Sample Golf Management Plan

Diagnosis
The UCCS PGA Golf Management Program elects a new Executive Board every academic school year. Elections are held at the second meeting of the spring semester and positions begin around the third week of April. These student leaders spend the summer planning for a year of success and positive change. This board consists of a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer/Historian, Tournament Chair, Merchandise Chair, Community Service/Social Chair, Player Development Chair, Professional Development Chair, and four Class Representatives. This group is led by the program staff and meets once a week to discuss upcoming events, current problems in the program and all that needs discussing. All positions on this board are different

working parts that try to work together well. The purpose of this group is to act as leaders in the program and to work on behalf of the PGA Golf Management students and be a voice for all 50 plus members of this student association. These students are often program representatives throughout the city, state and country. As up and coming PGA Professionals, we work hard to make a positive name for ourselves as individuals and as a program as a whole, in the surround communities. This group of students has the potential to act as a team if common goals are established and worked towards. As of now, this collection of people would be considered a group due to the lack of understanding of these goals. If goals are established, this group can become a team and work together to achieve these goals.
A major problem that occurs in this group is the lack of meeting effectiveness. This affects the group as a whole, rather than just one individual. Different things can change based on leadership and the tone and attitude of meetings can change depending on who is running the meeting. In the past, meetings have had the tendency to be ineffective, with no agenda and no established goals for the meeting. Group members begin to talk in circles as time passes and frustration ensues. Therefor, less member buy-in occurs. It appears as though less is achieved in this environment or results take more time to reach. It is more difficult to reach a consensus when group members feel mislead. Group members then grow to dread meetings and as busy college students, begin to feel it is not an effective use of time. There are now many poor attitudes that exist within these meetings and it has created a vicious cycle.
There is a culture during these meetings that does not coincide with a professional meeting environment. All of the members of this team are also friends so it becomes a very social environment. Often times there is side conversation amongst friends or there is interrupting and talking over others rather than waiting to speak in an organized manner. Friendly relationships also make it far more difficult to set a new precedent and be firm with the need to keep side conversation to a minimum. It has proved a major challenge to manage our relationships and keep a balance between a professional and friendly relationship. All members are quite comfortable with each other so at the same time, all group participants need to remember to stay respectful of each other and to treat each other as they would someone who they work with and did not know as well.
This problem that has been diagnosed can be discussed by considering the meeting efficiency tips that have been covered in class. When a group’s primary point of contact is in meetings, those meetings need to be effective. This group needs to make the most of the time that they do have together. This group is made up of all busy members who attend classes, work, stay involved in the community, and need to devote time to fulfilling their PGA Golf Management Minimum Service Requirements to stay in good standing in the program. When the meeting time becomes unproductive, the group has a weak foundation and has a more difficult time functioning cohesively. Problems developed on this team because meetings were inefficient and ineffective. Research suggests that measures can be taken to improve meetings in a professional environment.

Research
Teamwork can be greatly affected by different personalities (Kong, Konczak, Bottom, 2015).

In most group settings, there are many different personalities working together and this can cause a great deal of conflicting positions on various issues being discussed during meetings. This can also influence the particular way that participants interact with each other during meetings. If group members can approach these meetings with an open mind and the concept that the greatest likelihood is that not everyone will share your opinion within the group. The larger the group, the greater the dispersion of ideas and this can cause the length of meetings to be extended in the effort to have all voices heard. If these meetings are approached with a plan to guide the discussions, meetings can stay more on track and allow the group to move on to new topics in a reasonable time frame and reach a consensus

sooner.
Meetings are more effective when the leader does more summarizing and question asking and spends more time inquiring on the consensus of the group (Perkins, 2009). The article states that meetings are also less effective when that same leader spends less time attacking or disagreeing with the group members and gives the group less information as time goes on. Despite the fact that meetings can become a hassle, they are still very important events to occur for the success of a group (Perkins, 2009). Most meetings take place in person and this is helpful to have the richest channel of communication used for a group work because “noise” can be eliminated and less conflict may arise after meetings than other channels of communication.
Meetings usually have five key characteristics including a clear vision, the right people and preparation, following a clear agenda, and making decisions and following through on these decisions (Clark, 1998).

