The quota strategy has failed so many

05 May 2015 - 10:31 By Prof Ross Tucker

Transformation of South African sport is non-negotiable and crucial, for both socio-cultural objectives and high performance goals. Previously, I explained that we, the disgruntled SA sporting public, must adjust our mindsets towards encouraging transformation, rather than grudgingly accepting it as a necessary evil.However, what we should not embrace is the execution of transformation we have witnessed in the form of clumsy quotas and enforced selections. It has failed so many, most recently Kyle Abbott, Vernon Philander and SA cricket.Aside from the absence of a clear strategy, failed leadership has delivered half-truths and deception that serve only to confuse and disillusion, rather than to achieve important objectives. Even a bad solution is survivable if it is communicated clearly, but we have not achieved even that standard.From the business world, a theory helps explain why the forced inclusion (and exclusion - remember that team selections are a "zero sum game" - Player A's selection means Player B's exclusion) is bad for team performance. It has been found that successful company teams share a characteristic known as binding.That is, they are bound for both purpose and membership. Both are the function of leadership, which must provide team members with a purpose that is greater than the individuals, and very clear membership criteria and security.A failure of either undermines the collective performance of the team. For membership, binding means clearly identifying who is part of the team, and what the "entry requirement" is.Without this, there is insecurity and confusion over roles, and a lack of confidence in what each team member provides.National sporting teams are perhaps the ultimate examples of closed teams, because players earn their way through a competitive hierarchy to be selected.Therefore, it shouldn't be surprising that, perhaps even more than business, sports teams are subject to these factors.The quota systems that our leaders have clumsily implemented undermine this membership binding - it is the single biggest failing of the execution of an important, potentially good concept in elite South African sport.But that's on the elite team level. Even more problematic is that forcing a demographic mix onto the best 30 players of a sport does little to change the long-term prognosis for that sport.I'm not convinced it does damage - though examples such as Kevin Pietersen may change that - but it certainly doesn't help.It's analogous to painting a house whose foundations are collapsing. South African sport's problem is that our political history created "haves" and "have nots" and we haven't yet found a way to convert one into the other.Quota systems at the school level are not the solution either, though this is often argued by those who would rather shift quotas from the pinnacle teams (the Boks, for instance) to schools.This doesn't work because it's human nature to respond to what is measured, and so if a school system, like a provincial rugby team at Craven Week level, is being measured purely on the basis of black representation, then it will clear that bar, but go no higher.I recently had an enlightening conversation with two schoolteachers who double as coaches for a primary school rugby team.They related the process by which the "haves" among coaches and established schools approach quotas - they pick as many "merit" players as they can, and then they fill the designated quota slots with the biggest, fastest and best short-term solutions.There is no re-allocation of resources, no intelligent selection or investment in long-term development, only the meeting of targets that pacify everyone.Why do more, especially if you're unhappy at having your team selection forced? In a quota system, resentment and incentive drive behaviour.Meanwhile, at senior level, the quantity and quality of available black players is not increased, because the resource allocation (skill, human, time, competition) is insufficient at junior level.Quotas fail, therefore, because the wrong incentives exist, and from bottom to top, short-term goals plus resentment mean the "have nots" are only ever pacified, never truly supported.The solution is to change the incentive balance, and that's what we'll examine next time!..

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