion of sport management positions), dummythe more the centre of activity is top manage-variables for organizational type (high per-ment (leading and managing), the moreformance club, high performance federation,competencies concerning strategy, budget-leisure sport federation, omitting leisureing and controlling are required; the moresport club)6 and type of professional trainingthe centre of activity is coaching, the more(business training or Physical Education)7

sport science competencies are required.and budget as an indicator of the size of theorganization. We used the SPSS standard Ω H1.1: the more the centre of activityprocedure ‘stepwise’ which combines for- is ‘leading and managing’, the moreward inclusion of variables with deletion competencies related to ‘service offers’of variables that no longer meet the pre- are required.

Ω H1.2: the more the centre of activityestablished criterion. One of the criteria

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Com

petenciesof

sportmanagers

79Table 6 Regression analysis of required competencies

Dependent variablesCompetencies factors

1 2 3 4 5 6 7Accounting Marketing for

Independent variables financing, Facility professional Resource Service Sport Information(Beta coefficients) law management sport management offers science technology

Activity: leading and managing 0.20 0.30 0.57 0.25Activity: coaching tasks combined

with lobbying for externalsupport 0.34 0.31 0.46Activity: communication (and

information) 0.21 0.31Activity: social contacts and

problem solvingActivity: administration (and

management of clients andcentral resources) 0.51 0.29 ñ0.25 0.29 0.26

Rank of positionNumber of sport management

positions ñ0.20Budget ñ0.28 ñ0.18 ñ0.18High-performance sport club ñ0.17 ñ0.15 ñ0.18High-performance sportfederation ñ0.36 ñ0.41Leisure sport federation ñ0.45 ñ0.17 0.14 ñ0.38Professional training: business 0.28 0.19Professional training: sportCorrected R2 0.39 0.33 0.42 0.47 0.39 0.25 0.21

Minimum significance of all coefficients Fó0.01.Dow

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80 Horch and Schutte

is ‘leading and managing’, the more factor ‘resource management’ areneeded.competencies related to ‘accounting/

financing/law’ are required.None of these hypotheses was confirmed by

Ω H1.3: the more the centre of activitymultiple regression analyses, although theyis ‘leading and managing’, the morewere all suggested by bi-variate correlation.competencies related to ‘resource man-An explanation for this may be that rankagement’ are required.correlates with centre of activity ‘leading

Ω H1.4: the more the centre of activity isand managing’ (tau b 0.37). That being thecoaching, the more competenciesstronger independent variable SPSS regres-related to ‘sport science’ are required.sion procedure ‘stepwise’ eliminated theweaker variable ‘rank’.These hypotheses were confirmed with beta

coefficients H1.1: 0.25, H1.2: 0.20, H1.3: 0.57and H1.4 0.46. Another important empirical ORGANIZATIONAL TYPEresult is that, regardless of the core activity,

One possible explanation for differences ina broad qualification is needed for managingrequired competencies is type of organiza-German sport clubs and federations. Prooftion. For that reason Parks and Quain (1986)of this was the many significant beta coeffi-surveyed sport managers in six differentcients between the activity and competen-sport organizations or careers. In our case,cies factors – 13 of the 35 coefficients werewe suggest that federation managers needsignificant and in a positive direction.8 Thisdifferent competencies from club managers,may partly be due to the fact that many ofand managers in high performance sportthese organizations, compared with otherdifferent competencies than managers inbusinesses, are too small for further special-leisure sport. Competencies in ‘facility man-ization of management positions.9

agement’ are required only in organizationsthat have their own facilities, that is in clubs,

LEVEL OF MANAGEMENT (RANK OFbut not in federations. Competencies in

JOB)‘marketing’ and ‘sport science’ are especiallyrequired in high performance sport:One possible explanation for differences in

required competencies is rank or position.Ω H3.1: competencies in ‘facility manage-According to Jamieson (1980) top-level man-

ment’ are required in high performanceagers need predominantly conceptual skills,clubs.middle managers human skills, and bottom

Ω H3.2: competencies in ‘facility manage-managers technical skills. The higher thement’ are required in leisure clubs.rank of the position, the more competencies

Ω H3.3: competencies in ‘facility manage-involving strategy, budgeting and controllingment’ are not required in high perfor-are required:mance federations.

Ω H3.4: competencies in ‘facility manage-Ω H2.1: the higher the rank of the posi-tion,10 the more competencies related to ment’ are not required in leisure

federations.the factor ‘service offers’ are needed.Ω H2.2: the higher the rank of the position, Ω H3.5: competencies in ‘marketing’ are

required in high performance sportthe more competencies related to thefactor ‘accounting/financing/law’ are clubs.

