Entries in the Category "MGMT250"
Management in Sports 18 GM's
General Managers of sports teams have a huge responsibility because they control who they sign for the team. Most GM's are not football coaches but business men who have worked there way through the ranks in the organization. All most all have gone to law school and alot have graduated from top business schools around the country. These people have a rare combination of business sense and a sports sense. They must evaluate talent and stay up on changes in league rules and most importantly salary cap rules. In football there is a strict salary cap (can only spend X amount of dollars on a team) but there are ways around it. For example if you sign a player to a five year deal worth twenty-five million dollars, you can have him earn four million dollars for the first three years and the last two the athlete would make twelve million. This means that the first three years you can spend more money on other players that may be on the edge of retirement or you only sign them to a three year deal.
There are a bunch of different ways to work the salary cap and these GM's must know every way. They manage the team and that places a huge responsibility on their shoulders. Also most GM's are older but lately (especially in baseball) they are getting younger. Two years ago the Boston Red Sox hired a 29 year GM who the next year won the World Series. This past year at the age of 31 he ended up quitting because he was so burned out. It is a tough job just like being a top executive for a company.
Management in Sports Post 17 Owners
Owning a professional sports team is a very profitable business as some of these teams are worth over one billion dollars. Being the owner of a team is just like being a CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Once a person takes over a sports team they must start hiring employees to run this company as smooth as possible. They need (to name a few) accountants to take care of all the finances, lawyers to make sure everything they're doing is legal, and marketing people to get the franchise name out there. There are a huge number of employees that work for a sports team, from coaches to cleaning crew to general managers. The upper level employees must hire people below them and so on. There is a story that Al Davis, the majority owner of the Oakland Raiders, knows every single one of his employees names. That is hundreds of people.
A sports team is just like a major company with board members, presidents and owners. They all have to work as one to have the company run smoothly.
Management in Sports Post 16 Players life
Being a professional athlete is a difficult road to travel. Training is year round and the mental aspects of the game is also a year round event. When a player is done with his work most want to blow off steam like the rest of the world. But some of the things a player does can have a negative effect on him and his team. Making good decisions is a big part of being a professional athlete. He can not go out and party as hard as alot of other people because if he is seen out drinking and getting crazy he will be inked as a bad apple. Fines, suspensions, and getting kicked off the team can all be used for punishment of these athletes. If a player in the NFL gets arrested for a DUI he will be fined thousands of dollars from the league.
Professionals are under a high level of pressure to be role models to younger kids. In the case of Kobe Bryant where he supposedly raped a women he lost all of his endorsment deals. After he was given a not guilty verdict his image was still not one that companies wanted to use to promote their products. But after two years he received a contract from Nike to be their spokesman. He lost millions of dollars those two years because of what someone said about him. This is what I mean when athletes are under a high amount of pressure to be perfect. They have to manage their own lives so they can earn more money and be role models to kids.
Management in Sports 15 Managing Recruits
A football coach has to have good relations with his players and especially at the Division one level he must recruit the best possible players available. When he is recruiting a player he should not lie to them nor deceive them. At the University of Notre Dame Head Coach Charlie Weis signed two very good quarterbacks this past year. This past Saturday he received a verbal committment from the number one player in the nation, a junior and a quarterback. This kids name is Jimmy Clausen. Jimmy is touted as the best player in this past decade. He is supposed to be the next starting quarterback for ND when he shows up to campus. But what about the other two quarterbacks that will be freshman this year? Will they be automatically pasted over for this kid or will they be given a fair shot as the starter? My guess is they will be given a fair shot but Jimmy is clearly the favorite. In this situation Coach Weis will have to be honest to the other quarterbacks and give them their chance. He needs to be clear with them so they don't get frustrated and transfer.
A head coach is like the CEO of the football team so he must manage people. He needs everyone on his team striving for the same goal and this means keeping everyone as positive as possible. These type of situations happen all over the country where the next big thing shows up to campus and everyone has automatically inked him the starter. Head coaches must control these new players so they don't get too cocky and piss off the players who have put in their time. Do the best players play, almost always but being honest to the other players is key.
Management in Sports Post 14 Relationships
Being part of a team is something special, whether it's within a company or a sports team. People have to generate good relationships with the members of their team. In football everyone has to be on the same page to have that chemistry that wins games. Off the field relationships must prosper to have that chemistry on the field. This includes team functions that all teams put together. Team functions usually take place during training camp. These include going to Indians games, camp retreats, and BBQ's. We did these three things during our camp but some felt that the freshman did not connect with the upper classmen and this hurt us on the field. An idea that I have is to have a big brother type system during camp. I would assign an upper classmen to a freshman and dudring camp they must do everything together. This includes eatting, rooming, and hanging out together. For example if there is a house that houses upper classmen then those freshman are supposed to be there hanging out with them. In the business world new employees have mentors so why not do the same thing with a football team. It would help out chemistry and produce better results on the field.
