Introduction

Strategic decision making and positioning are an important aspect for both the profit making and non-profit making organization. Such decisions are crucial for the success of these organizations and help realize the organizational goals. Strategic choices require extensive analysis of the organization to ensure the present and future needs of the organization. All these options must be in agreement with the mission and vision statement for the organization (Grant). In this paper, we will have a case analysis that will be a step-by-step guide to making informed choices to take groups to forward. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a good example of a non-profit making organization and will be an ideal one for this analysis.

NCAA mission and the stakeholders

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), is an organization that is involved in intercollegiate athletic governance. Its main objective is developing support and understanding and justifying differences in the level of involvement student-athlete may have when considering multiple areas of governance. The governance of this body is guided by a set of rules, vision and mission that ensure smooth transition of affairs that involve student athletes.  The NCAA’s mission statement is as follows: “Our purpose is to govern competition in a fair, safe, equitable and sportsmanlike manner, and to integrate intercollegiate athletics into higher education so that the educational experience of the student-athlete is paramount (Anderson and Schlosser).  It is the responsibility of NCAA to ensure that all decisions involving intercollegiate athletics are to the best interest of the involved parties.

This mission statement is addressed to various stakeholders who will make the organization a success. For instance, the management of the NCAA led by its president has a role of enhancing equity and fair competition amongst student-athletes. The selection of colleges joining the organization should also be a fair exercise to ensure equal participation of students from different walks of life.  The student athletes are also integral part of the organization’s mission statement. It is the responsibility of these students to ensure that they are competitive in a fair and sportsmanlike manner. Also, the students must also be ready to balance the sporting activities and their higher education to ensure that their educational experience as well as their athletic life meets the expected standards. Proper integration between higher education and the intercollegiate athletics will need good response from the student body.

The coaches, fans, athletic directors, athletic administrators, university presidents and conference presidents will also be an integral part of the organization’s mission statement. For the coaches, they have the responsibility of team selection and training the student athletes. Their training will largely determine the competiveness and the fairness of the college competitions. In addition, the coaches must also encourage students to participate in athletic activities (Anderson and Schlosser). Athletic directors, administrators and conference presidents will have a role of ensuring that they consider each domain and incorporate student-athletes into their governance process appropriately (Zumitzavan and Michie). Athletics are also increasing in popularity and as result, the number of fans have a role in taking the sports to the next level. This makes the fans an integral part towards realizing the NCAA mission statement. Fans make every sporting activity a wonderful experience and are essential part of a competitive game. It will therefore be paramount for the athletics fans to ensure that they fulfill their role and promote student athletes.

NCAA not aligned with the mission statement and other core values

The mission of NCAA is to promote student athletes success both in class and on the field and also ultimate success in their endeavors. It is however imperative to note that most of the goals and objectives of the organization are not yet realized. The president of the organization acknowledges that the organization has not been moving in the right direction and there was a need to rethink the organization’s strategic approach. The organization’s performance has been wanting since it failed to address the athlete students concern but instead focused on increasing the financial gains despite being a not-for profit organization.

The ethical and integrity standards at the organization had diminished substantially leading to the increased mistrust from the public and organization’s member institutions. The main area of concern that indicated the organization’s failure to adhere to the mission is the runaway commercialization of the organization. From 2010, there was disquiet among the member states as they were of the opinion that the collegiate athletics body had been turned into money making machine rather than maintaining the educational values as outlined in the mission statement. It is argued that NCAA had become a multi-billion dollar regulatory industry whose value would not match many other professional leagues (Anderson and Schlosser). It is evident from the case study that the coaches, salaries, television rights and other financial indicators would not match other professional leagues (Grant). The critics viewed it as a cartel involved in controlling the revenue producing commercial activities where it engaged in commercial broadcast agreements in disregard with educational ethics stated in the mission statement.  This also contravened the organization’s non-profit status.

Besides the commercialization process, the organization’s public trust also withered significantly as a result of increasing cases of scandals that rocked the organization.   There were several cases of not adhering to the organization bylaws as well as negative effects of a student-athlete academic performance. The organization’s mission statement advocates for fair competition and inclusiveness of students athletes in competitive athletics. For instance, the Texas athletic director is said to complain for the existence of complicated rules that are impossible to enforce and hence locking out members from participating in the intercollegiate athletics. In addition, there is also an instance where five members of the Ohio State University football team charged with selling athletic memorabilia. This is another example of how the organization is not in alignment with its mission statement. Such charges proof that the regulator agent have failed in its mission to promote fair competition.

