How Not To Run An Organization

Today I will mix business strategy and sports and organizational design. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via TrueHoop) comes an example of ineffective management and a convoluted organization structure at Atlanta Spirit LLC, owner of the Atlanta Hawks NBA team and the Atlanta Thrashers NHL team.

On Tuesday, Atlanta Spirit LLC dumped a CEO and a CFO.

I know. First reaction: Don't care. They'll eat it up at the Wall Street Journal, and maybe Staples. In terms of tangible product impact, this isn't quite like the Hawks or Thrashers dumping a center, which is to assume either team has one of those, either.

The fact Bernie Mullin (the outgoing CEO, president and traffic cop for the nine-headed ownership group) and Bill Duffy (bean-counter) are out of work illustrates that this remains sports' most dysfunctional executive unit.

The owners basically eliminated a layer between themselves and the teams. But Michael Gearon confirmed they also have created a new seven-person committee of relative department heads that reports to the nine-membership group, which runs the two teams, which have a combined zero playoff wins.

So, once again, the Atlanta Spirit math: Nine over seven divided by two equals zero.

Classic.

Comments

[Blair]

This owner organization needs to take a Leading Teams and Organizations executive seminar at Owen.