dreamer
Dec 30, 2008 | #1
After doing a half dissertation on Events management, a writer had to leave because this company refused to pay the earlier salary. Posting the half done work here, to prevent it from being used by these baddies.
INTRODUCTION
Event management is a comparatively recent branch of study within the studies of management diversities. Even before it became a part of management studies, with experience, people from medieval days onwards, knew that managing an event flawlessly is no ordinary thing. It needs superb experience, knowhow, controlling capability, planning capacity, perfect use of available man-power and more than anything else, the right use of resources at the planner's disposal. As people started striving hard to reduce confusion and errors in managing an event, event management has really come a long way; but always showing the difficulties inherent in it. Event management, not being recent phenomena, has been interwoven into the culture firmly. Undoubtedly, it has shed its strong cultural hue now; but not totally. It has changed its colours and components within the cultural framework. It is safe to say that the cultural intensity is decreasing, while the materialistic side of the event is showing brighter today.
It is always possible to mistake a regular event management as an ordinary part of work; but, it is much more complex than that. Actually, it has never been an ordinary piece of work, because it needs planning, immaculate processing and execution with perfect flourish. Now it has been guided and almost ruled by the most intricate laws and principles of the modern management schools. It has trained, skilled and experienced teams, internal or external, still all professional, to deal with the event. What used to be exuberant or spontaneous events initially, became planned and drafted events in the medieval times. In the modern ages, it is totally planned and scripted by the people with best possible qualifications. Events today are not just for fun and frolic; they are mainly for a purpose, usually the purpose being targeting a particular audience for further development of any scheme or popularising any brand/name/location/product, is definitely aiming at impressing a particular target audience. And yes, this purpose mostly is undiluted commercialism.
HYPOTHESIS
This study hypothesises that the decision making is the most crucial part of events management. Without the perfect decision making, in the planning period, executing period and the aftermath, it is not possible to conduct the event management successfully and impressively to him the target group and retain its interest.
METHODOLOGY
There is no doubt that primary research data is always better than the secondary, because of the first hand knowledge it provides. It is difficult to get the same feeling of free communication in secondary data. But it is not always easy. Most event makers do not care to hobnob with the students or have the time to interact with others. Event makers are usually a drifting community. They appear only to create a certain event, and once the event is complete, they scatter apart and it is next to impossible to connect with them again, until the next event. It is definitely tough to get the first hand experiences, difficulties and struggle they face during the events, or before the event during the planning period, or even after the event, in winding up without giving the feeling of an abrupt severance, keeping in mind the disillusion and the erasing effect such a severance might produce. But with the experience during this study, it was deduced that focussed interaction with the event managers is impossibility, despite participating in the events, making prior appointments and being there at given time. Practically from their point of view, it is very difficult for them to dedicate time for researchers during and after the event, although the study could find out that email correspondence with the decision makers before the event, during the planning period, was far easier.
PRIMARY DATA
I have taken the following steps to collect the primary data from the participants and the decision makers.
1. I have created a structured, pertinent questionnaire that I distributed in the event conducted in London. This questionnaire had two parts and the first part was addressed to the event creators and the second part, to 20 members of the audience. I chose three events for this purpose:
a) An Asian event celebrating Hindu cultural and religious life held in the Indian High Commission, London;
b. A celebration of the achievements of women graduates over the decades, held in Turnbull Hall, Glasgow, arranged by the British Women Graduates Association.
c. An event held by the Fashion industry to showcase the recent fashion creations that had no cultural boundaries.
2. Wherever possible, I have tried to conduct personal interviews, sometimes, only for a few minutes. But I have made sincere effort to establish personal rapport with the interviewees and have received positive replies.
3. Before the events, I have fixed appointments, after introducing them with my research project and outlining the advantages of a personal interview and a returnable questionnaire.
SECONDARY DATA
I have extensively used the books written on the topic. I have also studied research journals, reports, graphs, articles, newspaper articles etc. I have taken references from most of the research material available in the field. This study depends mainly on the secondary material, despite events management being a recent branch of study and not many books and material are not available in this sphere, at least not yet. I have tried to analyse the research material available. I have tried to show the most important part of the research in the Literature Review. I have tried to reflect on the state of the present research. I have also attempted to show the future research preferences in the field.