Management in Sports Post 13 Nutrition
Nutrition is an often over looked aspect of training. But it is something that you need to manage correctly to perform, look, and feel your best. Your body responds to what you put into it so you must fuel yourself with healthy food and at the right times. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day because your body has been shut down for seven plus hours. If you don't eat breakfast then your body will be using your muscles as its fuel. What this means for an athlete? You will lose muscle mass. At breakfast you should eat your heart out. As much food as want but it should be mostly carbohydrates because this will give you energy throughout the rest of the day. After breakfast you should eat every two to three hoours. These meals should be comprised of healthy fats and alot of protein. As you progress throughout the day your carbohydrate intake should decrease and your protein consumption should increase. This will keep your body fat percentage low. As an athlete you should consume a pre and post workout formula. This does not have to be a supplement but this does make it much easier. Your pre-workout formula should be very high in protein to increase your testosterone. This will help to increase your muscle mass. A post-workout formula should be high in carbohydrates and proteins. After training your body is "sucking" in everything it can so you want to refuel it. Managing your bodies body mass is key to becoming the best athlete you can be. It takes alot of dedication to eat right but the results will be worthwhile.
Management in Sports Post 12 Intercultural Relations
When a coach is recruiting a player he/she has to take a different approach to recruiting players from different backrounds. For example when a Catholic kid comes in to take a tour on a Friday and its lent they have to make sure when they bring in food to not have any meat. They have to make ajustments for each potential student athlete. Certain kids who have substandard grades to get in to Case have to be set up with an admissions counsler to give them an extra edge in getting in. Ofcourse not all of them get in but this does help. Kids from different cultures also stay with players from their backround. If an African American student athlete is staying over he will stay with another African American player or someone who has alot of African American friends. Our coaches do this so as to make the future athlete feel as comfortable as possible on their visit. This will also give us another added edge. These are just an example of what our coaches do to make sure the athletes coming in feel like home.
Management in Sports Post 11 Innovation
Football is always innovating and redifining itself. When football first started it was a game where the football was never thrown in the air. It was always handed off to a running back, three yards and a cloud of dust is what they called it. Then Walter Camp brought in the forward pass which revolutionized the game. Now defenses had to defend against the pass and this is where different coverages started to pop up. The shotgun formation was formed in the 50's (the inventor just died several years ago) and it was popularized by the Dallas Cowboys. Now offenses are going to a spread formation. The spread consists of a quarterback in the shotgun position with four or five wide outs running various complex routes. Urban Meyer (an Ashtabula graduate) made it very popular at Bowling Green, Utah, and now Florida. Every year someone has a new formation, new defense, new blocking scheme that helps to make football a constantly changing sport. These innovations make football such a great sport.
Management in Sports Post 10 Safety
As a football coach you have to make sure that your team is safe. Purchasing the right equipment is a crititcal aspect of safety as are many other things that a coach can control. During training camp you are trying to get your team into the best running shape possible so during the game they are not tired. But when you run your team to much they start developing over use injuries. This past year we had seven guys pull their hamstrings because of all the running that we were doing. Our training staff had to tell our coaches to cut down on our running and our coaches finally did. This is one instance where our coaches thought they were helping us but actually hurting us. Our safety was being put in harms way.
Management in Sports Post 9 Leadership
Leadership involves several important and distinct, yet interrelated, constructs, including influence, intention, personal responsibility, shared purpose or vision, followers, and change. (Tucker Ch 11). Playing quarterback involves all of these characteristics. As a quarterback you have to be the first one on the field and the last one off. Showing your teammates that you will sacrifice your personal time to be the best you can be. When you mess up you have to take responsibility for your mistake, not blaming anyone but yourself. The teams visions should be embraced by the QB. In taking this vision onto the field will give a good influence to your teammates that you are a team player. The quarterback is the leader of the team and needs to act like it, act like the CEO of the team. If the team respects you then they will follow you into battle.
