A Study on the Adoption of the Six-Sigma Methodology for Improving the Competence of Youth Inline Hockey Coaches

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1 A Study on the Adopton of the Sx-Sgma Methodology for Improvng the Competence of Youth Inlne Hockey Coaches Chen-Hung Wu, Correspondng Author, Assstant Professor, Chung Chou Unversty of Scence and Technology, Tawan ABSTRACT Wth the contnung promoton and marketng of athletc sports, young athletes have more opportuntes to demonstrate ther talent n front of audences around the world. Besdes personal factors, coaches also play an mportant role n the athletc lfe of a young athlete. Ths study attempts to apply the Sx Sgma Methodology to mprove the competence of youth nlne hockey coaches. The present study uses InWEnt s (23) professonal tranng prncples along wth Hung, Huang and Chen s (23) performance analyss matrx for defnng problems to construct a measure ndex. Moreover, the paper also attempts to analyze the reasons for the ncompetence of youth nlne hockey coaches wth a cause-effect dagram and proposes possble solutons for mprovement. Fnally, the competence of youth nlne hockey coaches can be montored through a control process. Keywords: Sx Sgma Methodology, competence of coaches, nlne hockey. INTRODUCTION Wth the contnung promoton and marketng of athletc sports, outstandng young athletes have more opportuntes to demonstrate ther talent and charm and at the same tme challenge human lmts wth extraordnary wllpower and sklls. Besdes personal factors, a coach also plays an mportant role n the athletc lfe of sportsmen. Beng a competent coach means acqurng assorted knowledge of physology, psychology, knematcs, tranng gudance, leadershp management, njury preventon and frst ad as well as professonal sports technques, thus makng coachng a professonal career (Tu, 2). In other words, n order to buld a trustworthy and relable relatonshp wth youth athletes, a coach must be equpped wth a professonal dsposton and character and be able to take all wnnng elements nto consderaton. Over the past decade, studes on professonal gudance and percepton have been on the rse (McCullck, Cummngs, & Schempp, 1999). However, related research on the mprovement of professonal competence of coaches s stll relatvely scarce. Over the past twenty years, when researchng the professonal competence of coaches, two of the most commonly dscussed models were the behavor-orented model (Smoll & Smth, 1989) and the multdmensonal model of leadershp (Chelladura, 199). These two models have gven ground to related studes on the professonal competence of coaches. In recent years, the Sx Sgma Methodology has been prmarly appled to the enhancement of performance (Banuelas, Antony, & Brace, 25; Mkel & Don, 27) and mprovement of servce qualty (Behara, Fontenot & Gresham, 1995; Revere & Black, 23; Antony, 26). In vew of the sgnfcance of the role of a coach to youth athletes and sports teams and to further understand the progress n whch mprovements n professonal competence of a coach take place, ths paper attempts to utlze the Sx Sgma Methodology to probe nto the mprovements n competence of youth nlne hockey coaches through the fve methods of Sx Sgma: defne, measure, 16 The Journal of Global Busness Management Volume 9 * Number 1* February 213