Event management is still a field that is in its infancy and is a budding branch of management. It is impossible to find exclusive material connected with decision making of events management. It has become necessary to draw from the management in general to find such material and this has not been a problem. The problem had been finding research material and applicable data for events management itself. Somehow events management remains a highly ill-explored area within the research field. Scholars are more interested in the other branches of management and have steadily ignored the event management. Undoubtedly, this gives extensive scope to the researchers to move further in the field; but it also creates a void in secondary data collection that is very important for any researcher as it is necessary to fall back on the already researched material. Hence, there is a certain amount of 'groping in darkness' exists in this study.
Events management being very recent, the material available is also limited to the recent years. The same applies to the journal material availability. There are no old journals to refer, as event management has not been singled out as a worth-writing subject until recently. There are recent materials; but again, very little is written on the decision making aspect of events management. Most material is limited to the way the events should be managed and the finer features like decision making are yet to come up.
I have prepared the following, short, pertinent questionnaire for the decision makers:
1. Do you see event management as a branch of management, or as a separate entity?
2. Are you trained/skilled in event management exclusively or in general management?
3. How to do find this job? Do you think it is tough?
4. Were you already qualified for the job, or did you learn on the job and continue to do so?
5. Do you take most of the decisions in advance before planning, or during planning, or on the spot as the events unfold? Is it possible to provide a percentage on decision making, accordingly?
6. Which strategy, according to you, is the most beneficial one? Making decisions prior to exact plans, or during the planning period, or during the execution of the events?
7. Do you consult your colleagues in decision making or prefer to depend on your own acumen?
8. Do you consult your superiors, who might not be present at the spot, to arrive at a decision?
9. Do you depend upon the circumstances, or a pre-conceived plan?
10. Have you felt self-gratified on the outcome of your decisions in most occasions?
QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE PARTICIPANTS
1. Did you feel that the event was planned well in advance and all the decisions were already made?
2. Have you felt that the decisions taken in advance have been apt?
3. Did you think that some decisions could have been changed according to the later cropped-up circumstances?
4. Which decisions do you think would have served this particular event better? The carefully considered and planned decisions? Spontaneous decisions on the spot, inspired by the changing circumstances? Or a combination of the two?
5. Did you feel that all the decisions governing the event were made with responsibility?
6. Would you have preferred if more inspiration and imagination had been applied while making such decisions?
7. Did you think that all the decisions were event-perfect? Or did you feel that some decisions could have been changed keeping the speciality of this particular event in mind?
8. Did you get a feeling that confronted with unforeseen problems during the event, the event managers were at a loss to make adjustments in their decisions, or did they take it in their stride?
9. Have the event managers responded in a trained and skilled way to the event's ups and downs without batting an eyelid, or have they been nervous and fumbling?
10. In what way do you think that the event could have been handled better, if the decisions had been different?
During the course of this study, I realised that it is not very easy to get time from the professionals who are travelling from one place to another constantly, trying to keep up with their many events, arranging them, planning or executing them. Researchers are treated more or less as a nuisance although media has been given more respect in view of the possible publicity it could garner. I tried to make friends with some media people and have tried to be with them when they spoke to the event managers. Still, it was not very easy to get their answers to probing questions. Some of the managers tolerated me as they did not want to be considered as impatient by the media.
It is not so difficult with the event participators and most of them were rather eager to point out mistakes or appreciation. They had no problem in expressing their views in all the three events and showed a certain patience and respect for the research I had represented. Their problem had been only the time constraint as they were eager to go away from the events as soon as the event folded up. I had to take help from my friends so that a number of participants could be engaged, as expecting them to wait to be interviewed one after another was absolutely impossible. My friends helped me to get the answers to the questions and as the questions were only ten, it did not reach the point of unpleasantness or impatience. The participants have been frank, clear and pertinent in their views.
