Integrating classroom education with practical application through an internship at Mississippi Valley State University

¶ … Mississippi Valley State University (MSUV) during my internship and how has that helped me in integrating my education while doing MS with the practical aspect of applying the acquired knowledge.

The paper is divided into four sections all contributing towards the final conclusion of how the internship has helped me improve and use the knowledge acquired during my post graduation.

Experience

Practical experience is necessary in any field of education. Moreover, I believe that practical exposure is necessary for a student to learn the actual application of the theories taught in the classroom as it clarifies the concepts, strengthens the ideas and understanding of theories, teach the professional discipline and methodologies and makes a person confident to pursue his/her carrier.

I am a Sports Management major with a concentration in Sports Administration. Sports Administration gives me an opportunity to look at sports from a lot of different aspects. Such as the funding, the budgeting, from ethical views, socially and legally matters that revolves around sports along with several others factors contributing to sports. My experience at MSVU was the same. It not only strengthened the concepts acquired during mu MS education but also helpedme understand the working methodology and concepts.

During my internship at MSVU, I was able to utilize all the attained knowledge of sports management (including the administrative and finance concepts) in managing the sports department under the mentorship of Coach Dell Cannon. My association with him in the men's basketball section of the MSVU has been quite a learning experience. During the entire internship period I learnt how to apply the theoretical concepts practically in the real scenarios.

This whole experience has helped me in strengthening my knowledge and evaluating the theories learnt during the student life. I also gained a lot of confidence. This training also made me learn public dealing and analytical skills to understand and evaluate different situations and take steps accordingly. Work place mechanics became clear to me and transmission from student life to professional life took place through this training.

All in all this was a highly learning experience through which I gained a lot of confidence and learnt methods of applying the concepts in the practical life. Further, constant association with my mentor has highly improved my analytical and linking skills.

Moreover, in order to learn from my experience and gain the most knowledge, I was being guided by my mentor to critically evaluate the work done and experience gained. The reflection from my experience as a result from this critical evaluation is shared in the next part.

2. Reflection on Experience

a. Reflection

Reflecting on experiences means looking back and paying careful consideration to what a person has done during one or more experiences and evaluating the results from those actions. Reflection is one of the important aspects of improvement and learning through experiences. This means that after any experience a person considers and evaluates the need for that exercise (experience), the actions taken and the results achieved. With the help of the proper analysis the person comes up with a proper future plan of action. Thus learns from his experiences as to what step should be taken, what decisions and mistakes should be avoided, what is the most feasible plan of action, etc. (Reed & Koliba, 2001)

Apart from the above discussion, it should also be cleared that just having experiences does not at all ensure that learning has occurred or the person has achieved something. Therefore, reflecting on the gained experiences is the essential requirement for learning from those experiences. Moreover, researchers and educators emphasize that the most effective learning experiences are those which provide the opportunities to the participants to critically reflect upon and evaluate their work. (Faculty UOM, 2013)

b. The Experiential Learning Cycle

The famous educationalist David Kolb presented a famous theory known as 'The Experiential Learning Cycle'. This theory clearly enumerates and highlights the importance of critical reflection to learn from the past experiences. As graphically presented:

(Davies and Lowe, n.d.)

As evident from the above illustration that reflective practice is a critical aspect of the learning exercise from experience.The steps include: 1. having and experience, 2. Critical reflection on the gained experience, 3. Forming conclusions and recommendations on the basis of experience, and 4. applyingwhat you have learnt from the experience. (Davies and Lowe, n.d.)

c. Four Cs of Reflection

Various researchers and theorists also identified the four Cs of reflection which are

Continuous reflection, which means that the process of reflection should be ongoing and should continue along with experience and learning. This C. represent that there should not be any stop to the reflection process and one should continue to critically evaluate his/her experience for better and continued learning and eventually growth, (Faculty UOM, 2013)

Connected Reflection, the critical evaluation and reflection should be linked with (connected with) the information gained during the studies. This means that for effective learning the theoretical concepts should be linked with the practical exposure and experience to identify and fill the gaps, if any, (Faculty UOM, 2013)

