Page 16 - Winter 2012

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16 A FULL TIME ESMBA ADMINISTRATOR
A FULL TIME ESMBA ADMINISTRATOR
IS IT TIME FOR A RADICAL CHANGE?
IS IT TIME FOR A RADICAL CHANGE?
Firstly let me say this is NOT currently being proposed by the ESMBA
but it is something that has been discussed over time. This article is
designed to openly raise the topic and give us some food for thought.
Some years ago I was opposed to such a thing but for reasons I do not
wish to explain here, I have certainly changed my mind. If we had the
right full time administrator, I also believe that our future development
could be handled differently.
The ESMBSA’s idea of letting someone outside of Short Mat run our general admin-
istration I doubt will work well in the long run. I cannot believe that an Association of well
over 20,000 bowlers is incapable of running all of its own affairs
Swapping to a full time administrator is not a simple and straightforward matter;
there are many things to consider. One point raised was that perhaps during the Summer
the administrator has allegedly less to do and would therefore have time off, for which
they are being paid. So what I would say, as all that matters is whether or not the job is
done properly and efficiently. Our 20,000 odd players must contain many retired people
who have held senior and responsible jobs and provided our search was wide and espe-
cially open, we may unearth a gem but who knows until we try.
Lengths of contract and termination were raised as possible problems and annual
contracts are the way forward but current legislation states this can only be done for 4
consecutive years and if renewed at the end of the fourth year the administrator would
become a full employee. Surely after one year we would know how good they are?
No offence to the ESMBA but I would get a professional organisation to vet the se-
lection process. This is no reflection on the committee but a professional employment
agency, if one can be found at the right cost, would protect the committee, especially if a
committee member applied for the job. I’m not suggesting the committee would take no
part in the selection; it is obvious they should I still feel that outside vetting would ensure
the selection is shown to be above board and professionally done by people who are
used to doing it BUT the ESMBA absolutely has the final say in who would be selected.
I know that some committee members may be favourable to the idea but others are
not. This I suppose would present the committee with yet more internal disagreements
and should (properly costed) be presented to the members. Properly copsted does not
mean the waffle presented the last time the idea was discussed. If we had a full time ad-
ministrator it would of course reduce the committee to no more than about five officials.
There are of course many other facets and possible problems in taking on an ad-
ministrator. For me the main one is whom does the administrator work for? Surely the
primary duty would be a duty of care to the members not the committee. This would mean
that if the Administrator was ever asked to do something that he/she though was against
the best interests of the members they would be in a position to refuse and the matter
would then be passed to the members. In short they would work primarily for the members
but would initially be responsible to the committee in terms of the day to day tasks.
Some work should be retained by the committee like the running of events and sim-
ilar tasks. Will it cost? yes certainly but a very sizable chunk of costs would be saved by
committee expense savings with a greatly reduced number of committee members. There
is of course no add water quick solution to any administration problems but I won’t have
to listen to committee members telling me about work that other committee members
haven’t done. This is a topic for open discussion and I have merely scratched the surface
as I believe it should not be held behind closed doors. I would stress that the above is
my personal opinion but is anyone out there bothered enough to write in? You can remain
anonymous in the magazine provided I know who you are?