RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ORGANISATIONAL DESIGN VARIABLES AND MANAGEMENT EFFECTIVENESS IN THE HOSTING OF NIGERIAN UNIVERSITY GAMES

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1 Book of Proceedings - Academic Conference of Cambridge Publications & Research International on Sub-Sahara African Potentials in the New Millennium Vol. 3 No.3. 30th July, FUTA, Hilltop Conference Hall, Akure, Ondo State. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ORGANISATIONAL DESIGN VARIABLES AND MANAGEMENT EFFECTIVENESS IN THE HOSTING OF NIGERIAN UNIVERSITY GAMES OKPARA C. J. & DIYAOLU B.O. Department of Sport Science, Afe-Babalola University Ado-Ekiti ABSTRACT This study investigated the relationship between organisational design variables and management effectiveness in the hosting of Nigerian university games. Descriptive survey research design of the correlational type was adopted. Purposive and quota sampling method to select the 304 athletes and accompany officials from UNIBEN and OAU as respondents. A self developed instrument was used for data collection. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequency count, percentage, mean, pie chat and parametric statistics of Pearson product moment correlation.the result revealed that game delivery with r value at 0.62 indicates a positive and moderate relationship, p value at is less than the level of significance at Financing with r value at indicates a positive and moderate relationship, p value at is less than the level of significance at It was recommended that reinvigoration of NUGA games to make its hosting very competitive and only institutions with acceptable standards of facilities, equipment and will should be awarded hosting right. Government and multinational companies alike must take the funding of NUGA seriously as this could help in engaging young minds in the university in productive ventures thereby reducing the scourge of cultism in our institution of learning. Keywords: organizational design variables, management effectiveness Words Counts: 200 Introduction Sport has been a unifying factor among people of all races, creed, class, colour, tongue and religion. It is an indisputable fact to state that sport is the strongest cord that unites or brings people from every part of the globe together. Sport performs social, cultural, economic and political functions in every society. Morakinyo and Oworu (2006) view sport as one of the most important social factor in the world today; and in many countries, organisations and institutions use sport as a tool for popularity, political, economic and diplomatic development. According to Ojo-Oba (2008) Organisation design variables involve essential elements of the structure of a sport organisation which aid the organisation to successfully implement it s strategic and pursue of the organisation s mission & vision. It also involves a sound logistics plan of the Local Organising Committee built up to accomplish the goal of the games. Organisational design variables in the context of this study looks at how well NUGA has achieved their objectives through the games delivery and finance. Management effectiveness is difficult to measure and as a result, there is no consensus about what constitutes a definition of it (Draft, 2001; Davidson and Griffin, 2002). In general, however, managers in sport setting determine what indicators to measure in order to gauge their management effectiveness and these indicators may include customers satisfaction (Viljoen and Dann, 2000). In order to achieve satisfaction in these areas, a sport organisation s strategies need to be aligned with the external environments. Davidson and Griffin (2002) argue that if managers