Challenging Reflection, which means that the evaluation should be such that challenging ideas and concepts should be identified and analyzed. This will create an atmosphere of learning new things and embracing the new ideas and concepts. The exercise should always create a challenging learning environment, (Faculty UOM, 2013) and Contextualized Reflection, which means that the experience and the relative reflection is based on the person's line of studies and relevant experience. It explains that there should be a clear link between the person's experience and his reflection strategy and exercise.(Faculty UOM, 2013)

d. What I learnt

My experience at MSVU as an intern under the mentorship of basketball coach enlightened me on the following aspects of management of the sports department at an academic organization: 1. Management of funds allocated to the department, 2. budgeting the funds on different projects and events, 3. Organizing and planning various events, 4. Projecting the cash flows from such projects, 4. Planning the Human Resources and human Resource management, 5. Managing conflicts and negotiating with affected parties, 6. Compliance with the legal and regulatory requirements, 7. Marketing and promotion of the events and selling the seats / tickets, 8. Arranging funds for sponsoring events, 8. Leading the teams, training and developing the teams, 9. Attracting the students to participate in the events, 9. Solving the students and university's administration issuesetc.

During the entire experience I learnt a great deal from my mentor. He told me how to utilize the concepts learnt from my studies especially from all the subjects studied, especially sports law, research methods in sports health sciences, sports industry, sports marketing, promotion and public relations, Leadership and management in sports, etc.

g. Now What

As already explained in the sub-part 'e' of this part, while reflecting upon my practical experience, I realized that I need improvement in the following areas of practice:

Negotiating and communication Skills,

Learning to multi-task and perform many tasks altogether,

Managerial and leadership skills and methods,

Learn to be more active and up to the mark,

Improve focus and attentiveness,

Learning to effectively and efficiently understand and apply all the relevant laws and regulations, and To learn effective planning and utilization of time.

The exercise of reflecting upon my work helped me a great deal in identifying my mistakes and weaknesses. I realized that by evaluating my own actions I was better able to understand and pin point the areas where I should improvise in order to be a better professional and a learned person. Moreover, during the whole exercise I was helped by my mentor. He cleared all the confusions and helped me see the problems and issues in all my actions.

My mentor also helped me in linking the theories and concepts while performing my tasks. Whenever I used to start a new thing (a new duty or task) he used to ask me to recall the academic concepts linked to it. We used to have detailed discussion on the said topic in which we discussed the applicability, merits and demerits and limitations of application. This exercise strengthened my concepts to a great deal. The concepts and theories are discussed in detail in the next part.

Another advantage that I acquired through constant supervision of my mentor was learning the planned and organized thinking process. Initially my mentor used to think aloud and ask a lot of questions. This helped me develop a questioning approach and an open mindedness that is lacking during the student life period. Now I think from various aspects and consider all the associated issues and problems.

I also came to the conclusion that the whole experience became more informative and learning because of the reflection carried on that and the supervision and advice of my mentor.

3. Concepts and Objectives

The practice of sports management roots back to 11 BCE when the Olympics were being held by the king of Judea, Herod the Great. The foundation of the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM) in the year 1985 and the introduction of the Journal of Sport Management in the year 1987 established the field of sports management as a discipline. Since then, the field of sports management has been growing immensely. A number of academic institutions in relation to this field have been established in Asia Europe and Australia. In addition to that a variety of academic and scholarly journals have been developed in the field of sports management. (Costa, 2005)

3.1. Essential Concepts in Sports Management

This section highlights the essential theories and concepts that are related to the field of sports management. All of these concepts are listed below

a. The Management Process

The management process in the field sports management is similar to the traditional management process. It consists of four steps, namely planning, organizing, leading and controlling. And in some cases the function of staffing is also included in the management process. Management is a process by which the organizations and individuals aim to achieve the designated goals of their respective corporations. As mentioned above the managers have to employ four steps in order to manage their organizations efficiently. (Unknown, 2009)

Planning: While planning the sports managers have to first analyze the requirements of the task. They then conduct the SWOT analysis in order to examine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats related to the task. They then set the working objectives and design strategies and action plans. (Unknown, 2009)

Organizing: While organizing, the managers have to set up efficient management and working structures. They also have to designate appropriate jobs and duties to their subordinates. (Unknown, 2009)

Leading: While leading the managers have to set appropriate examples for their subordinates. They also have to boost the morale of their subordinates and motivate them. In addition to that, it is also the responsibility of the managers to provide necessary support to their colleagues.(Unknown, 2009)

