Media releases

• Return of sports leagues raises many tough questions

  Tuesday, April 14, 2020 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 14 April 2020 – R0066

  As many North American sports leagues explore new ways to get up and running in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Assistant Professor of Sport Management Michael Naraine says their actions could pose some difficult questions.

  “I think we should have sport for the content it provides and the economic benefit,” he says. “But it can create this perception that everything is fine, and that may not be what’s best for the public, as people may not adhere to policies in place for their own safety if they feel things have returned to normal.”

  Naraine says the overarching issue of public safety is being clouded by the bottom lines of professional sports leagues.

  “If this was not about money, we would just ride this thing out, because the safest choice is to stay home,” he says. “Money rules the major sports leagues.”

  In addition to potential health risks to others, Naraine says hosting leagues in specific cities, such as the proposed location of Phoenix for Major League Baseball or Las Vegas for the National Basketball Association, and keeping athletes in tightly controlled areas could pose significant logistical concerns.

  “Sequestering athletes in certain areas appears to be a good idea while they play behind closed doors, but when you unpack those layers it becomes tricky,” he says. “Do they have the infrastructure to hold all of those people in one city? And if someone got the virus, would they be kicked out like they were on a reality TV show?”

  To appease their own ethical concerns, Naraine believes each league must carefully examine its motives.

  “Think of these decisions as a cost benefit,” he says. “At what point do the leagues feel comfortable enough that the health and safety of everyone involved does not outweigh the benefit of the money they will now get back?”

  As the leagues appear ready to make countless sacrifices in pursuit of revenues, Naraine feels that even with the numerous questions he has raised, buy-in from the public, including himself, will still be strong.

  “While sports may not seem that important at a time like this, it provides an escape,” he says. “We have always had those ingrained opportunities to escape for a few hours in a game or fight, and without that, the realities of our current situations seem to hit us even harder.”

  Brock University Assistant Professor of Sport Management Michael Naraine is available for interviews over the phone or via Skype/Facetime.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Manager Communications and Media Relations, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, or 905-347-1970

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  Categories: Media releases

• Human experience critical for employees working from home, says Brock expert

  Tuesday, April 14, 2020 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 13 April 2020 – R0065

  In an unprecedented era where nearly all knowledge-based employees are working from home, the Dean of Brock University’s Goodman School of Business says the human experience remains important, perhaps now more than ever.

  Goodman Dean Andrew Gaudes has studied telework and crisis management for more than two decades, including writing a master’s thesis on virtual officing during periods of interruption, which examined frameworks for creating telework environments in periods of crisis.

  Gaudes says under normal circumstances, an important element of a distributed work model where employees are working in locations other than the central office is encouraging and supporting ways for workers to come together with others outside their regular work tasks.

  Whether it’s with office neighbours gathering at local coffee shops or at centrally located satellite work centres, the intent is to maintain social interaction and share ideas beyond the daily work routine.

  But when the current response to the COVID-19 pandemic is to advise people to stay apart, how do you encourage that human connection?

  “In our new reality, it’s a persistent challenge to maintain human interaction without human proximity,” says Gaudes. “Now more than ever, it’s important for managers to be creative and reach out to their employees with regular communication, to understand what they may need in terms of resources and support, as well as to create environments where using the technology we are applying towards our work is also applied in supporting social interaction too.”

  Like many others around the world, Gaudes and the roughly 200 faculty and staff of the Goodman School of Business have been operating in a distributed work model for the past four weeks. Across Brock, one of the largest employers in the Niagara region, all but a handful of operational staff are now working remotely.

  Frequent and regular communication, as well as virtual coffee breaks applying office technology, such as Microsoft Teams and Lifesize, has been encouraged.

  “It’s an opportunity to see each other’s faces, discuss daily life and tune out from regular work tasks, if only for a few minutes,” says Gaudes.

  Whether the world returns to ‘business as usual’ weeks or months from now, he expects there will be an increased number of knowledge-based employees working from distributed places, such as their homes.

  “No matter what we’re doing today, and what will change once we’re on the other side of this crisis, there will be a continued need for the human experience,” he says. “As organizations incorporate distributed models of work, they’ll also need to factor in opportunities for people to engage and interact, so they can satisfy the fundamental human need of social interaction.”

   

  Goodman School of Business Dean Andrew Gaudes is available for media interviews.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Manager Communications and Media Relations, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, or 905-347-1970 

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  Categories: Media releases