Local facility and human resource management in sports: a comparative case study of the situation in Jyväskylä/Finland and Umeå/Sweden

The importance of resource management has grown in recent years. After the financial problems of the Finnish welfare state, sport clubs and administrations had to readjust their economic and sociological orientation. Previous studies have shown the significance of the right usage of available human and facility resources. The present investigation explores if the presence of a sports faculty in a town affects local sport clubs and administrations in their behaviour. To obtain comparable information, data has also been gathered in Umeå, Sweden. The main approach is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with an addition of questionnaires to support the findings.
Examined through qualitative analysis, the results have clearly shown deficits in both cities concerning several management issues, such as time management, strategic management or sport planning. An improvement in all areas is possible, but needs serious collaboration from all involved parties.