Contemporary and Comparative Practice in Events

1. Contemporary and Comparative Practice in Events Lecture 3: Achieving the Event Vision Aaron McIntosh A.McIntosh@gcal.ac.uk

2. Overview • Implementing the vision: strategy into action • Organising: design and situational factors • Organisational behaviour • The planning function and decision making • Managing human resources in events • Achieving flexibilisation

3. Implementing the vision: strategy into action • Practice: Action; regular activity; train; work; best practice; code of practice • Importance of strategy becoming ‘real’ - processes and relationships • Synergy between strategy and action • ‘Actioning’ an extension of planning • Organising • Enabling • Change • The centrality of communication

4. Implementing the vision: strategy into action • Importance of commitment to change or action • Challenge of strategic inertia • Importance of an ‘unfreezing’ mechanism (Johnson & Scholes, 2002) • Top down approach? • Empowered individuals and groups • Need for a bridge (from strategy to operational people and concerns)

5. Organising: design and situational factors Structures CONFIGURATION Relationships and boundaries Processes

6. Organising: design and situational factors • Relationships: relative centralisation or decentralisation? • Complexity of the environment affects this (Mintzberg, 1979) • Design influenced by stakeholders (Hill & Jones, 2008) • Satisfying stakeholder needs • The value of a Stakeholder Impact Analysis • ‘Unequal partnerships’ – the importance of power and negotiation

7. Organisational behaviour From Getz (2007, p264)

8. The planning function and decision making • Planning process • At strategic level: • Identify alternative routes • Enhance employee understanding • Clarify roles • Reduce organisational uncertainty • At operational level: • Need to include key stakeholders (Goldblatt, 2002) • Danger of focusing on detail over the ‘bigger picture’ • Danger of documents seeming final • Neglecting of event evaluation • Irrational decision making in events (Getz, 2007)

9. Managing human resources in events • Human Resource Management • HR planning • Job analysis • Recruitment and hiring • Orientation, training and staff development • Compensation and benefits • Discipline • Employee health & safety • Performance Management • Unique HR environment • ‘Pulsating’ structure (Hanlon & Jago, 2000) • Level of voluntary labour (Bowdin et al, 2006) • Personnel as core to the product (Getz, 1997) • Leadership in events contexts (Getz, 1997)

10. Achieving flexibilisation • Increasing primacy of the post-Fordist workforce • The contemporary identification of, and support for, ‘knowledge workers’ • From financial and physical capital to knowledge • Challenge of performance management however! • HR moving from conformity to facilitating flexibility and innovation • Use of technology in this

11. Achieving flexibilisation • Flexibility: 2 key aspects • Multi-skilling • Outsourcing • Outsourcing • Impacts on coasts and performance • Alternatives to this • Multi-skilling • A mindset of flexibility • The development of staff and the consumer experience • Lateral or vertical

12. Conclusions “A learning organisation is capable of continual regeneration from the variety of knowledge, experience and skills of individuals through a culture which encourages mutual questioning and challenge around a shared purpose or vision.” (Johnson & Scholes, 2002, p583)

13. References • Bowdin, G.; Allen, J.; O’Toole, W.; Harris, R. & McDonnell, A. (2006) Events Management. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. • Getz, D. (2007) Event Studies: theory, research and policy for planned events. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann. • Getz, D. (2002) Why Festivals Fail, in Event Management, Vol.7, pp.209-219. • Getz, D. (1997) Event Management and Event Tourism. New York: Cognizant. • Hanlon, C. & Jalo, L. (2000) Pulsating major sport event organisations: a framework for inducting managerial personnel. Event Management, Vol.7, pp..231-243. • Goldblatt, J. (2002) Special Events. New York: Wiley. • Hill, C.W.L. & Jones, G.R. (2008) Strategic Management: an integrated approach. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. • Johnson, G. & Scholes, K. (2002) Exploring Corporate Strategy. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. • Laybourn, P. (2004) Risk and decision making in events management, in Yeoman, I. et al (eds.) Festivals and Events Management, pp.286-307. Oxford: Elsevier. • Mintzberg, H. (1979) The Structuring of Organisations. London: Prentice Hall. • Stredwick, J. & Ellis, S. (2005) Flexible Working. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. • Theodoraki, E. (2007) Olympic Event Organization. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.