LITERATURE REVIEW
We hear of some early event managements in the introduction of a book about Edinburgh festivals and it describes how a small group of music lovers, who were impressed by such music festivals in England, held a similar festival in 1814 in Edinburgh, (Millar, 1996) and the writer goes on describing each event in great detail, where the decision making process is very apparent. In another work, we hear that Morrison made the festival a success, by refusing to consider it as a political project and successfully championing it as a national project and his commitment to the festival ensured the ultimate success, (Rennie, 2007).
The preface of another book on event management says that it was not plain sailing because the event had a lot of opposition from influential people, which was expected, but firmly ignored and he (Peter Maxwell Davies), after conducting it, also decided to continue as the director, (Beasant, 2002). Events and festivals have been increasingly becoming popular in the last three centuries. It is interesting to know how these events were conducted by dedicated managers who handled them very well. One such festival narration says that this particular festival style belonged definitely and squarely to the world of the New Towns, to the piazzas and pedestrian precincts, the espresso bars and community centres, to the little houses etc. and above all, to the official buildings of the post-war Welfare State, (Banham, 1976).
Event management is not risk free. Whatever is the strength of audience, every person adds an element of risk to that event, risk being in the form of food, venue, sound, audience behaviour and Mother Nature could be uncooperative; still it is possible to define, plan and prepare for the risk and mitigate their effects, if not avoid the risk entirely, (Sonder, 2004). Perhaps one of the first countries who conducted such events in the form of feast days and salerooms, especially connected with art and sculpture was Rome. The Old Master exhibitions organised in the seventeenth century Rome were not very different from today's events and despite their purpose being ceremonial, they were also token of opulence, grandeur and the symbols of cultural advancement, (Haskel, 2000). All the events touch people in some way or other. With modern media, they reach all the corners of the world, and have a vaster audience. Events do not happen in a vacuum; but touch every aspect of our lives, cultural, economic, environmental and political and the benefits spread far and wide, (Allen et al, 2002).
Today, events management has taken a new and progressive turn and events managers can be sure of a very bright future, without any looking back. Their future is secure and ripe with promise due to several factors like growth of two-income families, service industry, education, employment, awareness, information explosion and a culture of enjoyment, (Goldblatt, 2002). Event planning managers and companies have to deal with multiple risks and deadlines and have to keep many decisions in view in case the first decision fails, as the accuracy has to go hand in hand with the reconciliation without being stubborn, (Allen, 2005).
All agree that decision making, is a skill, acquired, trained or born with, like that of an acclaimed and powerful leader. These skills are usually used to solve any problem that crops up during managing an action course, which need not be necessarily event management alone, although here we are trying to apply the decision making principles and rules to the event management. It is definitely connected with the time management. Time management need not necessarily mean that working within the time frame and not wasting a single minute of it. That is the accepted meaning. Still there is another meaning which says, doing the work at an appropriate time, according to a planned schedule, is also time management. If the success is absolutely ensured, a deviation from the scheduled time need not worry any manager. Leaving everything to fate and chance and not keeping a tag on the time can definitely worry him. Also hoping that things will develop on their own too could be wrong. The manager's decision making should naturally take the time management into consideration as one of the criterion.
There is no doubt that in recent years an additional branch of Events Industry has come into existence. Entertaining events were created to downplay the Protestant Work Ethics so that the participants are not guilty of 'sinful pleasure' that comes by ignoring the real work, event industry has been shaped which combines popular homespun amateur entertainment and pleasure seeking, (Wood, 1982, p.15), cited in Bowdin et al (2005, p.7). Bank holidays, additional holidays, jubilee celebrations, achievement events, historical event celebrations, commemoratory celebrations monarchical connections, traditional events all come under this category.