Ω H3.6: competencies in ‘marketing’ areneeded.Ω H2.3: the higher the rank of the position, required in high performance sport

federations.the more competencies related to the

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Competencies of sport managers 81

Ω H3.7: competencies in ‘sport science’ degree of differentiation was indirectlyare required in high performance sport operationalized by the number of manage-federations. ment positions, while another indicator for

Ω H3.8: competencies in ‘sport science’ size is the budget of the organization:are required in high performance sport

Ω H4.1: the more differentiated the man-clubs.agement positions, the less are

Hypothesis H3.1 concerning facility manage- competencies like ‘facility management’ment in high performance sport clubs was required.refuted, the coefficient is negative (ñ0.17). Ω H4.2: the more differentiated the man-This may be because in Germany, most high agement positions, the less are special-performance and professional sport is done ized competencies like ‘sport science’in facilities owned by the state. Hypothesis required.H3.2 concerning facility management in leis- Ω H4.3: the more differentiated the man-ure sport clubs was confirmed, because agement positions, the less are special-coefficients for all other organization types ized competencies like ‘informationwere negative (ñ0.17,ñ0.36,ñ0.45), so that technology’ required.the coefficient for the omitted type ‘leisure

Only hypothesis H4.1 concerning facilitysport club’ must be positive. Hypothesesmanagement was confirmed by multipleH3.3 and H3.4 concerning facility manage-regression analysis (ñ0.20).12 An explanationment in federations were confirmed, coeffi-for this may be that the number of manage-cients were negative (ñ0.36, ñ0.45).ment positions correlated with budget size.Hypotheses H3.5 and H3.6 concerning mar-That being the stronger independent vari-keting as well as H3.7 and H3.8 concerningable, SPSS regression procedure ‘stepwise’sport science in high-performance sporteliminated the weaker variable ‘number oforganizations were not confirmed, as theremanagement positions’.13 Information tech-were no significant coefficients. Therenology seemed to be a competency only forseemed to be no difference in the importancespecialized positions.of marketing and sport science skills between

managers in high-performance and leisuresport organizations. TYPE OF PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

(BUSINESS OR PHYSICAL EDUCATION)DIFFERENTIATION OF SPORT

This is a crucial question affecting the valid-MANAGEMENT POSITIONS (ACCORDINGity of our results. Do the competenciesTO SIZE)needed depend on the objective functional

Another possible explanation for differences logic of the task, or are they only a result ofin required competencies is the size of the the subjective perceptions of the sportsorganization. Lambrecht (1987) for instance, managers we interviewed? One importantstudied differences in competencies of man- influence distorting perceptions could beagers in sport organizations of different their educational backgrounds. Managerssizes. These differences among others are trained in Physical Education would be likelydue to a higher degree of differentiation of to stress the importance of ‘sport science’.management positions in larger organiza- Managers trained in business administrationtions. The more differentiated the manage- would be likely to stress the importance ofment positions, the more they are core business competencies:specialized; less specialized competenciesare needed for the average manager.11 The Ω H5.1: managers trained in Physical Edu-

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82 Horch and Schutte

cation stress the importance of ‘sport Ω Competencies concerning the formulat-ing of service offers are needed if thescience’.

Ω H5.2: managers trained in business centre of activities is coaching and topmanagement in small leisure clubs.administration stress the importance of

‘accounting/financing/law’. Ω Sport science is needed if the centreof activity is coaching in smallΩ H5.3: managers trained in business

administration stress the importance of organizations.Ω Information technology is needed if the‘marketing’.

Ω H5.4: managers trained in business centre of activities is communicationand administration.administration stress the importance of

‘resource management’.Ω H5.5: managers trained in business SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION

administration stress the importance ofFirst, sports clubs and federations in Ger-‘service offers’.many need specially trained professional

Only two of these hypotheses were con- sports managers, that is experts who do notfirmed, both concerning a business educa- only understand something about generaltion. Managers having that kind of business administration but also about thebackground stressed the importance of particularities of sport products and organ-accounting, financing and law (H5.2: 0.28) ization. Of the paid managers we interviewedand resource management (H5.4: 0.19). 84% were of this opinion. The proportion of