2 analyze, mprove, and control (DMAIC). In such ways, problems regardng mprovement n the competence of youth nlne hockey coaches can be defned and later pnned down and crucal factors n the development of coachng competence can be measured. Furthermore, ths study also ams to analyze related procedures and mportant factors, so as to correct devances. It s hoped that ths study wll serve as a reference for related sports organzatons n ther efforts to mprove the competence of youth nlne hockey coaches. PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE OF COACHES Professonal competence can be defned as the requred knowledge, technques, and abltes for one to acheve certan tasks at work (Bunk, 1994). InWEnt (23) further narrows the defnton to nclude factors such as personal abltes, professonal abltes, socal abltes, and method abltes. And, through the process of career tranng, these four abltes can be ntegrated nto professonal acton competency. Such a vew echoes the emprcal research done by Schempp, McCullck, Busch, Webster and Mason (26), whch emphaszed the fve most mportant trats of coaches, namely sklls, knowledge, personalty trats, command phlosophy, and tools. Therefore, professonal competence actually conssts of specalzed sklls, value, and atttude. Wth plentful resources put nto sport development by many countres, the role of a coach s no longer lmted to passng on knowledge and sklls, but rather beng responsble for also organzng, tranng, and commandng. Thus, far more vared professonal competence s needed. The modern defnton of physcal educaton would consst of sports, health, lesure actvtes, and dancng and can be extended to mean a total of twelve dstnct professonal academc felds n physcal educaton, such as sports phlosophy, sports hstory, sports socology, sports educaton, adapted physcal educaton, sports management, bomechancs, sports physology, sports medcne, movement development, movement learnng, and sports psychology (Wuest & Bucher, 23). Due to the nfluence of coaches on athletes and sports teams, ssues on the professonal competence of coaches are gettng more and more attenton nowadays. From past studes, t s understood that the professonal competence of coaches s determned by the results of performance (Smoll, Smth, Barnett, Everett, 1993; Gould, Gunan, Greenleaf, & Chung, 22; Knowlesa, Borreb, & Telferc, 25) or the professonal developments of coaches (Glbert, Côté, & Mallett, 26). In addton, studes concernng the levels of competence of coaches and the wll to work for coaches between the two genders were carred out n the past (Barber, 1998; Wess & Stevens, 1993). Thereby, a correlaton between the competence of coaches n respect to ther career development and the performance of sports teams can be found. Although Stu (27) emphaszed that whether the focus of management educaton should be placed on generalzaton of sklls or on specaltes; t has been one of the toughest ssues for management scholars to ponder and dspute. Wen (21), however, ponted out that the hgher the level of competence of a coach, the hgher the satsfacton of athletes towards ther competence and team relatonshp. Therefore, mprovements n the competence of coaches are really of sgnfcance; yet regrettably, related studes as to how to boost and mprove coaches' professonal competence stll lack a complete and scentfc methodology. Consequently, ths paper ntends to use the Sx Sgma Methodology as well as mprovements over the competence level of coaches of youth nlne hockey. The Journal of Global Busness Management Volume 9 * Number 1 * February

3 THE SIX SIGMA METHODOLGY The Sx Sgma Methodology was frst ntroduced by Motorola n 1987 wth many corporatons and organzatons followng thereafter. It puts much emphass on qualty control and mprovements n an effort to enhance organzatonal management performance. Accordng to Brue (22), the Sx Sgma Methodology s based on the concept of key qualty of an actvty and fndng the aspects that are of mportance to customers. It s also a statstcal method for evaluatng the process n terms of numbers of falure, ensurng that the number s no more than 3.4 n every one-mllon products. DMAIC (Defne, Measure. Analyze, Improve, Control) s the core of the Sx Sgma Methodology. Although the Sx Sgma Methodology s wdely used n the ndustry sector, t lacks a prncple-based foundaton. Strct Sx Sgma Methodology research requres normalzed, yet dstnctve and usable theores (Lnderman, Schroeder, Zaheer & Choo, 23). Chou (28) also thnks that the promoton actvtes of the Sx Sgma Methodology stll encounter many dffcultes. For nstance, how to carry out feasble Sx Sgma Methodology projects under lmted resources whle selectng the most mportant one. In other words, t s necessary to have a substantal theory-based foundaton to apply the Sg Sgma Methodology n other felds of study. Based on the Sx Sgma (DMAIC) theory, Arthur (24) establshed a seres of technques for mprovng golf sklls, utlzng scentfc analyss along wth the cause-effect analyss chart to study methods for mprovng golf sklls. In fact, f people n charge of sports-related affars could have a better understandng of the Sx Sgma Methodology, t would be very benefcal to enhancng the professonal competence of coaches. For example, sports-related authortes could utlze DMAIC to mprove the competence of youth nlne hockey coaches. Frst, a self-defnton on the competence of youth nlne hockey coaches wll be carred out n the defnng stage. Second, n the evaluaton stage, the am s to determne the dfference between coaches' competence and mportant abltes, so as to analyze whether any mprovements n coaches' competence can be attaned. Fnally, successful experences wll be ncessantly controlled. Due to the lack of artcles on the applcaton of the Sx Sgma Methodology on coaches' competence, ths paper attempts to use Sx Sgma Methodology D (Defne), A (Analyze), M (Measure), I (Improve), C (Control) to probe the mprovements of coaches' competence n youth nlne hockey. Furthermore, we wll use InWEnt s (23) professonal tranng prncples along wth Hung, Huang and Chen s (23) performance analyss matrx to defne problems and thus to construct a measure ndex. Moreover, the paper also attempts to analyze the reasons for ncompetence among youth nlne hockey coaches through a cause-effect dagram and to propose possble solutons for mprovements. The competence of youth nlne hockey coaches can be montored through the control process. Defne Frst, a questonnare was produced based on InWEnt s (23) professonal tranng prncples along wth other relevant lterature; there are 1 aspects wth regard to the profcency of youth nlne hockey coaches. The questonnare s composed of 4 questons. The questonnare s postve n narraton and gves slght adjustments to the wordng accordng to vared characterstcs of the coaches. The questonnare adopts the Lkert 5-level scale and coaches are asked to fll t out accordng to equpped ablty (1 beng not at all competent and 5 beng at master level) and mportant ablty (1 beng not at all mportant and 5 beng extremely mportant). The hgher the score acqured, the hgher the competence level of the coach. The competence scale s shown as follows. 18 The Journal of Global Busness Management Volume 9 * Number 1* February 213

