Sport Management - Essay Sample

My career goal is to become a General Manager for baseball. My interest in this position started building up immediately after I started playing baseball during my early years in high school. I realized that I have passion in this game hence being in a position to manage a team. Based on my interests in this type of sport, I can create relationships with baseball through other baseball stakeholders. There are important factors that have to be accomplished so that an individual can become a successful baseball manager through understanding what the position entails and joining the right institutions. I will determine the educational requirements, work experience, skills required, job responsibilities, interesting aspects of the job, potential earning and the promotional steps for this job.

The face of an entire franchise is the General Manager. Managers occasionally negatively criticized while the players get publicity. However, all eyes focus on the General Manager on issues related to the future and the current viability of the organization. The fans want to be acquainted with the attributes of any person who is brought into the organization. The individual can be a new manager or a player drafted or signed.

The General Manager acts as a decision-making and information clearinghouse. In the modern world, there are different persons who can offer their analysis and insights. For instance, the opinions of either a regional scout or a Players Personnel of the level of an Assistant General Manager who has experience in the amateur baseball game, their opinions are significant to the decision-making process for any baseball team. Therefore, this argument leads us to the responsibilities of a General Manager.

Educational background required for the General Manager for baseball

The general manager must understand business administration or physical education, human movement and sports management. A general manager should be knowledgeable about contract laws, accounting, and economics. Excellent sales and management with experience as an assistant manager with a minimum of bachelors degree are required. Despite a recommendation of a business degree, some general managers have a minor in business and major in the physical education.

Work experience

Most of the general managers start their careers at lower levels and rise to the top. For instance, a general manager might drown from the position scouting director, assistant general manager, and director of player personnel or from the head coach (Tango et al., 2007). From this positions, one is able to receive hands-on training, gain experience by volunteering to assist the youth sports, college teams, local athletics or coaching with the operations management. Some of the general managers strengthened their sports background through officiating related events, participated in sports in school clubs, or played the game in colleges or high schools.

Skills required

The crucial characteristics that the general managers must possess include being responsible, communicative, interpersonal and disciplined. A general manager needs to be passionate about the sport and the players (Depken II, 1999). For instance, the manager gets insulted when the team performs poorly and if it does well, they receive praises, therefore, he needs to be in a position of withstanding this types of pressures. The general managers are strong, fearless and able to take both the bad and good while being motivated. They are expected to have financial management background as they are supposed to make equipment purchases, determine player compensations and handle the team finances.

Job responsibilities

The General Manager may not be in the position to see everything and be everywhere. Therefore, they rely on networks of individuals who provide expert analysis, information, and teaching. Bad analysis and information might result in wastage of millions of dollars on drafting a player who might not be of benefit to the team. Low standards of player development or teaching might result in a minor league system that might not be beneficial to the baseball players of the major league. A job suicide would arise when the bad decisions are allowed to hold back the progress of the franchise.

The management and assembling of the team of experts are of significance to the sustainability of the entire organization. The General Manager is responsible for assembling the right people for the purpose of making the right decisions. The General Manager will ensure that the better job is done and mistakes are corrected. The highest priority in professional sports is to win, therefore, loyalty is great.

The General Manager ensures that a consistency competitive advantage is developed through the recruitment of experienced scouts. In the baseball game, scouts play an important role such as determining the weaknesses or tendencies that their team can exploit and moreover, looking for future opponents (Shanks, 2005). Other scouts are entitled to the search of potential breakout players while others source for the amateur talent. Therefore, the General Manager ensures that the recruited scouts are in a position of finding diamonds in the rough. The General Manager ensures that the team is successful through player development. The development of the players needs the right individuals to guide the players so that the team can achieve the desired objectives.

Interesting aspects of the job

The most interesting aspects of this job revolve around developing talents of the sports people. It comes with various advantages when the team excels in the competitions. For instance, the general manager is celebrated by supporters of the team.

Potential earning

According to the major league sources, the majority of the general managers receive from $400,000 to $1.9 million per year. Therefore, baseball general manager earns a minimum of $33,333 per month.

Promotional steps for this job

Securing the position of general manager the earning of a degree in sports management, creating strong foundations and securing professional connections could land you in the position of management of sports. Therefore, the promotion steps of this position include an interested candidate being promoted from the position of the position scouting director, assistant general manager, director of player personnel or from the head coach. Promotion is based on experience and performance of the individual.

References

Depken II, Craig A. (1999). "Free-agency and the competitiveness of major league baseball." Review of Industrial Organization 14.3: 205-217.

Shanks, Bill. (2005). Scout's honor: The bravest way to build a winning team. Sterling & Ross Pub Incorporated.

Tango, Tom M., Mitchel G. Lichtman, and Andrew E. Dolphin. (2007). Playing the percentages in baseball. Potomac Books, Inc., 2007.