In recent years, the workload through industrialisation has increased to the extent of forgetting celebratory life, because either people lack the time, or they are too tired to respond and commercial celebrations within the framework of the employment provide relief, outlet, and an opportunity to relax without feeling guilty about it as work interference is negligible in such events, Bowdin et al (2005, ibid). `
Decision making is always done whenever choices are being faced and all the choices cannot be adapted. Decision making either by individuals or by the organisations is definitely an ongoing and perpetual activity; but only certain decisions become important to the society, (Castles et al, 1971). To event management, both individual and organisational divisions are necessary and some decisions not only become important, but also become precedents for further events. Here, we should take into consideration the leadership styles of different individuals. In many cases centralised organisational behaviour could be more effective, because many situations might require quick action and personal communication could be physically difficult and time-consuming, (Heller, 1971). But the individual factor, where individuals rate self-gratification very high, has to be considered in any decision making, more so in event management. A decision maker, who could have limitations in computer use, memory, avoiding mistakes etc. still could be effective if people around the individual are used to her limitations and almost predict them, (Gilboa and Schmeidler, 2001).
Whatever the self-satisfaction or self-gratification plagues the individual decision-making process, it is important for us to keep in mind the psychology of it all. Decision making depends a lot on the personality and the psychological attitude of the decision maker and this fact is undeniable. Decision making is a sequence of events like diagnosis, action selection and implementation and parts of prescriptive theory and behavioural theories are applied to decision making, now research leading to the second generation of these theories, (Beach and Connolly, 2005). Most of the event management is conducted by highly placed individuals and trained managers and the psychology of it could always be seen. The manager, who can manage, cope, who can 'keep his head above water', can perform well as a manager of the event, with some organisational back-up. Decision making is one of the most important parts in the range of managerial activity while they get used to the interpersonal, informational and decision roles as a routine. There are many types of decisions like dependent and independent decisions and some are connected with the past and future decisions. Sometimes past decisions have determined the constraints and compulsions of the present decision, which will eventually influence the future decisions and history, cannot be completely eliminated here, (Cooke and Slack, 1984).
At the same time, it is necessary to recognise the ever-changing world of business management, including the events management. Event management is absolutely mercurial as it looks towards future, despite being supported by the past. Also it has acquired great importance to the business side of the management today, as the events are the show cases for the present as well as the future. Hence, decision making, which is roughly choosing one course of action above the other, and finding the most suitable course of action under the circumstances as an answer to the problems posed by a changing world, could be the most important activity in the business, (Cyert, 1970). Some scholars proclaim that the decision should be broken into sequences to avoid errors. Now this might not be possible in event management, because in the life of any business, event management is not a permanent event, but a transitory moment, however important it could be. So the decision making should be swift and as perfect as possible. If the decision cannot be broken down into a sequence, but is guided entirely by the necessity, it is necessary to arrive at it right first time, (Bridge and Dodds, 1975). There are writers who argue that if the decision making rules are not shrouded by the technical language, the process could improve even further. Even though there is no doubt that the decision making has become practical, more sophisticated with modern techniques, all the new methods developed b y specialists are not adequately explained in simple language, (Carsberg, 1975).
From whichever angle one looks at the business making process in the event management segment, it is necessary to point out that maintaining strategic equilibrium while making decisions is an absolute necessity. There is no doubt that managers have a deep commitment to their own beliefs which are, according to them, make the right choice and here their cultural and religious beliefs are significant; but these emotional attachments should never be allowed to come in the way of making the most beneficial decisions to maintain the strategic equilibrium, (Donaldson, 1983).
