Overall Analysis Of Chesterfield College

When looking throughout my blog I have found that Chesterfield College is a well-structured organisation. The facilities are up to date and they provided a welcoming atmosphere for new students. They offer all different kinds of courses and support, which brings more variety of students e.g. disabled students. There are a few bad points about the college that could be improved on such as funding and raising awareness. If these were improved on then the football academies would get more players due to more students coming to Chesterfield College. If more students start coming to the college then there is more chance on better funding from the government thus improving the facilities even more and attracting more Students.

In summary Chesterfield College has the potential to be a very successful organisation. If taken into consideration my recommendations then the college could progress even further and become even bigger attracting students from distance to come due to the facilities available. Chesterfield College has given me the knowledge and tools available to pursue my future career in teaching due to the great staff and teaching available at the college. The strengths have been shown using the PEST and SWOT analysis and also the weaknesses. A solution has been looked into and wrote up on the blog of what Chesterfield College can do to improve in the future. 

Organisational Theories

Physical Structure-

Chesterfield College is based at 3 locations Main site, Clowne Campus and Tapton House. My work placement is based at Clowne Campus, Clowne is a recently build Campus and is designed in a crescent moon fashion building. This design is a new trend to attract more students to come to the new facility. Making the building look clean and up to date is an important image that Chesterfield College wants to give off. This could then attract investors into the college or more students, which then would get the college more funding. The design is functional and easy access from the car park makes it great for disabled students in wheelchairs. The canteen is located on the bottom floor with easy access. There is a lift available to everyone to reach the 1^st and 2^nd floor. The library and the staff room is located on the bottom floor which makes it more friendly for students to drop in and ask tutors questions. The main office for the Campus runner is located to the far left of the site on the bottom floor, which makes it very easy to ask questions or to find to speak about important matters. This type of physical structure is a major strength for Chesterfield College as the building is up to date a new making the foundations to build success upon easier.

Social Hierarchy-

The structure of Chesterfield College is like a pyramid one main head with people working below helping the running- at the head is head Mr F smith he is the chairman, then Mr J Webber who is the chairman of Audit Committee will report to the main chairmen. The people who work under Mr J Webber are professor P Garrahan, Councillor D Chapman, Mr W Ervine and Mr R Kay. Then it goes Mr M Hadfield he is the chairman of remuneration under him is Mr T Hughes and Mr G Bargh. Mr G Leyland is the chairman of art, design and creative industries. After that Mrs J McArthur who is the principal she has working for her Ms R Williams, Sue Allsop, Sam Ulyatt, Ian Morris, Molly Bagshaw and Miriam Darling. All these people will have to report to Mr F smith who is the main chairman of Chesterfield College. This can have its strength’s and weaknesses. The strengths being that there’s a good structure of who’s in charge or where to go to if needed, also it’s consistent and co-ordinated according to David Ingram (2011) it is vital to have a organisational structure otherwise employees will find it difficult to know who to report to. This is why I believe Chesterfield College has a great structure as there are many leaders to ask any questions and they can report it back to the main leader/chairman. The weaknesses of this however is that its time consuming if a question is needed to be answered by the chairmen as he would be rarely seen around college so it could take days to weeks to get an answer from him. Also it will be hard to get your point across as one person may think it’s a good idea what you have but another doesn’t.

Achievement Culture-

Chesterfield College is an achievement culture, this is where rewards will be given to the college based on results e.g. coaching department everyone passes with 70% plus this could mean more funding to the college given by the government for excellent performance. This then will result in better equipment and facilities for the students to use.

It is run by the government rules so this will be a term called “process” because the college has to abide by the government rules.

At the college there are certain role models for the students to look up to, one of these role models are our tutors they are always willing to help and give a good impression on teaching which can spur students onto becoming teachers. Behavior is not really rewarded in the college so this could be an area for improvement, the only reward would be vocal or in the form of a packet of sweets if the student does well and the tutor has to pay for that out of their own pocket.