We can summarize our results as follows: respondents of the opinion that it should bethe competencies required are determined an academic training was 62%. On averageprimarily by the centre of activities, second- sports managers need basic knowledgearily by the type and thirdly by the size of about the relevant sports, but since theythe organization (see the budget and number hardly teach or coach anymore, they don’tof paid managers). The training of the inter- need deep Physical Education knowledge.viewees only played a role in two out seven Also decisive for the special orientationcompetencies. If we look at the seven of sport management is the strong, self-competencies factors one by one and sum- contained culture of sport clubs. Nearly allmarize the most important influence factors managers had a strong link with sport.(Table 6), we can say that: Second, the activities and required

competencies of sports managers compriseΩ Competencies in the area of accounting,strong communicative and social aspects.financing and law are needed if theThis must be taken more strongly into con-centre of activity is administration ofsideration than hitherto by including rele-clients and resources.vant interdisciplinary management aspectsΩ Facility management competencies arein training and education courses. The inter-needed in leisure sport clubs with aviewees particularly emphasized the impor-small number of paid managers.tance of interpersonal communication – asΩ Marketing competencies are needed ifindicated by many of Mintzberg’s (1973)the centre of activities is top manage-managerial roles – as well as competenciesment (leading and managing) and coach-like public relations, advertising and tech-ing and communication in smallniques of personal management.organization (with small budgets).

Third, nevertheless the core of the trainingΩ Resource management competencies areshould comprise aspects of business admin-needed if the centre of activity is top

management (leading and managing). istration, including the functions of rational

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Competencies of sport managers 83

management. The interviewees particularly ment revolution (Lawler III, 1989), and whichemphasized activities connected to the man- are more in line with the structural principlesagement functions and competencies con- of voluntary associations than the classicalcerning financing, budgeting, sponsorship bureaucratic model.and event management.

Fourth, on the one hand, the evaluation ofNOTESmany competencies showed clear differ-

1. Other fields studied are the work of municipalences from job to job, but on the otheradministrators, managers in sports marketinghand the significant regression coefficientsagencies and fitness studios, and sports goodsbetween different types of activity sets andsales representatives.different competency sets indicated that a

2. NASPE: National Association for Sport andbroad qualification is needed, regardless ofPhysical Education; NASSM: North Americanthe type of job. One possible explanation forSociety for Sport Management.this result may be that many sport clubs and

3. Our findings will still be relevant today,even sport federations are small businesses because the pace of change is generallycompared to other firms in other industries. slow in clubs and federations, except for

Fifth, when constructing curricula, it is professional clubs in the first divisions ofvital to draw on advice from practitioners: soccer and ice hockey.they are the experts. Our analysis showed 4. Only about 5% of German sport clubs are thatthat their judgements are mostly orientated large or larger, in our sample we had 74%.

5. These factor variables were built simply byby the functional logic of their tasks and notadding up the values of the included singlethe result of subjective perceptions.variables and dividing this sum by the numberHowever, curricula cannot be solelyof variables included.deduced from work analyses. In addition a

6. We omitted leisure sport clubs in order totheoretical frame of reference must be drawnavoid perfect colinearity. Perfect colinearityfrom market forecasts, from the logic of therefers to the situation in which one independ-relevant sciences and especially from newent variable is perfectly linear related to one

developments in these sciences. In the first or more of the other independent variables.place, for instance, we know from the general 7. 32% had a management education, 23% adevelopment of sport in Germany that sports physical education background, and only fourclubs and federations will most likely have cases had a sport-management degree or ato orient themselves in future less towards double qualification.the government and more towards cus- 8. If we look at the bivariate correlations then

even 24 out of 35 were significant, positivetomers and the market. Therefore, the impor-and above 0.10.tance of general competencies from the

9. On average our organizations had 10 manage-areas of strategy, accounting, and marketingment positions: in high-performance sportwill grow. In the second place, sports man-clubs it was five, in sport for all clubs onlyagers must have knowledge of the varioustwo, in high performance sport federationsparticularities of sport goods and sport11 and in leisure federations 22.organizations, like people-orientated ser-

10. Rank was measured by the numbers of super-vices, non-profit organizations, small busi- iors (the fewer, the higher the rank) and ofnesses and volunteering. In the third place, subordinates (the more numerous, the higherthe training should be developed in step the rank). According to this measure 30% ofwith the development of science. An example our managers are top managers, 50% middleof this is the importance of participative managers and 16% lower managers.management concepts, which are being 11. And also the top managers, that we mainly

interviewed (because we did not interview alltreated by leading scientists as a manage-

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competencies of sport and athletic sportmanagers in an organization, but only selectedmanagers, Journal of Sport Management, 1,one or two positions).116–128.12. Although all of these hypotheses were con-

Lambrecht, K. W. (1991) Research, theory, andfirmed by bivariate correlation.practice, in: B. L. Parkhouse (ed.), The Man-13. So sport science was more important in smallagement of Sport, St. Louis, MI, Mosby,organizations (ñ0.18, analogous to H4.2).pp. 27–40.

Lawler III, E. E. (1989) Participative managementREFERENCES in the United States: three classics revisited,

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