It’s What You Know

By Imago Group
Wednesday 15 August, 2007

A roadmap to success, signposting pitfalls and false trails along the way, should be the legacy of sports administrators. But, apart from certain sectors such as Olympics and Commonwealth Games, the passing on of knowledge from one set of administrators to the next, has been largely informal and unstructured.

Through its Executive Sport Management programme, Sport Knowledge Australia (SKA) will, says Academic Programme Director Dr Paul Jonson, offer a cutting edge viewpoint and insight into practical knowledge management from leading academics and practicing experts.

“The Sydney Olympics seven years ago marked a turning point in how event management knowledge was captured, stored and re-cycled,” says Jonson. “The value in harnessing expertise and experiences is now well established in peak bodies, such as the International Olympic Committee, and sports down the line can gain much by devising and implementing their own formal knowledge management and retrieval systems.”

Widely published proponents of the “Knowledge Management” discipline - Professor Kristine Toohey, Deputy Head, Department of Tourism, Leisure, Hotel and Sport Management at Griffith University and UTS Adjunct Lecturer Sue Halbwirth a Director of KnowledgeScape Pty Ltd – will be presenting at the SKA course.

Professor Toohey says the benefits of knowledge management are numerous and valuable but that on the flip side, indifference can be costly; “The proper management of knowledge allows sports to operate events more efficiently, reduce uncertainty of outcomes, coordinate their operational strategies, expedite policy implementation, and not duplicate effort.

“However, poor information and knowledge management, in any one of the creation, access, and dissemination stages can be a major source of risk to an event. Knowledge management is a multidisciplinary approach to achieving organisational objectives by making best use of knowledge.”

Held in Sydney over an intensive six day period from 14-19 October, the SKA programme will feature an outstanding group of leading industry and academic presenters including AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou who will outline his philosophy and experience on being a successful CEO in sport.

Former Australian cricket coach John Buchanan, who oversaw the most successful period of Australia’s cricket history including the winning of three consecutive world cups, has some clear pointers on strategies for creating a productive relationship between boards, management and coaches.

Other topics covered in the course include performance management, leadership, governance, sponsorship, advanced negotiations, strategic planning.

Presenters: John Buchanan – former Australian Cricket Coach
Topic: – Coach and Management Relationship

Professor Tracy Taylor, Associate Dean for Teaching and Learning Faculty of Business, UTS, Sydney, President of the Sport Management Association of Australia and New Zealand
Topic: Performance Management and Human Resources

Associate Professor Russell Hoye, School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management, LaTrobe University
Topic: Governance, Leadership

Steve Lancaster, High Performance Manager, Canterbury Crusaders
Topic: Leadership

Professor Kristine Toohey, Deputy Head, Department of Tourism, Leisure, Hotel and Sport Management, Griffith University
Topic: Knowledge Management

Sue Halbwirth, Director, KnowledgeScape Pty Ltd and Adjunct Lecturer, UTS
Topic: Knowledge Management

Associate Professor Braham Dabscheck Previously from School of Organisations and Management, University of New South Wales
Topic: Advanced Negotiations

Professor Hans Westerbeek, Head, School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management, La Trobe University
Topic: Strategic Marketing

Andrew Demetriou, CEO Australian Football League
Topic : Being a successful Sport Management CEO

Associate Professor Bob Stewart. Division of Sport Management & Policy, Victoria University
Topics: Change Management; Finance & Commercialisation.

Professor David Shilbury, Head of Bowater School of Marketing and Management, Deakin University
Topic: Strategic Planning

For more information on the course, please visit here.

ABOUT SKA: Launched in June 2005 with a Federal Government grant, SKA is jointly owned by the University of Sydney, University of Technology, Sydney and the Sydney Olympic Park Authority. SKA assists the continued global growth of the sports industry, helping more communities around the world to benefit from Australia’s strong sporting culture. Since its launch, SKA has delivered sport management programmes at the prestigious Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, run facility management courses in China and various seminars and courses in Australia on topics as diverse as player valuation strategies, genetic doping in sport, player welfare, executive sport management, elite sport coaching, major event management and facility management.

ATTENTION EDITORS AND PRODUCERS: Interviews may be arranged by contacting –Imago Group – Liz Herbert, Mobile: 0407 234 221 Tel:+61 2 9331 7222