4 Table 1: Competence Scale of Coaches of Youth Inlne Hockey Equpped Ablty Important Ablty 5 Ext. mp 4 Very Imp 3 Average 2 Not mp 1 Unmportant 5 Mastery 4 Very good 3 Average 2 Not Good 1 Incompetent 1. Orgn and development of nlne hockey Understandng the orgn of nlne hockey and ts development trends Understandng technque evoluton and nfluence on revsons of rules/regulatons 2. Prncples on nlne hockey tranng Fundamental knowledge of sports scence Fundamental knowledge of sports management Fundamental knowledge of sports medcne Knowledge of sports tranng nstructons 3. Profcency n basc nlne hockey tranng nstructons Instructons on ball-httng Instructons on puttng Instructons on ball-pckng Instructons on shootng Instructons on defense Instructons on goalkeeper-specfc tranng Instructons on ball-drbblng 4. Physcal tranng and operatons Instructons on explosve force Instructons on muscle strength Instructons on speed Instructons on endurance Instructons on weght tranng Instructons on nterval tranng Instructons on loop tranng Instructons on repettve tranng 5. Applcatons of tactcs and strateges Applcatons of rules and regulatons Applcatons of attack/defense tactcs and strateges for matches 6. Psychologcal tranngs and operaton Instructons on mage tranng Instructons on stress management Instructons on pressure-relef tranng Instructons on focus tranng Instructons on target settng 7. Preventon of sports njury and handlng Understandng sports njury/preventon and handlng emergences The Journal of Global Busness Management Volume 9 * Number 1 * February

5 Equpped Ablty Important Ablty 5 Ext. mp 4 Very Imp 3 Average 2 Not mp 1 Unmportant 5 Mastery 4 Very good 3 Average 2 Not Good 1 Incompetent Management of msconduct of athletes Psychologcal counselng and gudance of players 8. Team management sklls Abltes to draft tranng plans and evaluate performance Abltes to do fnancal management and fnd sponsors to rase funds Abltes to command the team on ste 9. Tranng of sprt and operatons Abltes to pck out elte athletes Abltes to cultvate team sprt and a sense of honor among athletes Abltes to nspre athletes wth the wll to fght and obey 1. Professonal atttudes An aggressve and devoted tranng sprt An modest atttude on revew and learnng An atttude that cares for players' feelngs and deas Next, referrng to the methodology developed by Hung et al (23), ths paper respectvely defnes the ndex on equpped ablty and mportant ablty n accordance wth the 4 tems n Table 1. μx 1 I X (equpped abltes) R μy 1 IY (mportant abltes) R In the collected questonnares, X, Y represents the statstcal average scores of the correspondng queston respectvely, where 1,, 4, R k 1. In ths paper, the 5-level scale was utlzed and therefore the result R 51 4 was obtaned. If I X, then the equpped abltes of all of the coaches are poor, that s, ther profcency qualtes are %. If I X 1, then ther equpped abltes are outstandng as ther profcency qualtes are 1%. If I X.5, then ther equpped abltes are ordnary, meanng ther profcency qualtes are 5%. The nterpretaton of the coaches mportant abltes and profcency qualtes are dentcal; consequently, smlar results could be produced. The performance evaluaton matrx (Fgure 1) concernng the competence of youth nlne hockey coaches s gven below. The ordnate refers to mportant abltes and the abscssa refers to equpped abltes. 11 The Journal of Global Busness Management Volume 9 * Number 1* February 213