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
1. Allen, Judy (2005), Event Planning, John Wiley, Etobicoke, Canada, p.118.
2. Allen, Johnny et al (2002), Festival and Special Event Management, John Wiley, Milton, p.25.
3. Bowdin, G.A.J. (2005), Event Management, Oxford, Elseveir, p.21.
4. Bridge, J. and Dodds, J.C. (1975), Managerial Decision Making, Croom Helm, London, p. 52.
5. Beach, Lee Roy and Connolly, Terry (2005), The Psychology of Decision Making, Sage Publications, London, p. 13.
6. Beasant, Pamela (2002), St. Magnus Festival, A Celebration, The Orcadian, Kirkwal.
7. Banham, Mary and Hillier, Bevis (1976), A Tonic to the Nation, Thames and Hudson, London, p.9.
8. Castles, F.G. et al (1971), Decisions, Organizations and Society, Penguin books limited, Hammondsworth, p.7.
9. Carsberg, Bryan (1975), Economics of Business Decisions, Penguin, Hammondsworth, p. 15.
10. Cyert, Richard M. and Welsch, Lawrence A. (1970), Management Decision Making, Penguin Books, London, p. 67.
11. Cooke, Steve and Slack, Nigel (1984), Making Management Decisions, London, Prentice Hall, P. 24.
12. Donaldson, Gordon and Lorsch, Jay W. (1983), Decision Making at the top, New York, Basic Books Inc., p. 111.
13. Gilboa, Itzhak and Schmeidler, David (2001), A Theory of Case-Based Decisions, Cambridge University Press, p.18.
14. Goldblatt, Joe (2002), Special Events, John Wiley & Sons, New York, p. xiv.
15. Heller, Frank A. (1971), Managerial Decision-Making, London, Tavistock, p. xxi.
16. Haskell, Francis (2000), The Ephemeral Museum, New Haven, Yale University Press, p. 8.
17. Millar, Eileen (1996), The Edinburgh International Festival, Ashgate, Brookfield, p. xi.
18. Rennie, Paul (2007), Festival of Britain, Web Design Ltd., London, p.16.
19. Sonder, Mark (2004), Event Entertainment and Production, John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey, p. 218.
Event Management Dissertation
INTRODUCTION
Event management is a comparatively recent branch of study within the studies of management diversities. Even before it became a part of management studies, with experience, people from medieval days onwards, knew that managing an event flawlessly is no ordinary thing. It needs superb experience, knowhow, controlling capability, planning capacity, perfect use of available man-power and more than anything else, the right use of resources at the planner's disposal. As people started striving hard to reduce confusion and errors in managing an event, event management has really come a long way; but always showing the difficulties inherent in it. Event management, not being recent phenomena, has been interwoven into the culture firmly. Undoubtedly, it has shed its strong cultural hue now; but not totally. It has changed its colours and components within the cultural framework. It is safe to say that the cultural intensity is decreasing, while the materialistic side of the event is showing brighter today.It is always possible to mistake a regular event management as an ordinary part of work; but, it is much more complex than that. Actually, it has never been an ordinary piece of work, because it needs planning, immaculate processing and execution with perfect flourish. Now it has been guided and almost ruled by the most intricate laws and principles of the modern management schools. It has trained, skilled and experienced teams, internal or external, still all professional, to deal with the event. What used to be exuberant or spontaneous events initially, became planned and drafted events in the medieval times. In the modern ages, it is totally planned and scripted by the people with best possible qualifications. Events today are not just for fun and frolic; they are mainly for a purpose, usually the purpose being targeting a particular audience for further development of any scheme or popularising any brand/name/location/product, is definitely aiming at impressing a particular target audience. And yes, this purpose mostly is undiluted commercialism.
HYPOTHESIS
This study hypothesises that the decision making is the most crucial part of events management. Without the perfect decision making, in the planning period, executing period and the aftermath, it is not possible to conduct the event management successfully and impressively to him the target group and retain its interest.
METHODOLOGY
There is no doubt that primary research data is always better than the secondary, because of the first hand knowledge it provides. It is difficult to get the same feeling of free communication in secondary data. But it is not always easy. Most event makers do not care to hobnob with the students or have the time to interact with others. Event makers are usually a drifting community. They appear only to create a certain event, and once the event is complete, they scatter apart and it is next to impossible to connect with them again, until the next event. It is definitely tough to get the first hand experiences, difficulties and struggle they face during the events, or before the event during the planning period, or even after the event, in winding up without giving the feeling of an abrupt severance, keeping in mind the disillusion and the erasing effect such a severance might produce. But with the experience during this study, it was deduced that focussed interaction with the event managers is impossibility, despite participating in the events, making prior appointments and being there at given time. Practically from their point of view, it is very difficult for them to dedicate time for researchers during and after the event, although the study could find out that email correspondence with the decision makers before the event, during the planning period, was far easier.
PRIMARY DATA
I have taken the following steps to collect the primary data from the participants and the decision makers.