Management in Sports Post 8 Developing Professionally
In chapter four of Tucker they talk about how to develop your career. The career that I am pursuing is coaching. To become a coach you have to work your way up starting as a Graduate assistant who is basically a slave to the head coach. But the G.A. spot is one where you can make a lot of different contacts that will help you get a full time job when your two years as a G.A. is up. Being a G.A. is very demanding and your schedule is very busy, going from class, to the football field to breaking down film at all hours of the night. You have to be as professional as possible because this professionalism will show your bosses (head coach and all the assistants) that you are serious about being a coach. A coaches life consists of jumping from job to job to not only learn from different coaches but to advancing your career. You might start at a small Div. 1 school then gradually build yourself to a full time assistant who has a small role (wide receivers coach) to an assistant with more responsibility (offensive cordinator). Then you might get a chance as a head coach. This whole process can take more then a decade.
Management in Sports Post 7 Motivation
In a response to a comment about motivation our coaches attempted to motivate the team about the new training program but were not successful. They brought the team together and told us about how strong this new program would get us. They never gave us examples of people who use this program or showed us gains that people made on it. Our team did not believe in this program because they did not see results that other people had. I'm guessing that if the coaches really believed in the program and had to do it all over again they would have showed the players how much someone increased their bench/squat/clean off of this program. In not doing this some of the team put forth a less then adequate effort.
Management in Sports Post 6 Life Experience
When I decided to transfer from Valparaiso University to Case I knew there were going to be some things that were much different then before. Different isn't all that bad but in some respects it might not be the best for you in the long run. At Valpo everything with the football program was very strict and disciplined. If you were told to be some where at two o'clock, you were there at one fifty-five. At Case it's not like that, we'll have practice at three thirty and people would show up five, ten minutes late and sometimes more. The coaches don't say a word and people get used to it and it translates in life as well. At Valpo we had morning running and you had to be there at five forty-five in the a.m. If you weren't then you gave the whole team extra sprints at the end. You were a team, a family and thats how your job should be when we all get older. At Case we'll do one thing together as a team and that is run on Friday afternoon. We are required to lift but that is only throughout the day but at Valpo you had set times with your teammates where you were pushing each other. If I had to do it all over again would I transfer, yes, but just because the education is superior here. The football is more relaxed and that aspect is not helping me out down the road in life.
Management in Sports Post 5 Inseason
Managing an athletic team is alot of hard work and the head coach has to be very organized. When I was at Valparaiso University and played football for them everything we did was organized. If we were one second late we had to get up early in the morning and run. After camp was finished everyone started taking classes and we had to give our position coaches our class schedule. So I gave the quarterbacks coach my class schedule and several days later I received another schedule. This schedule included practice times, meeting times, and lifting times. He cordinated it so all the quarterbacks were at the same place at the same time. This not only built position unity but made if very efficient for our coaches to work on a game plan each week and give us new things that we were doing. When we would go on road trips to play opponents our schedule was set weeks in advance. We knew where we were eating, sleeping, lights out, bus stops, etc. In life I believe that you have to be very organized so not only your work gets done faster but you will have more time to play and have fun. My father always told me to work first then play. If you are organized then you can achieve this.
Management in Sports Post 4 Change
In reading Chapter 16 in Tucker I realized that there is change in sports every day. Players changing teams, coaches changing teams, and coaches changing how they do things with there team. Here's an example of how coaches change things in there program. Our coaches every year go to a coaches clinic in Columbus, here they mingle with some of the top football minds in the country and they always come back with something new to do or some new scheme to win a few more ball games. This past year our coaches learned about a new training program for our offseason. It was taken to heart by our coaches and our lifting program was totally revamped. The coaches loved it because of how strong it could get our team. Well our team didn't buy into it. They had been doing stuff there own way for years and thats how they wanted to keep it. We would go into lift and players would do the program our coaches set up for us but they wouldn't give a hard effort because later that day or after our mandetory session they would do there own thing. Needless to say the program failed and now the players are allowed to train themselves there own way. In relating it to the reading the coaches were in the excitement phase when they first heard about it and looked forward to bringing it back to the team. The hard work phase was put in by our coaches because they set out training templetes weeks in advance for our players. But there wasn't a turningpoint phase. The players weren't excited about it, didn't put in the work and the team never made it to the turningpoint phase. Institutionalizing the training program never happend because the previous phases weren't done. In my opinion our coaches needed to make our players excited about this program before they put in the hard work.
