SOUTHERN Cross University’s Graduate College of Management is helping the registered clubs industry in Australia to stay on top in the economic climate through a tailor made corporate training program.
From the beginning of 2009, the four-day corporate governance program has been offered to all members of the Club Managers Association Australia and is accompanied by joint research by the CMAA and Southern Cross University into corporate governance practices within registered clubs in Australia.
Director of corporate programs for the college, Dr Michael Singleton, says there is a growing demand for professional training programs which could be tailored to suit the specific needs of industry as they battled to stay competitive in difficult economic times.
“As well as exposing employees to a higher level of learning with regard to the chosen area of study, corporate training programs encourage closer relationships between colleagues and can be a fantastic opportunity to network with others in the industry,” says Singleton.
“In this case, a recent review of the registered club industry by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal stressed the need for improved corporate governance in the sector, so the CMAA approached us to provide high quality training that specifically addressed this need.
“The program has been customised but is based on the Graduate College of Management’s new corporate governance unit, so that attendees can also claim one unit of credit towards the master of business administration course should they wish to continue their studies.”
The course examines a wide range of issues in relation to effective corporate governance within the club industry including the contrasting responsibilities of board members and senior management.
CMAA education manager Ralph Kober says the feedback from the pilot cohort of students had been overwhelmingly positive.
“Each club that attended sent both a senior manager and a director, and the response from them all has been tremendous,” says Kober.
“It’s essential for us to skill our managers in the best way to administer their club and also to provide the community and government with assurance that clubs are good corporate citizens.
“We’re excited to have an industry specific course, and Southern Cross University was the obvious choice for this – over 400 of our clubs managers have successfully undertaken studies at the university in the past few years.
“We see both the program and the research as the beginning of a productive long-term relationship.”