1. I have created a structured, pertinent questionnaire that I distributed in the event conducted in London. This questionnaire had two parts and the first part was addressed to the event creators and the second part, to 20 members of the audience. I chose three events for this purpose:
a) An Asian event celebrating Hindu cultural and religious life held in the Indian High Commission, London;
b. A celebration of the achievements of women graduates over the decades, held in Turnbull Hall, Glasgow, arranged by the British Women Graduates Association.
c. An event held by the Fashion industry to showcase the recent fashion creations that had no cultural boundaries.
2. Wherever possible, I have tried to conduct personal interviews, sometimes, only for a few minutes. But I have made sincere effort to establish personal rapport with the interviewees and have received positive replies.
3. Before the events, I have fixed appointments, after introducing them with my research project and outlining the advantages of a personal interview and a returnable questionnaire.
SECONDARY DATA
I have extensively used the books written on the topic. I have also studied research journals, reports, graphs, articles, newspaper articles etc. I have taken references from most of the research material available in the field. This study depends mainly on the secondary material, despite events management being a recent branch of study and not many books and material are not available in this sphere, at least not yet. I have tried to analyse the research material available. I have tried to show the most important part of the research in the Literature Review. I have tried to reflect on the state of the present research. I have also attempted to show the future research preferences in the field.
Event management is still a field that is in its infancy and is a budding branch of management. It is impossible to find exclusive material connected with decision making of events management. It has become necessary to draw from the management in general to find such material and this has not been a problem. The problem had been finding research material and applicable data for events management itself. Somehow events management remains a highly ill-explored area within the research field. Scholars are more interested in the other branches of management and have steadily ignored the event management. Undoubtedly, this gives extensive scope to the researchers to move further in the field; but it also creates a void in secondary data collection that is very important for any researcher as it is necessary to fall back on the already researched material. Hence, there is a certain amount of 'groping in darkness' exists in this study.
Events management being very recent, the material available is also limited to the recent years. The same applies to the journal material availability. There are no old journals to refer, as event management has not been singled out as a worth-writing subject until recently. There are recent materials; but again, very little is written on the decision making aspect of events management. Most material is limited to the way the events should be managed and the finer features like decision making are yet to come up.
I have prepared the following, short, pertinent questionnaire for the decision makers:
1. Do you see event management as a branch of management, or as a separate entity?
2. Are you trained/skilled in event management exclusively or in general management?
3. How to do find this job? Do you think it is tough?
4. Were you already qualified for the job, or did you learn on the job and continue to do so?
5. Do you take most of the decisions in advance before planning, or during planning, or on the spot as the events unfold? Is it possible to provide a percentage on decision making, accordingly?
6. Which strategy, according to you, is the most beneficial one? Making decisions prior to exact plans, or during the planning period, or during the execution of the events?
7. Do you consult your colleagues in decision making or prefer to depend on your own acumen?
8. Do you consult your superiors, who might not be present at the spot, to arrive at a decision?
9. Do you depend upon the circumstances, or a pre-conceived plan?
10. Have you felt self-gratified on the outcome of your decisions in most occasions?
QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE PARTICIPANTS
1. Did you feel that the event was planned well in advance and all the decisions were already made?
2. Have you felt that the decisions taken in advance have been apt?
3. Did you think that some decisions could have been changed according to the later cropped-up circumstances?
4. Which decisions do you think would have served this particular event better? The carefully considered and planned decisions? Spontaneous decisions on the spot, inspired by the changing circumstances? Or a combination of the two?
5. Did you feel that all the decisions governing the event were made with responsibility?
6. Would you have preferred if more inspiration and imagination had been applied while making such decisions?
7. Did you think that all the decisions were event-perfect? Or did you feel that some decisions could have been changed keeping the speciality of this particular event in mind?
8. Did you get a feeling that confronted with unforeseen problems during the event, the event managers were at a loss to make adjustments in their decisions, or did they take it in their stride?
9. Have the event managers responded in a trained and skilled way to the event's ups and downs without batting an eyelid, or have they been nervous and fumbling?
