Grid of Shame Highlights Reputational Risk in NCAA Athletics for Universities
Eugene, OR (PRWEB) July 31, 2014 -- Annually, the Wall Street Journal shares it’s College Football Grid of Shame graphically highlighting NCAA DI football programs performance on-field vs. off-field. As college football season preparation begins, SCI Talk, a podcast hosted by the Sports Conflict Institute (SCI), highlighted the unique considerations around reputational risk in NCAA intercollegiate athletics in a recent conversation between John Zinsser of Pacifica Human Communications, Joshua Gordon of SCI, and Dr. Ken Pendleton of SCI.
“Reputational risk is not a well-understood concept to most in intercollegiate athletics. John Zinsser’s perspective adds and important currency to consider for universities and their athletics programs,” offered Gordon
Zinsser speculated that sports problems are likely to cost more to NCAA member institutions than most other problems,“because there is such fondness; because there is such passion around the athletic piece, when something goes wrong, the cost to reputation and the cost in dollars is greater than if it had happened to any other part of the organization.”
“As many athletic programs have found, one isolated incident has the ability to cause irreparable damage to an athletic program and create reputational and monetary damages to the institution as a whole,” added Pendleton.
According to Zinsser, “If the institution builds an appropriate mechanism to help manage the conflicts that are going to occur, whether they’re in their personal lives or their athletic endeavors or in their academic activities,and you get them out of the system either through appropriate dismissal at the right time before an event happens because you’re seeing a trend, you’re seeing somebody not heading in the right direction or by solving little problems and the student has the learning they need to change their behavior ongoing, that would have such value because you then keep the asset that might help you win the game, as well as preserve the reputation.”
“There is a tension between winning and doing the right thing. While they are not mutually exclusive it does take some level of expertise and support to be able to create a program that is best in class at both,” offered Pendleton.
Listen to the full SCI Talk show at http://sportsconflict.org/reputational-risk-intercollegiate-athletics/
SCI supports competitive goals in athletics through understanding, preventing, and resolving destructive conflict both inside and outside the lines. SCI serves as a knowledge center and provides a range of services to help ensure student-athlete experience is part of a healthy university culture while optimizing performance on and off the field of play. Conflict is inevitable, but how we respond determines whether success follows or costs mount. SCI Founder Joshua Gordon has over 20 years of conflict management experience.
Joshua Gordon, Sports Conflict Institute, LLC, http://sportsconflict.org, +1 (541) 887-0724, [email protected]
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