These five characteristics are something that the group leader should consider prior to the meeting. While in the planning stages of the meeting, the leader should be sure that they are adhering to these factors such as including the right people. This can also assist the leader while composing an agenda. This may be a helpful tool in guiding the organization and structure of the meeting. This format is especially important for meeting leaders but not limited to them. If all group members are aware of these structure and essential elements, they can be the first step in achieving common goals. If simple goals can be set within meetings such as successfully meeting these requirements, the stepping-stones will be laid to achieve greater things down the road in the process. Enthusiasm is important to the positive attitude in a group meetings and it is best if people of authority present this enthusiasm so they can lead the group and be a positive example (Clark, 1998). This positive attitude can become contagious and other can subconsciously adopt this

mindset.
When there is room for improvement within a group to create a better meeting environment, this research becomes even more valuable. If each participant of a group can understand their role and work cohesively to reach common goals, this group can become a team. Along with the belief of a positive impact on the team, every participant should understand that they are an essential part of the team and their work will create better outcomes for all those that may be affected by their work and decisions made. Meetings can be more effective if each group member understands that naturally, personalities will be conflicting at times but that it is important to keep an open outlook on the opinions of all, in order to reach a consensus at the end of the meetings. It is very important to be willing to compromise in these meetings as it is very easy to take a strong stance and stick to it, but the challenging and powerful act is to work with your team to find the best possible solutions.

Prescription
If this group would be willing to take into consideration the research conducted, grand improvements could be made. The main difficulty in addressing these meeting issues and implementing changes is the effort that would be involved in helping all team members understand the necessities and convincing everyone that changes should be made. It is easy to stick with the old ways and change can be more difficult but if executed well, the changes can be extremely beneficial. In order for this group to have a higher level of achievement, they will need the members to believe in what they are doing and the best way to do this is for them to begin to enjoy meetings. If those in leadership roles present positive attitudes, it may become contagious within the group and there could be a subconscious change in attitude all-together to completely change the tone of the meetings.
If meeting agendas are created and approved prior to the meetings taking place, everyone might feel as though the meetings are staying on track and not as redundant as they are now. This will automatically improve morale within the group and people will feel as though more is being achieved in less time, which is a great feeling for those held responsible for solving problems within the program. This will satisfy the program staff and in turn, motivate the board and encourage and inspire the participants to keep working hard toward the goals set. This team will benefit from these initiatives by having more effective, time efficient, enthusiastic meetings where they will achieve more and potentially even begin to enjoy these meetings. These meetings have a chance to becoming something to be very proud of after graduation. It is a huge accomplishment to serve on this board and the students should hand off their position with a sense on pride in knowing that they did everything they could to be leaders and representatives for their program. Serving on this board is an excellent experience for students to learn about the industry but more importantly, to learn how to work with others in a stressful but positive learning environment. The time spent on this board is a better time than any to truly be a student who learns and grown.

References

Kong, D.T., Konczak, L.J., & Bottom, W.P. (2015). Team performance as a join function of team member satisfaction and agreeableness. Small Group Research, 46(2), pp. 160-78.

Evans, C.R., Dion, K.L (1991). Group cohesion and performance: A meta-analysis. Small Group Research, 22 (2), pp.175-186.

Evans, N.J., Jarvis, P. A. (1980.) Group cohesion: A review and reevaluation. Small Group Behavior, 11 (4), pp. 359.

Perkins, R. D. (2009). How executive coaching can change leader behavior and improve meeting effectiveness: An exploratory study. Consulting Phycology Journal: Practice and Research, 61(4), 298-318. Doi:10.1037/a0017842

Clark, T. (1998). Teaching Students to Enhance the Ecology of Small Group Meetings. Business Communication Quarterly, 61(4), 40-52. doi:10.1177/108056999806100406