Management in Sports Post 4 Change
In reading Chapter 16 in Tucker I realized that there is change in sports every day. Players changing teams, coaches changing teams, and coaches changing how they do things with there team. Here's an example of how coaches change things in there program. Our coaches every year go to a coaches clinic in Columbus, here they mingle with some of the top football minds in the country and they always come back with something new to do or some new scheme to win a few more ball games. This past year our coaches learned about a new training program for our offseason. It was taken to heart by our coaches and our lifting program was totally revamped. The coaches loved it because of how strong it could get our team. Well our team didn't buy into it. They had been doing stuff there own way for years and thats how they wanted to keep it. We would go into lift and players would do the program our coaches set up for us but they wouldn't give a hard effort because later that day or after our mandetory session they would do there own thing. Needless to say the program failed and now the players are allowed to train themselves there own way. In relating it to the reading the coaches were in the excitement phase when they first heard about it and looked forward to bringing it back to the team. The hard work phase was put in by our coaches because they set out training templetes weeks in advance for our players. But there wasn't a turningpoint phase. The players weren't excited about it, didn't put in the work and the team never made it to the turningpoint phase. Institutionalizing the training program never happend because the previous phases weren't done. In my opinion our coaches needed to make our players excited about this program before they put in the hard work.
Management in Sports Post 3 Lifting
An athletes body is thought by some as a fine tuned machine. You have to take care of it and keep it running smoothly. For an athlete this means to eat right and train right. You can't go all out every workout or you will burn yourself out. You have to manage each training cycle so when your season starts you are at your very best. Just like if you're the CEO and you have a board meeting in 2 weeks, you better be getting yourself prepared for that meeting. Most professional athletes have private trainers who lay out a plan to maximize the players potential. I train with a private trainer who also trains NFL athletes and he has set up for his pro's exact set and rep schemes so these athletes show up bigger, faster, and stronger. He exams weaknesses and evaluates how to make this athlete better. This trainer is managing the athletes body so he doesn't over train.
Management in Sports Post 2 Training Camp
Training camp for a football player is very physically and mentally demanding. But a coachs role in preparing for training camp is rarely discussed. I saw a show on HBO that went in depth about the Baltimore Ravens training camp. The coaches on this professional team not only have planned where the athletes are staying, what they are eating, what equipment they are using, but what every single play is going to be through out the whole 3 weeks of camp. They have it timed down so perfect that they never waste a rep the whole camp. They have planned out every single play and exactly how long it will take. This management of time is very extreme but thats what it takes to be a champion.
Management in Sports Post 1
Every day I work for the football team as an assistant to the coaches. I see how a coach has to manage his time because there are so many people demanding his time. During this time (offseason) recruiting is the main focal point of a coaches job. They have to review film of a potential player, call or email the player, convince him that Case is worth taking a look at. This is all before a player even comes to campus. When a player ends up coming to campus the coach has to set up an academic meeting, a host for the player to stay with, meals, and a tour of the campus. Our coaches do one of these activities every day of the off season. They have to set strict schedules and manage everyones time so it is not wasted. Have any other athletes out there gone through the recruiting process?
Final Thoughts on 250
I really enjoyed 250 as it was not only an easier class grade wise but a much more benefital learning class. I learned alot and hope that my fellow peers did the same. We reviewed alot of things that it takes to be a good HR manager that we will take into the real world upon graduation. I know that when I'm put into situations in my job that I will look back and think about what I learned and make the best choice possible. This class has taught me to look at all angles when dealing with people. I can't wait to start taking 251 so my knowledge will grow even further.
Ethics in Business
Ethics in business is something that more and more companies are stressing. They have to as there are so many scandals out there in todays world. There is alot of money going around and it might make people do the wrong thing just to make a quick buck. I'm glad that this school is stressing it to because it will make the students think back to what they learned when they are in the real world and facing these real situations. It is hard to pass up on "easy" money but you must do what is right to keep you character. Character is something that everyone has and they should work to keep it as high as possible. Doing the right things in life will pay off in the long run.
HR Simulation Final Thoughts
The HR simulation was very enjoyable for me. Besides having a good working relationship between our team we enjoyed working on this project. It showed us how its going to be in a real world setting with real world decisions. Was the simulation perfect? No, but it gave us all an idea of how it will be when we are managers at major companies and some of the stuff we have to deal with. I am excited to begin 251 as I want to go out and actually see a company in action.
Group work
Our team, Corona, worked really well together. Everyone on the team had a certain task every week and got it done. We all worked hard to help our company out. We never fought and in the end almost always agreed with our decisions. I was very fortunate to have a team that worked so well together. I heard that alot of other teams were having trouble with there team leaders and I must say our team leader did a very good job in letting us know what we had to do to be successful. I just want to say thank you team for making the simulation so enjoyable.
