HRM in sport organizations

Abstract

In sport, the team off the field works for the athletes and team on the field. HRM professionals must play a critical role in implementing HRM practices for employees and managers. However, HRM professionals are not very common in sport: (i) sport organizations are small-medium size organizations, (ii) most of the investments are allocated directly to the athletes, (iii) sport institutions are led by executives who are part politicians and part managers. In light of these considerations, we have identified a few proposals: (i) international federations must have a Head of HRM that can define a strategic agenda for employees and managers at international and local levels, (ii) in each sport (international federation), HRM systems can be supported by IT in order to have workforce analytics worldwide in order to facilitate skill development and job opportunities among countries, and possibly also among sports.