2 can identify where they want the organisation to be relative to their environment, and how best to get there, they stand a good chance of achieving management effectiveness. Statement of the problem The Nigerian University Games plays an important role in strengthening the unity among universities in Nigeria, however it has not been without one form of organizational problem or the other, for example after a long notice given to hosting institutions they still find it difficult to put things in place before the actual date of the competition., that is; University of Benin 2010 which was done in 2011 and Obafemi Awolowo University 2012 which took place in Despite this delay, these hosting institutions were still not ready as at the day and time scheduled for participating schools to arrive. In terms of accommodation, no provision was made for team officials. Most of the athletes who were supposedly given accommodation were stranded as mattresses were not available in some of the rooms allotted to them, the logistics were inadequate. Furthermore, some athletes had to walk a long distance from their hostels to the venue of the competition as no arrangements were made as regards transportation. Conclusively, the delivery of the games was poor as some facilities were still under construction for example the swimming pool and the volleyball court. Judo mats were borrowed from the University of Ibadan and Taekwondo mats were likewise borrowed from another institution. Ifedili and Omiunu (2011) worked on Management of Nigerian Universities Games Association for Better Results and Ojo-Oba (2010) worked on management effectiveness in the hosting of all African games. It is against this backdrop that the researcher wishes to investigate the relationship between organisational design variables and management effectiveness in the hosting of Nigerian university games from 2011 to 2014 that this study may proffer solutions to these recurrent problems affecting the organization of the Nigerian Universities Games and thus prevent future occurrence. Methodology The descriptive research design of the correlational type was used in this study. The population of study consists of all 413 Accompanied Officials and Athletes of the host institutions. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the 15 NUGA sports and quota sampling method to pick the respondents. The instrument used is a self developed instrument, reliability of the instrument was tested using crombach alpha coefficient method and the r-value derived was The completed questionnaire was collected; coded and analysed using descriptive statistics of frequency count, percentage, mean, pie chat and parametric statistics of Pearson product moment correlation was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level of significance. Presentation of result This study was designed to examine the relationship between organizational design variables and management effectiveness in the hosting of NUGA with focus on NUGA hosted between 2011 and Socio-Demographic Characteristics Distribution of Respondents by Institution Table 1: Percentage Distribution of Respondents by Institution Institution Frequency Percent University of Benin, Benin City (UNIBEN) Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife (OAU) Total

3 Book of Proceedings - Academic Conference of Cambridge Publications & Research International on Sub-Sahara African Potentials in the New Millennium Vol. 3 No.3. 30th July, FUTA, Hilltop Conference Hall, Akure, Ondo State. Figure 1: Percentage Distribution of Respondents by Institution The findings of the study as shown in the table and pie chart above revealed that respondents from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife with a frequency of 142 respondents accounted for the largest proportion of the respondents with a percentage contribution of 55%. The remaining 45% were accounted for by respondents from the University of Benin, Benin-City. Distribution of Respondents by Gender Table 2: Percentage Distribution of Respondents by Gender Gender Frequency Percent MALE FEMALE Total Figure 2: Percentage Distribution of Respondents by Gender The findings of the study as shown in the table and pie chart above showed that male respondents accounted for the largest proportion of respondents with a frequency of 151 which represented 58.5% of the respondents with their female counterparts accounting for 41.5% with a frequency of 107 respondents. Distribution of Respondents by Designation Table 4.3: Distribution of Respondents by Designation Designation Frequenc Percent y ACCOMPANIED OFFICIAL ATHLETE Total Figure 4.3: Percentage Distribution of Respondents by Designation The table and pie chart above showed that athletes accounted for the largest proportion of the respondents with a frequency of 236 respondents which accounted for 91.5% of the total respondents. Accompanying officials made up the remaining percentage with a frequency of 22 respondents. Hypothesis One: There will be no significant relationship between Games delivery and management effectiveness in hosting of Nigerian University Games Table 4.8: Correlation Table of the Relationship between Game Delivery and Management Effectiveness VARIABLES N r r 2 p Remark GAME DELIVERY MANAGEMEN T Significa nt