10. In what way do you think that the event could have been handled better, if the decisions had been different?
During the course of this study, I realised that it is not very easy to get time from the professionals who are travelling from one place to another constantly, trying to keep up with their many events, arranging them, planning or executing them. Researchers are treated more or less as a nuisance although media has been given more respect in view of the possible publicity it could garner. I tried to make friends with some media people and have tried to be with them when they spoke to the event managers. Still, it was not very easy to get their answers to probing questions. Some of the managers tolerated me as they did not want to be considered as impatient by the media.
It is not so difficult with the event participators and most of them were rather eager to point out mistakes or appreciation. They had no problem in expressing their views in all the three events and showed a certain patience and respect for the research I had represented. Their problem had been only the time constraint as they were eager to go away from the events as soon as the event folded up. I had to take help from my friends so that a number of participants could be engaged, as expecting them to wait to be interviewed one after another was absolutely impossible. My friends helped me to get the answers to the questions and as the questions were only ten, it did not reach the point of unpleasantness or impatience. The participants have been frank, clear and pertinent in their views.
LITERATURE REVIEW
We hear of some early event managements in the introduction of a book about Edinburgh festivals and it describes how a small group of music lovers, who were impressed by such music festivals in England, held a similar festival in 1814 in Edinburgh, (Millar, 1996) and the writer goes on describing each event in great detail, where the decision making process is very apparent. In another work, we hear that Morrison made the festival a success, by refusing to consider it as a political project and successfully championing it as a national project and his commitment to the festival ensured the ultimate success, (Rennie, 2007).
The preface of another book on event management says that it was not plain sailing because the event had a lot of opposition from influential people, which was expected, but firmly ignored and he (Peter Maxwell Davies), after conducting it, also decided to continue as the director, (Beasant, 2002). Events and festivals have been increasingly becoming popular in the last three centuries. It is interesting to know how these events were conducted by dedicated managers who handled them very well. One such festival narration says that this particular festival style belonged definitely and squarely to the world of the New Towns, to the piazzas and pedestrian precincts, the espresso bars and community centres, to the little houses etc. and above all, to the official buildings of the post-war Welfare State, (Banham, 1976).
Event management is not risk free. Whatever is the strength of audience, every person adds an element of risk to that event, risk being in the form of food, venue, sound, audience behaviour and Mother Nature could be uncooperative; still it is possible to define, plan and prepare for the risk and mitigate their effects, if not avoid the risk entirely, (Sonder, 2004). Perhaps one of the first countries who conducted such events in the form of feast days and salerooms, especially connected with art and sculpture was Rome. The Old Master exhibitions organised in the seventeenth century Rome were not very different from today's events and despite their purpose being ceremonial, they were also token of opulence, grandeur and the symbols of cultural advancement, (Haskel, 2000). All the events touch people in some way or other. With modern media, they reach all the corners of the world, and have a vaster audience. Events do not happen in a vacuum; but touch every aspect of our lives, cultural, economic, environmental and political and the benefits spread far and wide, (Allen et al, 2002).
Today, events management has taken a new and progressive turn and events managers can be sure of a very bright future, without any looking back. Their future is secure and ripe with promise due to several factors like growth of two-income families, service industry, education, employment, awareness, information explosion and a culture of enjoyment, (Goldblatt, 2002). Event planning managers and companies have to deal with multiple risks and deadlines and have to keep many decisions in view in case the first decision fails, as the accuracy has to go hand in hand with the reconciliation without being stubborn, (Allen, 2005).
All agree that decision making, is a skill, acquired, trained or born with, like that of an acclaimed and powerful leader. These skills are usually used to solve any problem that crops up during managing an action course, which need not be necessarily event management alone, although here we are trying to apply the decision making principles and rules to the event management. It is definitely connected with the time management. Time management need not necessarily mean that working within the time frame and not wasting a single minute of it. That is the accepted meaning. Still there is another meaning which says, doing the work at an appropriate time, according to a planned schedule, is also time management. If the success is absolutely ensured, a deviation from the scheduled time need not worry any manager. Leaving everything to fate and chance and not keeping a tag on the time can definitely worry him. Also hoping that things will develop on their own too could be wrong. The manager's decision making should naturally take the time management into consideration as one of the criterion.
