The four functions of management planning, organizing, leading, and evaluating provide the book's general framework. This framework, used in the majority of texts written for business students, represents the simplest and best approach for introducing students to the intricacies of management. For each function, Chelladurai presents relevant theories and their practical applications to the actions of sport and physical activity managers, citing those theoretical models that are most appropriate to the unique aspects of the sports industry. He uses the open systems perspective, placing organizations in the context of their environment and emphasizing the manager's role in adapting and reacting to changes in that environment.
To apply theory to sport management practices, Chelladurai provides numerous examples from the fields of physical activity and sports, including professional sports, intercollegiate athletics, health and sports clubs, and nonprofit sports/fitness programs.
Additional highlights of the text include outstanding chapters on leadership by one of the preeminent researchers and scholars in this area; the presentation of the athletic team as an organization, which allows students to grasp organizational theory and relate it to a familiar context; the open systems perspective, which places organizations in the context of their environment and emphasizes the manager's role in adapting and reacting to changes in the environment; and a chapter on managing diversity, which provides a synthesis of the management principles highlighted in the previous chapters and places the concept of the manager as coordinator of diverse resources in the context of the modern workplace.