4 EFFECTIVENE SS The findings of the study as shown in the correlation table above revealed that there is a moderate and positive relationship between game delivery and management effectiveness in the last two editions of NUGA games. The r value at 0.62 indicates a positive and moderate relationship between the independent variable (game delivery) and the dependent variable (management effectiveness). The implication of positive relationship between the two variables is that management effectiveness will be improved with improvement in game delivery. Moreover, findings also indicated that the p value at is less than the level of significance at Consequently, the hypothesis which states that there will be no significant relationship between games delivery and management effectiveness in hosting of Nigerian University Games is therefore rejected. Hypothesis Two: There will be no significant relationship between financing and management effectiveness in hosting of Nigerian University Games Table 4.9: Correlation Table of the Relationship between Financing and Management Effectiveness VARIABLES N R r 2 p Remark FINANCING 25 MANAGEMEN 8 T EFFECTIVENE SS Significa nt The result of the study as revealed in the correlation table above showed that there is a moderate and positive relationship between financing and management effectiveness in the last two editions of NUGA games. The r value at is indicative of the fact that a positive and moderate relationship exist between the independent variable (financing) and the dependent variable (management effectiveness). The positive relationship between the two variables implies that management effectiveness will be improved with enhanced funding. Moreover, findings also indicated that the p value at is less than the level of significance at Therefore, the hypothesis which states that there will be no significant relationship between financing and management effectiveness in hosting of Nigerian University Games is rejected. Discussion Game delivery indices in the study were availability of facilities and equipment for the 15 sports competed for in NUGA games. The place of facilities and equipment is smooth conduct of sporting events cannot be overemphasized. There is hardly any sporting event that does not require the use of some sorts of facilities and /or equipment. To ensure smooth delivery and hosting of sporting events, it is important to ensure that sporting facilities and equipment are provided. Apart from providing facilities and equipment, it is equally important to ensure that these facilities and equipment are in standard working form and of globally accepted standards. The finding of the study that attributed availability of facilities and equipment as an index of

5 Book of Proceedings - Academic Conference of Cambridge Publications & Research International on Sub-Sahara African Potentials in the New Millennium Vol. 3 No.3. 30th July, FUTA, Hilltop Conference Hall, Akure, Ondo State. good game delivery is in line with the finding of Nthangeni, Haycock, and Toriola (2009) who also found that sport equipment availability is a major motivating factor in sports participation. The result of the study as obtained from the second hypotheses that funding inadequacy is one of the cogs in the wheel of successful hosting of NUGA games. The place of adequate funding in hosting any sporting event is enormous. Without adequate funding, virtually every aspect of the game would be adversely affected as fund is required for smooth running of the event. Fund is needed for the provision of the facilities and equipment needed for the games. Adequate funding is germane to the successful participation and hosting of NUGA games. This finding confirmed the assertion of Ngobua and Oboh (2014) who while appraising the last edition of NUGA game hosted by OAU lamented poor funding as a major landmine to the successful hosting of NUGA games. According to them, most Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian universities are not passionate about sports. Consequently, expending so much on provision of sporting facilities or accepting to sink millions of naira into hosting the games is never a thing of priority. Conclusion The findings revealed that there is a moderate and positive relationship between game delivery, finance and management effectiveness in the last two editions of NUGA games. Finance was also discovered to play a major role in hosting a successful NUGA game. The fact that the university wait until they win the bid to host the games before erecting standard sport facilities has affected the delivery of games. Recommendation There is a need for NUGA to look these organisational design since this study revealed that there is a significant relationship with management effectiveness. Government and multinational companies alike must take the funding of NUGA seriously as this could help in engaging young minds in the university in productive ventures thereby reducing the scourge of cultism in our institution of learning. If the same recognition given to national athletes are extended to NUGA athletes as would be national athletes, the game would be made more competitive and taken seriously. Reinvigoration of NUGA games to make its hosting very competitive and only institutions with acceptable standards of facilities, equipment and will should be awarded hosting right. References AS Nthangeni, E Haycock, AL Toriola (2009). Factors affecting sports participation among female students at Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa.African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance. ISSN: David ngobua and mike oboh appraisal of NUGA as curtain falls on 2014 games weekly trust. Davidson P, and Griffin, R Management: An Australian Perspective. Queensland: John Willey and Sons. Draft, R. 2001: Organisation, theory and design. Ohio: South Western. Ifedili C.J and Omiunu S Management of Nigerian Universities Games Association for better results. Ozean Journal of Social Sciences 4(2), 2011 ISSN Ozean Publication Morakinyo, E.O. and Oworu, O.O. (2006). The Relevance of Equipment in Sports Development in Colleges of Education in Southwestern Nigeria. Journal of Science and Information Technology, Vol. 5 No. 1,

6 Ojo-Oba, R.B Organisational design variables as correlates of management effectiveness in the hosting of All-African Game from Viljoen, J. and Danns, S Strategic Management Planning Implementing Successful Corporate Strategy. Sydney: Longman.