Mcdonaldization of Olympic's Case
Rosario
MGMT110
Assessment 3
McDonaldization of Olympic's case
I'm going to analyse this case because I want to understand how this process of McDonaldization is affecting the Olympic games in his traditions and who's 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 “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. The athletes were not use to a morning competition and many of them complained about the choice made. But the NBC's 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 NBC's 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. (
MGMT110
Assessment 3
McDonaldization of Olympic's case
I'm going to analyse this case because I want to understand how this process of McDonaldization is affecting the Olympic games in his traditions and who's 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 “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. The athletes were not use to a morning competition and many of them complained about the choice made. But the NBC's 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 NBC's 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. (
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. 4-14. RICHARD SANDOMIR (2003) OLYMPICS; NBC 's Olympic Run Is Extended to 2012 With $2 Billion Bid, Available at: http://www.nytimes.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.