Technology

The college uses a unique email system, which allows students to connect to tutors this, allows a tutor to send work/presentations and other useful information via the email quick and easy. The teachers can also use it to connect to other tutors, which is a great way to get information from each other if needed. Chesterfield college also uses a website called VLE this allows the tutors to upload all there classes e.g. presentations that have been delivered to students in class, online which can help the students if they loose vital material needed for their assignments. This is a really good thing for Chesterfield College as it shows people who want to join the college that it has an up to date system, and an easy access to talk to their tutors if needed. This technology can help the college gain more students, which will then bring in much needed funding.

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References

David Ingram (2011). Why is organizational structure important? [Online]. Available from: www.smallbuisness.chron.com (Accessed on 13^th January 2012).

Organisational Roles

Neil Cluxton- is the one who’s in charge of the male first team squad but he is the one who organises the school buses for away games and fixtures against other schools/college’s. According to Hesburgh (2011) the essence of leadership is that you must have a vision. I believe that Neil’s vision is to become a successful college football team, which turns into a feeder club for local football teams such as Chesterfield FC, Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United. Some players have already gone onto trails at Chesterfield FC but Neil’s vision is to have a wider range of feeder clubs, which could bring in partnerships and sponsorship money. Neil is also a lecturer at Chesterfield College so he has to split the time between the football academies and teaching.

Dave Rushburry -he runs the reserve team and is very important to both teams, as he is a physiotherapist so treating injuries and keeping both teams injury free is his most important role. Dave is a really good asset to Chesterfield College because having a Physiotherapist would cost the college a lot of money but Dave does this for free because he already works there as a lecturer.

Carl- works at Chesterfield College as a fitness trainer and is often taking training and warm ups before matches.

Security guards- important to the team, keeping the teams belongings safe but most of all if a player gets a bad injury they are first aid trained and they are very quick to respond.

Volunteer coach’s- there is five of us that help out on match days and without us I believe it would put a major strain on the people above to organise the team and get the kit ready.  

References

Theodore Hesburgh (2011) The Art and Science of Leadership [Online]. Available from www.nwlink.com (accessed on 13^th January 2012).

How to solve the problem at Chesterfield College and summary

The problem is funding at Chesterfield College and I believe the solution lies in advertising and partnerships.

‘Advertising is one of the most important things in society to promote funding’

                                                    (Quick Function 2010).

If you look back to the SWOT analysis I pointed out these two things in opportunities. I wrote these in opportunities because I believe there is potential to raise money for the football team. Looking at advertising the football team needs to put more effort onto the website and around college, using anything possible to raise awareness to other students to bring up the profile of the team. The website needs a new look to encourage other students to access it and see how the teams progressing. The more attention the team gets after winning a game can create a positive attitude. According to Weinberg (2007) having more team cohesion creates a better team overall due to the players bonding with each other, which then results in progress on the pitch.

Now looking into partnerships this is where the team can get funding. I have researched other areas to gain funding and found a few solutions. My main one is mars football funding (2011) they provided funding from the FA to teams in need and provide kits with the mars logo to promote football. This could be a really good solution to gain a football kit that is the same to make the team look more professional and smarter. Also the added funding can help gain training equipment, which could help the team progress higher in the leagues. There is also the option of gaining sponsorship from local businesses that could provide funding for the team bus to get to away games. My last solution is a public fundraiser every month, which could get teams in the local area to enter a 5 a side competition for £25 and have a BBQ and a kid’s area to attract families to raise more money. All this money can then be put into the football team, which will help, run the club for years to come.

In summary I believe for this to work the students who play in the football academies have to put time and energy into advertising and promoting their club, also the coach to research into other areas of funding like Mars football funding, which will bring in vital kit and training equipment.

References:

Mars Football Funding (2011). Just Play {Online}. Available from: www.marsbar.co.uk (date accessed 12^th January 2012).

Quick function (2010). Why advertising is important {Online}. Available from: www.quickfuction.com (Accessed on 12^th January 2012).

Weinberg, R.S., & Gould, D. (2007). Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology. 4^th ed. USA: Human Kinetics.