Controlling: In this step the managers ensure that the working procedure is smooth and fluent and they also evaluate the efficiency of this procedure. In addition to that, the managers also analyze that whether the assigned goals and targets are achieved or not. This is done by comparing the actual performance with the set standards. The evaluation process is generally performed to examine the efficiency and effectiveness of the employees. (Unknown, 2009)

b. Recruitment

It is also an essential concept related to sport management. The human resource officials are generally responsible for performing this function. They generally look for a group of people that share similar interests. The Human Resource officials use advertisement, print and non-print, as a method of attracting potential employees. The procedure of recruitment generally includes an application submission and then an interview that is being conducted with the potential employee, in order to assess his qualities. In addition to that, the recruitment process, in the field of sports management, also deals with retaining the employees, with commendable skills, in the organization. Moreover, the training and development of employees according to the needs of time is also included in the function of HR. (Unknown, 2012)

c. Change

Change is an eternal part of any organization. It can occur simultaneously in a number of areas. For example, it may occur in the human resource of the organization, or it may occur in the technology that the organization employs, or in the products and services that the organization offers or in the structure and environment of the organization. As all the other organizations, the sports organizations have also gone under great changes in terms of structure, funding, capabilities and technology. There are a number of factors that trigger change and that can influence the management of sports organizations. (Byers and Slack et al., 2013)

The researchers and officials generally use resource dependence theory to examine the radical changes in the sports organization. This theory suggests that the organizations depend on the external environment and resources that are necessary for the fluent running of their operations and their survival. In addition to that, the life cycle approach, which was being developed by John Kimberly, is also used to examine the change in the organization. This theory views how organization moves from its inception to its maturity and finally it dies, but all the organizations do not follow this cycle. (Byers and Slack et al., 2013)

d. Sport Marketing

The sport marketing consists of two major dimensions namely, the marketing of the sports products and the marketing through sports. This means that the only concern of sport marketing is not to sell the tickets and get the audience in to the seats in any sports venue. There are four strategic domains in sport marketing on the basis of the nature of product and the level of sports integration. Here, the nature of product can be defined as sports products or non-sports products and the level of integration can be defined as traditional or sponsorship based. (Fullerton and Merz, 2008)

The first strategic domain consists of theme-based strategies, which use traditional market tools, such as target market and marketing mix decisions, to penetrate the market for non-sport products. The second domain consists of product-based strategies. These strategies use the tools of target market and marketing mix decisions to increase the sales of the sport goods. The third domain consists of alignment-based strategies. These strategies use sponsorships in order to market and sell non-sport goods. According to these strategies, the marketer aligns himself with some sport organization and gets the strategy approved by that organization. The last domain consists of sports-based strategies that use official sponsorship to market one of the many sports products that are present in the market. (Kriemadis and Terzoudis, 2013)

e. Financial Management

The treasurer or the finance manager is generally responsible for creating the budget for the sports organization. But if he or she does not have all the relevant information or is not qualified enough then he or she works in alignment with an accountant. The treasurer generally reports to the top level management and other concerned employees. (Unknown, 2012)

Every sport organization must develop an appropriate annual plan so that the activities for the upcoming year may be rendered in an effective manner. Budgeting can be defined as the financial planning or implication of the planned activities, therefore, it is necessary for a sports organization to develop its budget in the beginning of the financial year and to get the approval of the concerned committee members. This should be done to ensure that the required funds would be readily available to the organization whenever it wants to perform the planned activities. A budget must have appropriate provisions for expenditures as well as income. In addition to that, it shall act as a clear reflection of the organizational goals. (Unknown, 2012)

f. Ethical and Environmental Responsibilities

Sports have now become an important component of the society. The activities of sports organizations can have various negative impacts on the environment or the ecosystem. The type or the range of the impact varies with the size of the sport event. The following environmental impacts are generally rendered by the sport events; (Tarradellas and Myrholt et al., 2013)

The short-term impacts of these events include the noise or the local air pollution that generally occurs as a result of various sports events. (Tarradellas and Myrholt et al., 2013)

The long-term impacts include the effects that remain there even after the event has ended. These include the infrastructure and the process of soil deterioration. (Tarradellas and Myrholt et al., 2013)

It is, however, very difficult to evaluate the environmental damages that are being associated with different kinds of sports. Firstly, because different sports events utilize different environmental resources. Secondly, potential damages associated with different sports events are, usually, not the real damages that are being incurred by the event. And thirdly, the size of the damage is much more important than its type. This size is determined by the degree to which the sport is being played and the degree of sensitivity of the natural setting in which the sport is being played. (Tarradellas and Myrholt et al., 2013)

