INFORMATION BRIEF No. 130 | Apr 2025

By Alistair Collier | The Business of Golf Magazine

Dear Club Manager, Director of Golf, Course Superintendent,

MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES, STRATEGY AND SUSTAINABILITY

Peter Drucker, through his work in the field of management and often referred to as the “father of modern management,” emphasised the following insights: management is not simply about overseeing people or tasks, but about setting objectives, organising resources, and ensuring that actions align with the long-term goals of the organisation

Drucker also stressed that effectiveness — doing the right things — is more important than efficiency — doing things right.

In addition, Drucker emphasised that innovation is central to an organisation’s survival and success.

He argued that managers must be forward-thinking, encouraging innovation not only in products and services, but also in processes, organisational structures, and even corporate culture.

Essentially, he placed great emphasis on the human element of management.

Furthermore, he argued that organisations should distribute decision-making authority, enabling managers at all levels to take responsibility for their areas of operation, and that organisations should measure success based on sustainable growth, and value creation over time, rather than just chasing immediate gains.

In his book, Balanced Score Card Step-By-Step by Paul R Niven, which was published in 2006, Niven wrote about a deceptively simple methodology developed by Robert Kaplan and David Norton in the early 1990’s, which, keeping in mind the managerial insights by Peter Drucker, translated an organisation’s strategy into performance objectives, measures, targets, and initiatives in four balanced perspectives: Financial, Customer, Internal Process, and Employee Learning and Growth.

Organisations around the globe have subsequently embraced the ‘Balanced Scorecard’, and reaped swift benefits from its commonsense principles.

These benefits include increased financial returns, greater employee alignment with overall goals, improved collaboration, sustainability, and an unrelenting focus on strategy, to name just a few.

The principle of “sustainability”, or “sustainable development”, is not a new concept, as it has been around since the late 20^th Century, with the publication of the Brundtland Report in 1987.

With the increasing centrality of sustainability (ESG) principles within organisations, including golf clubs, there is even more importance to incorporating these sustainability principles into a club’s strategy, which principles already incorporate many of the abovementioned Drucker insights.

The recently published 18^th edition of the John Collier Annual Survey again reviews the “state of golf” in South Africa and culminates in the annual announcement of the SUSTAINABILITY TOP CLUB of South Africa, and other sustainability winners on World Environment Day on 5 June.

This process provides valuable guidance to clubs, provincial golf unions and regulatory bodies to continue their journey of strengthening a golf organisation’s current strategy, by incorporating the sustainability principles into that strategy.

In this regard as mentioned above, Niven emphasised a deceptively simple methodology of strategy maps, which the John Collier team would be able to assist golf organisations in building.

If you have any queries, why not contact the John Collier Golf through our website or via email ajcollier@telkomsa.net?

Yours in Sustainable Golf
JOHN COLLIER