Geoff Schoenberg

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As promised, here is an update on my topic and what I am actually researching. It’s still way too broad, and the next month will be focused on narrowing the focus.

When applying for admission to Deakin, I had initially written a one page proposed research topic entitled “Executive Directors: what does it take to become one?” (Ugh, I hated that title…). As detailed in a recent post, the readings I’ve been doing over the last few months have transitioned the topic somewhat. In my readings, the sport governance literature has been particularly appealing and insightful. Although my original proposal was very much slanted to the executive director side of the equation, I knew that there was going to be a link between the staff side and the governing body side. Combining the ideas of a strategic board with the opportunity that a change in executive staff brings has led me to the following research topic, “Executive Transition as a Strategic Opportunity”.

Now, if you are a normal person (not the masochistic type of person who seems to think a thesis is a good idea AKA an academic) you probably read that title and thought “Geoff, I’m sure you could have squeezed a few more buzzwords into that? You haven’t even mentioned synergy”. I, on the other hand, could not be more thrilled with the title. You would at least have to agree that it sounds much better than “Executive Directors, what does it take to become one”. But, as we’ve all been told and we’ve all ignored, don’t judge the book by the cover. So although I have this delicious title, what does it mean?

There are many paths this research could take. I could examine how much boards are using a change in executive as a strategy decision. If a planned strategy is being executed, how does it take place? Are organisations evaluating themselves before developing a strategy? How does the hiring process account for a developed strategy? Are organisations with different strategic goals hiring similar executives with similar background, qualifications and experiences, or do the differences in vision result in a wide variety of executive types.

This next month is dedicated to narrowing this topic. Finding a very specific problem and developing a rudimentary plan for researching it. In order to do this, I first need to establish some rules for my research. I need to define strategy. Is strategy a plan? An intended outcome? How does a board of directors define and impact strategy. The concept of transition needs to be explored. When does an “Executive Transition” begin and when does it end? What are the key phases or steps?

My goal is to have a draft of the introductory chapter written by the end of January. This will be approximately 7500 words or so exploring the need for this research, laying out some of the parameters, narrowing in on a specific topic and providing an overview of the likely method to be utilised.

Well, I’ve got some work to do….