Mcdonaldization of Olympics Case free essay sample

McDonaldization of Olympics case Im going to analyse this case because I want to understand how this process of McDonaldization is affecting the Olympic games in his traditions and whos deciding what happens on the competitions in considerations of scheduling times and events broadcasting. Why is it so important for NBC to put the events in prime time for the United States ? And how can the will of â€Å"one big company† decide over many others entities that are involved in the Olympics ? But first a brief description of what McDonaldization is: Process of rationalization, albiet taken to extreme levels. Rationalization is a sociological term that simply means the substitution of logically consistent rules for traditional (or illogical) rules. One of the fundamental aspects of McDonaldization is that almost any task can (and should) be rationalized. † (Stewart Clegg 2004) NBC influenced the decision of IOC ( International Olympic Committee ) IOC decision was dictated by money. We will write a custom essay sample on Mcdonaldization of Olympics Case or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The athletes were not use to a morning competition and many of them complained about the choice made. But the NBCs money invested in the broadcasting of the events played a major role in deciding that some events had to be shown to Americans in a prime time during the day. After all more than 50% of the revenue of the Olympic committee was paid by the American broadcasting channel. Obviously all this NBCs effort to have the better broadcasting times is for a very good reason, having the most of the audience watching during that hours means that the broadcasting giant can sell many Ad spots during those times and that more people are going to watch them. And they also have had a tradition that they have to carry with the Olympic games as said in the NBC website: NBC has held the American broadcasting rights of the Summer Olympics since the 1988 games and the broadcasting rights to the Winter Olympics since the 2002 games. ( nbcolympics. com 2009). Broadcasting the Olympics in the US is just good for their image and reputation. But is it good for the reputation of the Olympics ? Is this an example of globalization ? Also, is it good for the reputation of the Olympics ? Here we analyse some key points of globalization: The worldwide integration in virtually every sphere achieved principally through markets †¢ A process whereby the world becomes more interconnected and the fates of those people and organizations in it become more intertwined. †¢ In business terms, globalization means business without frontiers, crossing national boundaries, and dealing with the world, not just the home base. (Stewart Clegg 2004) As said in the textbook one of the key points of globalization is to cross national boundaries and dealing with the world, but this is not happening between the NBC and IOC for the Olympics. The interest is made only for a specific nation, which has more capital invested and makes an illogical decision for the athletes and for audience around the world, but which is logical in the strategic plan of the interested company. ( In the case of the swimming final times , Olympics Beijing 2008 ). We see a Globalization of the Olympic games that tends to go more towards the favour of the US which brings most of the revenue for the IOC, not only with the NBC channel but also with other private companies that add a big portion of the money to the lot and therefore have to be considered by the organizing association when making decisions of that kind ( time of events ). ( D. Jones 2012) The price for all this is being paid by countries that dont have much influence in the committee decisions and have to cope with crazy times and a big amount of ads to cover the costs of the broadcasting. What is the problem? Is the IOC doing something wrong? Are they focusing their attention on the biggest investor of the event just to not lose the large amount of revenues that this companies bring? And if so how can this be changed and what is the management issue? Why can NBC really shape and manage parts of a big event like the Olympics ? The main issue that we find in the managing choice of the IOC is the hegemony of power enforced by the main investors. Some people may rile against the commercialization or Americanization of the Olympics but figures show that the dollars from the US is critical for the sustenance of the Olympic movement. Besides TV, the IOC’s another major stream of income is private partnership. †( D. Jones 2012) On the NBC side, it was a very smart move that took place a while ago during the cold war, when USA used the Olympics to prove the supremacy over the USSR. Its not only about broadcasting the games in their own country, but also getting th e visibility globally as the main protagonists of the global event. All this income from the US for the committee is vital to keep the games happening, the big problem now days is that the structure of the Olympics is entirely based on big companies paying â€Å"the bills† for the massive costs that have to be covered to organize, manage and built facilities and events for the games. So from a IOCs managing perspective the choice of keeping happy major investors makes sense and it wouldnt be so criticized if it was a little less against the Olympic spirit. Athletes being forced to race at early morning hours by McDonald’s, Coca-Colas etc ads is not really what the spirit of the event should be. But to make everything happen, someone has to pay for everything that we see during races, competition, games and ceremonies. The Olympic committee has to accept some compromises to keep this a reality. As a solution to this, it is not very easy to come up with one, seen that if IOC loses the economic support from big American investors the Games will struggle to tackle the huge amount of money needed to make it happen. Conclusions: In recent times the US has lost multiple bids to bring the Olympic games back in their country, due to the conflict between the share that the USOC ( United States Olympic Committee ) and the IOC get from investments in the event. IOC decided to reject all the bids from US states to host the games, sometimes with humiliating results like the bid for Chicago 2016 that was rejected first round. We have a conflict of interests between the two organizations, that needed to be solved. This happened with a new revenue sharing model in 2012 that will probably help to bring the games back to the US in the near future. NBC has also renewed the contract with IOC for broadcasting Olympic Games until 2020, that means that despite the US taking control over the games, IOC hasnt found a different source of income big enough to say no to the American company. ( nbcolympic. com 2012 ) References Billings, Andrew C (2008) Olympic media : Inside the biggest show on television, London: Routledge , pp. 120-125. Dow Jones (2012) McDonaldization of Olympics, Factiva, pp. 1-2 [Online]. (Accessed: 29th March 2013). Gough, Paul J (2008) NBC: Olympic viewers dive in, Hollywood Reporter,406(00183660), pp. -14. G. Hayes J. Karamichas (2010) Olympic Games, Mega-Events and Civil Societies Globalization, Environment, Resistance. Social Sciences Collection 2012 [Online]. Available at: http://www. palgraveconnect. com. ezproxy. uow. edu. au/pc/doifinder/10. 1057/9780230359185 (Accessed: 1st April 2013). RICHARD SANDOMIR (2003) OLYMPICS; NBCs Olympic Run Is Extended to 2012 With $2 Billion Bid, Available at: http://www. n ytimes. com/2003/06/07/sports/olympics-nbc-s-olympic-run-is-extended-to-2012-with-2-billion-bid. html (Accessed: 1st April 2013). RICHARD SANDOMIR (2012) NBC Is Looking for Big Payoff on Olympics, Available at: http://www. nytimes. com/2012/02/13/sports/olympics/nbc-is-looking-for-big-payoff-on-olympics. html? _r=0 (Accessed: 27th March 2013). Stewart Clegg, Martin Kornberger, Tyrone Pitsis (2004) MANAGING ORGANIZATIONS an introduction to theory practice, 3rd edn. , London, California, Singapore, New Delhi: SAGE Pubblications. Szalai, Georg ; Guthrie, Marisa (2011) NBC Olympics: Who Wins, Hollywood Reporter, 417(00183660), pp. 11-12. William W. Kelly (2011) East Asian Olympics, Beijing 2008, and the globalisation of sport,History of sport,28(16), pp. 2261-2270. (2007). What Is McDonaldization?. Available: http://www. mcdonaldization. com/whatisit. shtml. Last accessed 27th April 2013. (2009). Olympics on NBC. Available: http://www. nbcolympics. com/. Last accessed 20th April 2013. (2009) IOC Rejects the EBU Bid for 2014-16 Olympic Games Broadcast Rights, The International Sports Law Journal, No. 1-2(), pp. 67-82 [Online]. Available at:http://www. questia. com/library/1G1-249053666/ioc-rejects-the-ebu-bid-for-2014-16-olympic-games (Accessed: 27th March 2013).