As the sport events organized by various organizations may have a number of negative impacts on the society and the environment, it is, therefore, the responsibility of various sport officials to carefully select the sport facility, sport equipment, transportation, energy, waste management and financial strategies that agree with the requirements of the environment and the society and that reduce the environmental and ethical damages that are being associated with the sport event and the organization. (Tarradellas and Myrholt et al., 2013)

g. Legal Issues Related to Sports

Legal liability can be defined as the responsibility to pay compensation in case of physical damage to the organizations and individuals in the course of the sport event. A number of accidents may be incurred in the course of the event and the suffering party may take legal action against the organization in the guidance of law, therefore, the organization shall take care of its legal responsibility for paying for the damages that are being incurred in the event. In addition to that, the sport organizations are also legally liable to compensate their employees in case of injury or death that might occur in the course of employment. (Unknown, 2009)

h. Risk Management

Every sport and recreational event is associated with many physical risks. The intensity and the extent of these risks may vary, but they are an eternal part of sports and recreational activities. Most of the sport activities involve high speed threats, exposure to extreme height levels and various other environmental factors. The participants of the sport activities accept the risk associated with these activities and the sports organization have the responsibility of ensuring the safety of the participants, paid employees, volunteers, general public and the spectators. The amount of the risk associated with the activities varies according to the skills of the participants, the location and timing of the activity and the number of spectators. It is, therefore, essential for the organizations to stay prepared by managing these risks effectively. (Unknown, 2007)

An effective risk management process is one that appropriately identifies the risk, set a maximum level for these risks and then keeps them under that level. The officials manage the risk by evaluating the impacts and consequences of the risks, identifying clear actions and then developing an effective response plan. An important component of risk management is legal compliance. In most of the cases the sport organizations have to comply with the appropriate legislation and competition rules. This compliance is very necessary and a failure in this area can lead towards law suits, fines and legal sanctions. (Unknown, 2007)

The basic characteristic of a successful organizer is that, he manages the risk rather than avoiding it. He focuses on goal accomplishment and safety, in addition to compliance. By effective management of the risks associated with sport events, the organization can minimize the costs and the liabilities that are associated with event and can make the event more enjoyable and safer for all the concerned authorities. (Unknown, 2007)

i. Conflict

Conflict is also an eternal part of all the organizations. Conflict generally occurs when two parties or groups have opposing points-of-view. It has been reported by a number of studies that there is positive relationship between effectiveness and efficiency and conflict. But if a large number of groups get involved in a conflict then this might have a negative impact on the performance of the organization. In sports organizations the conflicts may prevail among various departments and divisions or between the employees of the same division or they may even prevail among the participants of the sport events. (Byers and Slack et al., 2013)

j. Time Management

Appropriate time management is also an important part of effective sports management. For appropriate time management the managers shall first set priorities that whether the task is urgent or not and according to it the duties associated with the task shall be performed. In addition to that, the importance of the task shall be communicated to the staff by the process of goal setting. The managers shall also arrange for breaks and rests so that the operations may be performed effectively. (Unknown, 2009)

4. Changes in Theory or Practice

This internship was a scholastic working experience for me. It enhanced my knowledge about sports management and with the help of my mentor I was able to appropriately associate the theoretical concepts that I have learnt with the practical working conditions.

In any organization Human Resource Management plays an important role in enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the employees but in my organization the human resource management practices were not implemented properly. In addition to that, a very little amount of official support and attention were given to the training and development plans and programs of the employees. Furthermore, I observed that the sports managers were not provided with appropriate chances of career development. (Millar and Stevens, 2011) Apart from that, proper attention is not given to the implementation of innovative methods and techniques. Innovation, however, can bring great and productive changes in the organization and in the sports market as well. (Kok and Voogd, 2010)

I think the organization can develop better human resource management theories by investing more in their human resources. In addition to that, the organization shall also commit itself to long-term professional development and shall train its employees to manage the change in an effective manner. (Millar and Stevens, 2011) Apart from that the organization can also utilize innovative theories by assessing the perceptions of the end users regarding their product; they can also opt to develop their sport goods by the use of a method that is user centered. In addition to that, the company can introduce better data analysis, integration and communication services in order to link the employees and the consumers in a better manner. Both these strategies can enhance the effectiveness of the employees and can benefit the organization as a whole. (Kok and Voogd, 2010)