ABSTRACT
Human resource management is much more than recruitment and selection of staff and volunteers; it is a wide-ranging activity, involved with long term strategic development of the event organization. The expected outcome of this is a positive culture of commitment and cooperation developed in the process of managing the workforce. In the event business, there are diverse non-traditional employment contracts, and an extraordinarily complex workforce which needs to be integrated into one body working towards the same purpose and goals. For a mega event this collaboration and cohesion needs to occur over a long and stressful planning period which can take four years or more. It is entirely conceivable that the planning team becomes frustrated, particularly during the periods when the media is critical about issues such as budget overruns, and alternative options (jobs, lifestyle changes) are considered. In fact, a serious consideration for event human resource managers is the possibility that key staff will bail out shortly before a megaevent in order to avoid competing with peers in a flooded employment market soon after the event. One can easily conceive of an event where the infrastructure is not complete and the venues are still being constructed in the final days before opening. In the same
way, human resources strategies can fail to meet their objectives and the human side of the event can spiral into disaster very quickly. The human version of the wet concrete syndrome must be avoided at all costs; people must be confident and ready to meet the opening deadline. One of the key lessons and recommendations from the Manchester Commonwealth Games Report (2003: 78) was that
timely procurement of contractors and monitoring their recruitment are two crucial components of Games delivery for the accreditation team. This group, the biggest in terms of volume, need to be carefully monitored as their overall management can affect the effectiveness of the Games.