Tom Mendola
In class we talked about whether or not to fire Tom Mendola. I was on the side where we should of kept him but I don't believe that the company should. He is a poor and lazy worker who will work hard for a short amount of time then get "bored". Well kid, work does get boring as does school but you have an obligation to help your family and you must work your hardest to support them. Tom is an immature kid who needs some guidance but he still should be smart enough to know what he has to do and that is help his family out. A company should not tolerate this kids actions and the way they went about talking to him was good but in the end he needed to be let go.
Jonah Creighton
Jonah Creighton was very right in what he was doing. He stood up to a big corporation and lost, but he fought and for future generations people within that company will be better off. Coulding-Henson was wrong in there overseas hiring and should have hired the most qualified person, not based on race. The company needed to be more equal opportunity or they will be going to get in trouble. You need to stand up for what you believe in and go after it. I don't know if Jonah went about it the right way but what he did and his purpose was right.
HR Simulation
Going into the HR simulation I thought that it would be boring and a real pain in the rear but I actually enjoy it. Our group is getting along fine and firing on all cyclinders. I really enjoy coming together each week and making critical decisions about our company. It feels very rewarding every week when we see how much our company has improved and how our goals have been met or closer to being met. We are in the process right now of finishing our annual report and we are very happy with our results so far. I hope that through the next year we continue with our process.
Learning Plan
This learning plan was actually pretty easy and I thought an easy grade, UNTIL I GOT MY GRADE BACK FROM IT. I can't believe that I could do so bad talking about myself. Prof. Powley said that we didn't need our career interviews done by the time the first part was due but I lost points because it wasn't in there. I feel that the grading of this was ridiculous and unfair. But I have to take it and will try and do better for part two.
Ethics
The ethics speech that we received from the career center wasn't all that helpful. They basically said that use your best judgement but I feel that someone should make a definition of it that we can all follow. There have been so many scandals in the past couple years that we need someone to come out and say this is whats right and this is whats wrong. If everyone would follow these rules then future scandals would be reduce. Someone needs to do something about this because people don't have strong values and they let greed take the better of them.
Career Interview
For my career interview I interview two college football coaches. Greg Debeljak from Case and Stacy Adams from Valparaiso University. These two men have been big influences in my life as I have played under Coach Adams last year and Coach Debs this year. They were both very helpful in explaining what I have to do to be a football coach and have said they will give me recommendations for when I graduate. This is something that I really appreciate and I hope that all the people you guys interviewed will be as helpful as my two people were.
Resumes
As I was typing up my resume I got to thinking how I had never written a resume before. I had filled out applications for scholarships and for universities but never just a regular resume. I found myself very lost writing it, I did not know the format of it (though the pamplet from the career center helped), nor did I know what to put down. I did alot of different stuff in high school but once I got to college all I did was school work and football. I feel that I need to start participating more in extra activities so I can impress future employeers.
HR Simulation
The team that I'm in had a rough time figuring out how to start and really finish the Team plan. For some reason the budget and personnel numbers were not coming out correctly and we spent 3 hours trying to figure it out. We wrote most of the team plan but could not finish it because our numbers were not adding up. This got me thinking and I was wondering if anyone else was having the same problems. I do enjoy this simulation so far and I can't wait to see how our team (Corona) ends up doing. As one of the people who overseas the budget I hope that we did not spend to much money as I am sure something will come up and we will need extra money laying around.
Myers-Briggs
My Myers-Briggs Type Indicator was ISTJ. Reading about what these letters mean I feel that they are dead on. I am very loyal to my family and to relationships, I like to use facts especially when I argue. I like to value schedules and structures of things, I don't like to rock the boat. I am one of those people who needs things spelled out for me, I can't just be given a job with some one saying go write a paper for example. I need to know what has to be in this paper, how long, etc. My moods are clearly defined, if I look calm then I'm most likely calm, if I look serious then I'm most likely serious. This type indicator was almost dead on for me. I really enjoyed participating in it as well.
Thoughts on Mgmt 250
I must say that I really enjoy attending class. Class does not get boring as most classes do, we are always active, and I enjoy the team aspect of the class. The readings themselves are not bad and provide alot of useful information. The only this I will say about the class that I don't enjoy is the talking in class. I am not much of a talker and I don't feel that our participation grade should be based on how many comments we make in class. I feel that if you participate in your groups, do the readings, and do the assignments then that should take care of your participation grade.
first blog
My name is Angelo Mirando and I am a transfer student. One of the reasons I transfered is because Case's business program is one of the best in the country. Management is a key component to running a business. With this class I hope to learn how to better manage groups of people. I would also like to learn how to come up with better strategy's so the group I am apart of will have an easier chance to succeed.
Angelo Mirando
amm63@case.edu