Outlining the main problem at Chesterfield College (football academies)

The main problem with my work placement football academies is there isn’t enough funding. The kits provided, and the training equipment that is available is the main problem, there isn’t a main kit because there isn’t enough of it so some players end up wearing different socks and shorts which doesn’t look good on the college. And this problem will get even worse if change for life cut the funding provided to the college.

Due to this lack of funding training is affected and there is only few training scenarios you can play out with cones. According to Soccer Coaching (2006) the importance of using different training techniques is critical if your team is to become successful. This could be the reason why the team is not on a good run of form lately cause we use the same training methods week in week out.

If funding was to increase then different equipment could be purchased for the team to experiment with, this could aid there development and push them on to a future career in football.

References:

Soccer Coaching (2006). Training Techniques {Online}. Available from: www.soccercoachinginternational.com (accessed on 12^th January 2012).

SWOT Analysis

According to Blakey (2011) a SWOT analysis is where the organisation is at and provides an overlook at what strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats they face.

Criteria examples Advantages of proposition? Capabilities? Competitive advantages? USP's (unique selling points)? Resources, Assets, People? Experience, knowledge, data? Financial reserves, likely returns? Marketing - reach, distribution, awareness? Innovative aspects? Location and geographical? Price, value, quality? Accreditations, qualifications, certifications? Processes, systems, IT, communications? Cultural, attitudinal, behavioural? Management cover, succession? Philosophy and values?	Strengths Facilities Staff knowledge Location Funded by chesterfield college Highly qualified staff	Weaknesses Lack of advertising Reliant on schools Reliability of players	Criteria examples Disadvantages of proposition? Gaps in capabilities? Lack of competitive strength? Reputation, presence and reach? Financials? Own known vulnerabilities? Timescales, deadlines and pressures? Cashflow, start-up cash-drain? Continuity, supply chain robustness? Effects on core activities, distraction? Reliability of data, plan predictability? Morale, commitment, leadership? Accreditations, etc? Processes and systems, etc? Management cover, succession?
Criteria examples Market developments? Competitors' vulnerabilities? Industry or lifestyle trends? Technology development and innovation? Global influences? New markets, vertical, horizontal? Niche target markets? Geographical, export, import? New USP's? Tactics: eg, surprise, major contracts? Business and product development? Information and research? Partnerships, agencies, distribution? Volumes, production, economies? Seasonal, weather, fashion influences?	Opportunities Partnerships Advertising Awareness Better equipment	Threats Funding Teaching staff	Criteria examples Political effects? Legislative effects? Environmental effects? IT developments? Competitor intentions - various? Market demand? New technologies, services, ideas? Vital contracts and partners? Sustaining internal capabilities? Obstacles faced? Insurmountable weaknesses? Loss of key staff? Sustainable financial backing? Economy - home, abroad? Seasonality, weather effects?

Looking now at strengths and one of the main strengths is the facilities at Chesterfield College. The team has access to home/away dressing rooms with showers, indoor gym and sports hall, and all year astro turf pitches so training will never be canceled.

One of the main weaknesses is reliability; the team is a student-based team so some players have lessons when training has been scheduled and miss out on the important training. Also players have been known to miss matches due to important coursework, which needs to be completed.

When looking at opportunities I believe awareness is the key part for the future. According to Youth sport trust (2010) awareness is a key part to gaining numbers to participate in your sport and using tools such as the internet is vital. So looking into developing the college’s website and updating the football section to make it more accessible to students could be key to increase awareness. Also this could attract other students to come to Chesterfield College due to the football teams raised awareness.

One of the major threats to the football academies is funding. The college has Change For LIFE (2011) ‘funding which could be cut due to the government cutting 300million from this sector’. This could have massive effects on the team as buses will need to be funded to away games by the players and this could result in players leaving as they cant afford to pay. Also the players would have to pay for their own kit, which some players wont, be able to afford. 

References:

Blakey, P. (2011). Sport Marketing. Great Britain. Learning matters Ltd.

Change For Life (2011). Funding schools [Online]. Available from: www.nhs.uk/change4life [Accessed on 12th January 2012).

Youth Sport Tust, (2010). Sports college’s and sports partnerships. [Online]. Available from: www.youthsporttrust.org [Accessed on 12th January 2012].