It is also worth noting that the organization also spent huge amounts in lawsuits which also contravened with its mission statement. Despite being classified as an educational organization and a not-for profit organization, its commercial success brought about increased number of lawsuits based on its operations (Zumitzavan and Michie). The organization embraced financial success rather than promoting educational objectives and core values as described in the mission statement. In addition, there has been an increased disparity amongst member institutions. It is said that there was increasing concern as the level of disparity among the ‘’haves’’ and ‘’have-nots’’ in college athletics was increasing at an alarming rate. From the mission statement, NCAA intends to promote equity among the member institutions and the increased disparity fails to fulfill this notion.  The president of the organization claims that the scholarship model at the organization fails to promote equality among its members. It is also prudent noting that the president raises concern on the Division I Manual, which the president claims that does not promote equity in the athletics. It is for this reason that most member institutions advocated for financial balance within college athletics to provide moderate equality. The introduction of the revenue-producing Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a notable mechanism that separated the ‘’haves’’ and ‘’have-nots’’ in college athletics. In essence, the major reason why NCAA was not in alignment with the mission statement is the commercialization of the regulatory agency as well as promoting rules that are difficult to implement.

SWOT analysis for the NCAA

This is a business technique that helps identify organizational strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The analysis help identifying these elements to make improvements where needed and match the organizational goals, objective and mission statement. Most of SWOT elements are internal and the management can do something to improve on their performance (Anderson and Schlosser). In essence, SWOT analysis requires the management of any organization to take advantage of the organizations strengths and opportunities and at the same time deal with the threats and weaknesses. NCAA, just like any other organization also has all the elements of SWOT analysis as described below;

Strengths

These are the characteristics that make the performance of an organization exemplary as compared to other competitors. For instance, NCAA has some character traits that makes it outstanding when compared with other organizations in this field.  For instance, NCAA has a strong market share as compared to other sports regulatory agencies. The organization controls the market for elite collegiate athletics as compared to other organizations in the same field. Its strength in this market is giving the organization a monopolistic power and hence having the largest membership of over 1200 institutions.  Besides the monopolistic powers, the organization has strong bylaws and regulations that provide guideline to member institutions. The presence of manuals for division I and division II members ensure smooth transition and performance of the member states. Another strength associated with the organization is a strong brand name associated with the organization. NCAA is associated with over 89 championships and as result; it has been able to sign several broadcasting rights as a result of its strong brand (Anderson and Schlosser). Consequently, the organization has a strong financial base resulting from the revenues from these revenue-generating deals.

Weaknesses

Just like any other organization, NCAA has some weaknesses that the organization has to deal with. For instance, the organization has to deal with the ever increasing mistrust to the public and the member institutions. For instance, the increasing number of lawsuits emanating from its operations has resulted to damaged reputation of the organization. Ed O’Bannon lawsuit and Paterno lawsuit are some examples of cases that have adversely affected the reputation of the organization. Besides damaging the organization’s reputations, the lawsuits have also spent substantial amounts of money which is also a weakness to the organization. it is also prudent to note that the increasing scandals at the organization is another weakness that is likely to derail development of the of the organization.

Opportunities

Opportunities refer to external environments that are necessary for business development. NCAA should look for these opportunities and maximize on them for better organizational performance. For instance, the sporting sector has a chance for future growth and development. For example, a continued working with NBA will lead to increased engagements and participation of NCAA members (Treme and Burrus). The league has also increased age limits and hence provides a better opportunity to develop the life of such students. Also, the organization can also increase its membership as the number of colleges continues to grow.  Increasing revenues from the television rights serve as an opportunity for the organization to promote its brand. Increased brand awareness would increase the competitiveness of the organization and hence another critical opportunity that NCAA must seize.

Threats

The increasing number of lawsuits that the organization faces can be classified as a threat and also weakness that can hinder sustainability and development of the organization. In addition, the government regulations regulating not for profit organizations is also another threat that the organization face in its operations. The inequality between the ‘’haves’’ and ‘’haves not’’ and between the small and big colleges is another threat that the organization must be well equipped to deal with. Such inequalities may lead to membership withdrawals and consequently result in decrease in revenues.

