Management in Physical Education I: Management, its Principles and Theories, its Scope in Physical Education and Sports, the Guiding Principles for Organising Programmes in Institutions, Personnel Management with Self-Appraisal, Communication, Time Management and the Essential Skills of Administration, and Financial Management with Budgeting, the Mechanics of Purchase and Auditing

The scope of management in physical education and sport covers programme planning (class, intramural, extramural, adapted and recreational programmes), personnel (teachers, coaches, officials, ground staff, volunteers), finance and budgeting, facilities and equipment, scheduling and the time-table, competitions and events, health and safety, records, public relations and marketing, evaluation and, increasingly, sponsorship, broadcasting and the business of professional sport. The guiding principles for organising physical education and sports programmes in an institution are that the programme should be based on the objectives of education and the needs and interests of pupils; provide equal opportunity for all, including girls and pupils with disabilities; give a balanced programme of class instruction, intramurals for all and extramurals for the skilled; be staffed by qualified personnel; have adequate time, facilities, equipment and budget; ensure safety, medical examination and insurance; be organised democratically, with clear lines of authority and delegation; co-operate with the community and parents; and be evaluated regularly.

Personnel management is the part of management concerned with people at work: obtaining, developing, motivating and retaining a competent staff. Its objectives are to recruit and select suitable staff, to place and orient them, to train and develop them, to appraise their performance fairly, to reward and motivate them, to maintain good working relationships and morale, and to ensure their welfare and safety. Its principles are that people should be selected on merit for clearly defined jobs; that authority and responsibility should go together; that staff should be treated fairly and consistently and consulted on decisions that affect them; that good work should be recognised; that there should be opportunities for growth; and that communication should run both ways. In a physical education department this means clear job descriptions for teachers, coaches, groundsmen and office staff, a fair distribution of teaching, coaching and supervision duties, in-service training and refresher courses, and recognition of achievement.

Self-appraisal is the systematic evaluation by a staff member of his or her own performance, strengths and weaknesses against the objectives of the job, often before a discussion with the supervisor; it encourages reflection, ownership and professional growth. Communication is the transfer of meaning from a sender through a channel to a receiver, who responds with feedback; it may be verbal or non-verbal, written or oral, formal or informal, and upward, downward or lateral. Barriers include noise, jargon, status differences, poor listening and emotional states; effective messages are often summed up as the seven Cs: clear, concise, concrete, correct, coherent, complete and courteous. Time management means setting goals and priorities, planning the day and week, delegating, avoiding time-wasters (unnecessary meetings, interruptions, procrastination) and distinguishing the urgent from the important, as in the Eisenhower matrix; the Pareto principle observes that roughly 80 per cent of results come from 20 per cent of efforts. Robert Katz (1955) named the essential skills of administration as technical skills (knowledge of the specific work, such as coaching, officiating or planning a track), human skills (working with and through people) and conceptual skills (seeing the organisation as a whole and thinking strategically); technical skills matter most at lower levels and conceptual skills most at the top, while human skills are needed at every level.

Financial management in physical education aims to obtain adequate funds, to spend them on the programme's priorities efficiently and honestly, to account for every rupee and to plan for the future. Its principles are that finances are planned in advance through a budget; that expenditure follows approved purposes; that accounts are accurate, transparent and open to audit; that there is a clear separation between those who authorise, make and record payments; and that funds are used for the benefit of all pupils, not a favoured few. The sources of income of a physical education department include government and institutional grants, a games or sports fee paid by students, gate receipts from matches, sponsorship and donations, rent from the use of facilities, and the sale of condemned equipment and scrap.

A budget is a financial plan for a fixed period, usually a year, estimating income and expenditure. Its preparation runs through five stages: preparation (estimating needs from the programme, records of previous years and consultation with staff), presentation (to the head or finance committee with justification), adoption or approval (by the competent authority), administration (spending according to the budget, with records) and appraisal (comparing actual with budgeted figures at the end of the year). A sound budget is balanced, realistic, comprehensive, flexible enough for emergencies, prepared with participation and approved in time. Common types are the line-item or object-of-expenditure budget (amounts for each item such as equipment, travel and refreshments), the performance budget (linked to activities and outputs), the programme budget and the planning–programming–budgeting system (PPBS, developed in the US Department of Defense in the 1960s), and zero-based budgeting (developed by Peter Pyhrr at Texas Instruments around 1970), in which every item must be justified afresh each year rather than carried over.

The mechanics of purchase ensure that equipment and supplies of the right quality are obtained at the right price, openly and accountably. The usual steps are: assessing needs and preparing an indent (requisition) with specifications; obtaining administrative and financial approval; inviting quotations for small purchases or tenders (open, limited or single) for larger ones, as the institution's rules and value limits require; preparing a comparative statement of the offers; decision by a purchase committee, normally for the lowest offer that meets the specifications; issuing a supply order; receiving and inspecting the goods against the order; entering them in the stock register (consumable and non-consumable items separately); and making payment against the bill. Government institutions follow the General Financial Rules 2017 and buy through the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal launched in 2016. Auditing is the independent examination of accounts and records to verify that money has been received and spent correctly and according to rules. Internal audit is carried out continuously by the institution's own staff; external or statutory audit by independent auditors or, for government accounts, under the Comptroller and Auditor General; pre-audit checks a payment before it is made and post-audit after. The physical education department supports audit by keeping cash books, vouchers, bills, stock registers and issue registers up to date.