According to the book, “carrots and sticks don’t work: build a culture of employee engagement with the principles of RESPECT” (Maciano, 2010), “carrots and sticks” is in relation to reward and punishment to motivate others, even in today’s work place. This system according to the author is based on the principles of operant conditioning which continues to fail. The expression “carrot-on-a-stick,” is a strategy that came about to motivate donkey, where a carrot is tied to a stick held just beyond the donkey’s reach to motivate the animal to go faster or finish his journey, then is rewarded with the carrot.
In organizations over many decades, the “carrot” is used as the reward or incentive to motivate employees to strive towards a goal, for example, meeting a sales target within a specified time will award them 1% in bonus. The model “build a culture of employee engagement with the principles of RESPECT” is designed to open the mind of managers or leaders that the traditional method of motivating (carrot and stick) staff no longer work effectively as the workplace has changed significantly. Leaders should be aware of these changes in the “new workplace” and follow suit that employee engagement through empowerment and respect plays a big part in keeping employees focused and productive, especially in the sports industry that is so competitive.
The Functions of Sport Managers
Engagement by way of empowerment and respect between workers and leaders should focus on motivation of staff to fuel employees to become more loyal to the cause as a long term solutions and satisfaction, rather than motivate with short promises designed for temporary solutions. According to Muhammad (2016), a leader should know his or herself, their followers and understand how to successfully manage a project ensuring everyone benefits in the end. A manager who is able to display these traits on a professional level, easily illustrate the skills to maneuver the four main managerial functions involving planning, organizing, leading and evaluating, that are instrumental in becoming an effective leader.
Planning
The planning phase, involves setting the goals for the organization and specifying all activities by being specific about everything that needs to be done and creating the tools needed to achieve these goals (Chelladurai, 2009), and be able to meet all deadlines. This very crucial component relies on a manager’s strengths such as, 1) critical thinking, 2) creativity, 3) passion for job, 4) people skills, 5) being meticulous, 6) meet deadlines and the 7) ability to work under pressure, among others.
Organizing
In the organizing phase, this element focuses on who does what and what tools are needed to get the job done. This level is breaking down the items in the plan phase and specifying the process for each item to complete the exercise to meet deadline (Chelladurai, 2009). The manager needs similar principles employed in the planning phase to actively figure out all components of what is to be done, by creating detail workflow itemizing tasks with dates and estimated time of completion. This element as the second function is the task concentration to ensure that all dates are accurately assigned to avoid missing important deadline.
Leading
This element could easily be considered as the core function of the many. A leader’s responsibility is to identify the right ‘FIT’ and motivate people to work as a cohesive unit to do their job and achieve a common goal (Chelladurai, 2009), within a specific time. This responsibility can be a complex job and requires special innate people skills and learned managerial skills to accomplish such objective. Sports managers should be able to motivate and energize themselves if they intend to do the same with their employees to capitalize on their potential for maximum performance to complete the task at hand and ultimately meet deadlines.
Evaluating
Giving your employees feedback is recommended and is a crucial component of the management functions. It is very instrumental in the project because this phase is where team members are graded for the effort on their task, according to Chelladurai, (2009). This is the system that decide who is best suited based on criteria setup by the organization and its Human Resources Department. Again, the manager should employ a high level of professionalism including being meticulous, unbiased, show empathy, diplomacy, etc.
A manger’s success should not just be about the company, but all parties involved (Muhammad, 2016).
Reference
Chelladurai, P. (2009). Managing organizations for sport and physical activity (3rd ed.). Scottsdale, AZ: Holcomb Hathaway, Publishers, In
Marciano, P. L. (2010). Carrots and sticks don’t work: Build a culture of employee engagement with the principles of respect
Muhammad, A.Q. (2016). The Concept of Applied Leadership in the Contemporary World:Vol.7, No.4: Retrieved January 20, 2018: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1092362.pdf
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