There is no doubt that in recent years an additional branch of Events Industry has come into existence. Entertaining events were created to downplay the Protestant Work Ethics so that the participants are not guilty of 'sinful pleasure' that comes by ignoring the real work, event industry has been shaped which combines popular homespun amateur entertainment and pleasure seeking, (Wood, 1982, p.15), cited in Bowdin et al (2005, p.7). Bank holidays, additional holidays, jubilee celebrations, achievement events, historical event celebrations, commemoratory celebrations monarchical connections, traditional events all come under this category.
In recent years, the workload through industrialisation has increased to the extent of forgetting celebratory life, because either people lack the time, or they are too tired to respond and commercial celebrations within the framework of the employment provide relief, outlet, and an opportunity to relax without feeling guilty about it as work interference is negligible in such events, Bowdin et al (2005, ibid). `
Decision making is always done whenever choices are being faced and all the choices cannot be adapted. Decision making either by individuals or by the organisations is definitely an ongoing and perpetual activity; but only certain decisions become important to the society, (Castles et al, 1971). To event management, both individual and organisational divisions are necessary and some decisions not only become important, but also become precedents for further events. Here, we should take into consideration the leadership styles of different individuals. In many cases centralised organisational behaviour could be more effective, because many situations might require quick action and personal communication could be physically difficult and time-consuming, (Heller, 1971). But the individual factor, where individuals rate self-gratification very high, has to be considered in any decision making, more so in event management. A decision maker, who could have limitations in computer use, memory, avoiding mistakes etc. still could be effective if people around the individual are used to her limitations and almost predict them, (Gilboa and Schmeidler, 2001).
Whatever the self-satisfaction or self-gratification plagues the individual decision-making process, it is important for us to keep in mind the psychology of it all. Decision making depends a lot on the personality and the psychological attitude of the decision maker and this fact is undeniable. Decision making is a sequence of events like diagnosis, action selection and implementation and parts of prescriptive theory and behavioural theories are applied to decision making, now research leading to the second generation of these theories, (Beach and Connolly, 2005). Most of the event management is conducted by highly placed individuals and trained managers and the psychology of it could always be seen. The manager, who can manage, cope, who can 'keep his head above water', can perform well as a manager of the event, with some organisational back-up. Decision making is one of the most important parts in the range of managerial activity while they get used to the interpersonal, informational and decision roles as a routine. There are many types of decisions like dependent and independent decisions and some are connected with the past and future decisions. Sometimes past decisions have determined the constraints and compulsions of the present decision, which will eventually influence the future decisions and history, cannot be completely eliminated here, (Cooke and Slack, 1984).
At the same time, it is necessary to recognise the ever-changing world of business management, including the events management. Event management is absolutely mercurial as it looks towards future, despite being supported by the past. Also it has acquired great importance to the business side of the management today, as the events are the show cases for the present as well as the future. Hence, decision making, which is roughly choosing one course of action above the other, and finding the most suitable course of action under the circumstances as an answer to the problems posed by a changing world, could be the most important activity in the business, (Cyert, 1970). Some scholars proclaim that the decision should be broken into sequences to avoid errors. Now this might not be possible in event management, because in the life of any business, event management is not a permanent event, but a transitory moment, however important it could be. So the decision making should be swift and as perfect as possible. If the decision cannot be broken down into a sequence, but is guided entirely by the necessity, it is necessary to arrive at it right first time, (Bridge and Dodds, 1975). There are writers who argue that if the decision making rules are not shrouded by the technical language, the process could improve even further. Even though there is no doubt that the decision making has become practical, more sophisticated with modern techniques, all the new methods developed b y specialists are not adequately explained in simple language, (Carsberg, 1975).
From whichever angle one looks at the business making process in the event management segment, it is necessary to point out that maintaining strategic equilibrium while making decisions is an absolute necessity. There is no doubt that managers have a deep commitment to their own beliefs which are, according to them, make the right choice and here their cultural and religious beliefs are significant; but these emotional attachments should never be allowed to come in the way of making the most beneficial decisions to maintain the strategic equilibrium, (Donaldson, 1983).
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