Leadership characteristics

Leadership is an important aspect that determines the success level of an organization. Organizations with effective leaders will always be competitive and successful as compared to those with poor leadership skills. NCAA adopts different leadership skills that have enabled the perpetuity and success of the organization. The organization has the responsibility of providing guidance to the member institutions as well as the athlete students to ensure that the mission and objective of the organization are realized with ease. For instance, NCAA can be said to have an authoritative leadership style (Anderson and Schlosser).  This is a form of leadership where the leader dictates the rules, policies and procedures that the subordinates should follow.  Decision making in such forms of leadership is purely a prerogative of the leaders and there is no any form of discussion allowed. The subordinates take the second fiddle and are not permitted in the management of the affairs of the organization. The authoritarian leadership at NCAA is exhibited by the presence of manuals for Division I and Division II. NCAA provided rules and guidelines that members of these two divisions had to follow without questioning.  Such rules have made the governing of institutions members comfortable (Iqbal). Authoritative leadership is at times critical especially when dealing with urgent decisions or where there are complexities in structure and hence consultations would not be easily implemented.

It is however wise to note that the organization also embraces participative leadership in managing the affairs of the organization. This is a form of leadership styles where the opinions of the subordinates are highly valued by the leaders. Under such circumstances, the subordinates are given the pertinent information regarding the organization and their input is highly valued.  It is a form of leadership where participation of the concerned parties is of real concern. In this case, NCAA allowed the member schools to contribute in managing their school programs.  The member schools were given the opportunity to make decisions regarding the management of their schools. Decisions such as selecting the student athletes are a prerogative of the administrators and the coaches hence making easy transition.

Option for NCAA going forward

From the case study, it is clear that the structuring of the revenue-producing Bowl Championship Series (BCS) is a source of discrimination between the ‘’haves’’ and ‘’have nots’’ in college athletics. It would therefore be prudent for this organization to restructure the BCS college football postseason model and instead create a revenue sharing model associated with FBS championship playoff under the supervision of NCAA (Iqbal).  This would be a good decision going forward since there would be increased equity and fair distribution of resources.  The mission of the organization is to promote fair competition among the member institutions and this has been made impossible by the introduction of BCS. With increased equality, then the strategy would also reduce the chances of secession of the richer collegiate athletic programs. This would consequently lead too sustainability and development of the organization (Grant). Increased segregation among the member states would definitely lead to formation of regional super conferences and hence it is essential restructuring the BCS to avoid such situations.

Although this option will be for the better future of the organization, it will also have some demerits. For instance, the organization will suffer some revenue losses. The financial backing of NCAA from the BCS cannot be underestimated and thus making this choice a difficult one to make. Introduction of the FBS championship models also pose a threat since there is uncertainty as to whether this model will be readily accepted by the NCAA members. It is worth noting that introducing a new product in the market may face some resistance from the members.

Conclusion

Strategic positioning is an important aspect in management of both profit and non-profit making organizations. This calls for extensive analysis of identifying the current position and the mission and objective of the organization. NCAA provides an important case study upon which strategic decision making is realized (Anderson and Schlosser). The case study starts by identifying the mission statement and the objective of the organization.  After identifying the mission statement and the people with the responsibility of fulfilling the mission, it is wise to identify the areas or functions that fail to match the mission statement. This will help identify the areas of improvement to ensure that the organization meets the objectives of the organization. Also SWOT analysis serves as an important tool through which an organization can assess its performance and assess areas that requires improvements. Identifying strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats will be instrumental in strategic reasoning.  The identification of SWOT elements calls for effective leadership skills to ensure that the organization pursues the opportunities and strengths and mitigate threats and weaknesses.  The choice of leadership style varies from one organization to another depending on the needs of the organization (Treme and Burrus).  Effective leaders will be necessary to make the necessary strategic choice that will help the organization going forward. Such choices are made from a set of options and the leaders of organization must look for pros and cons to make the choice best for the success of the organization. To sum it up, strategic positioning is an essential aspect for the success of any organization.

References

Anderson, C., and F. Schlosser. “The Monopolistic Power Of The NCAA”. Academy of Management Proceedings 2013.1 (2013): 18027-18027. Web.

Grant, Robert M. Contemporary Strategy Analysis. Print.

Iqbal, Talha. The Impact Of Leadership Styles On Organizational Effectiveness. Munich: Grin Verlag, 2011. Print.

Moir, Gavin. Strength And Conditioning. Print.

Treme, Julianne, and Robert T. Burrus. “NCAA Basketball: When Does Recruiting Talent Translate Into Wins For Power Conferences?”. Journal of Economics and Finance (2015): n. pag. Web.

Zumitzavan, Vissanu, and Jonathan Michie. Personal Knowledge Management, Leadership Styles, And Organisational Performance. Print.

Zumitzavan, Vissanu, and Jonathan Michie. Personal Knowledge Management, Leadership Styles, And Organisational Performance. Print.

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