6 A 1 B I.5 II C.5 1 Fgure 1: The Performance Evaluaton Matrx Regardng the Competence of Youth Inlne Hockey Coaches The suggestons offered by Hung et al (23) were also consdered n ths research. The reasonable set areas, the orgnal 3 plots, were altered by the area formed by two slant lnes. In ths manner, the problems of I and II could be overcome. The dstance between these two slant lnes s determned by the professonalsm of youth nlne hockey coaches. Ths professonalsm can be further dvded nto ndvdual ablty, expertse, socal ablty, and method ablty. In ths way, necessary major mprovements can be dentfed and addressed; when factors such as personnel cost and tme etc. are taken nto consderaton, the related authorty could also expedtously mprove coaches performances. It could be shown n the performance evaluaton matrx (Fgure 1) that n area A, the coaches competence on mportant abltes s superor to equpped abltes. That s to say, ther core sklls need to be upgraded. If ths crcumstance lasts wthout further alternatons, serous mpact could be created not only on team management but also on match results. In area B, t s argued that the equpped abltes of the coaches are equvalent to the mportant abltes, meanng that the coaches level of competence and the mportance of competence are tantamount. Therefore, ths condton could reman current. In area C, t s shown that the equpped abltes of the coaches are hgher than the mportant abltes, whch explans why the coaches level of competence s superor to the mportance of competence. Consequently, t was lsted as the subordnate core to be emphaszed. After the analyss carred out by superntendents of related sport authortes through the performance evaluaton matrx n ths paper, t could be dscovered that f the result of evaluaton tems s n area A and C, these evaluated tems would be the problems the coaches would need to tackle. Each queston would be the bass of a Sx Sgma project. Besdes, f the superntendents fnd that the results are mostly n areas A and C, t would be arduous to solve both problems smultaneously. Under ths crcumstance, through dsqualfed measurement tems and the dstance between these two slant lnes, t could be demonstrated that the farther the results move to the target area, the more crtcal the stuaton and mprovement s needed. In lght of the concept mentoned above, the superntendents could dscover the key to the competence of the nlne hockey coaches. For the convenence of the superntendents, d s defned as the dstance from the coordnated pont ( IX, I Y ) to ts dagonal lne. Snce the dagonal plotted pont of ( IX, I Y ) s The Journal of Global Busness Management Volume 9 * Number 1 * February

7 I I I I, 2 2 X Y X Y, d, the dstance between two ponts, could be calculated as follows: IX I Y d 2 Consequently, after the numercal value of d s calculated and each tem s sorted, superntendents could mmedately and competently determne mprovements the coaches need to make by adoptng Sx Sgma Methodology. Measure The second step of the Sx Sgma Methodology s Measure. Accordng to the result of the tems of competence, ponts are plotted n the matrx. It s found that the coaches competence could be hgh n equpped abltes but low n mportant abltes; or nferor n equpped abltes but superor n mportant abltes. Followng ths process, the man ponts of mprovement could be specfed and the frst step of the Sx Sgma Methodology, Defne, s completed. The competence of coaches could be ether hgh n the equpped abltes or n mportant abltes; therefore, n (2(a) 2(b)), t s dscovered that the overlappng parts of equpped and mportant abltes are rarely found. There are varous means of desgnng questonnares; nevertheless, the method of Measure stated n ths study could be appled to most of the scales. The nference of Measure n ths paper would be set examples by usng the Lkert 5-level scale. For other knds of scales, famlar results could also be estmated. Equpped abltes Important abltes Equpped abltes Important abltes (a) (b) Fgure2: Hstogram: Varaton n the Profcency Levels of the Youth Inlne Hockey Coaches Equpped Abltes and Important Abltes Fgure 2(a) (blue bar ndcates equpped abltes and red ndcates mportant abltes) clearly shows that the blue bar has a hgher proporton n tems 3, 4 or 5, whle the red bar prefers 1, 2 or 3. Ths result mples that the sgnfcance of the dfferences between the awareness of the equpped abltes and the mportant abltes for the youth nlne hockey coach, and that the equpped abltes are more substantal than the mportant ones. However, n fgure 2(b) the equpped abltes of the coaches profcency are less substantal than the mportant ones, and both of them requre mprovement. Accordng to performance evaluaton matrx theory, f the equpped abltes and the mportant abltes fall n reasonable areas, the hstogram of the profcency,.e. the blue bar for the equpped and the red for the mportant abltes, should nearly overlap (shown as fgure 3), whch means that the equpped and the mportant abltes are equvalent. 112 The Journal of Global Busness Management Volume 9 * Number 1* February 213

8 Equpped abltes Important abltes Fgure 3: The Hstogram of the Equvalent Equpped Abltes and the Important Abltes of Professonal Abltes n Youth nlne Hockey Coaches Table 2: Frequency Dstrbuton Table of the Sample Items Responses 1 k Total Equpped abltes A 1 A A k n Important abltes B 1 B B k n Total C 1 C C k N Accordng to the above concept, ndcator S was defned to measure the dfferences between the ndvdual equpped abltes and mportant abltes. Indcator S represented the dfference between the frequences of the equpped abltes and the mportant abltes n dfferent k scales. The defnton of S s as below: S k 1 A B A and B represents the frequences n dfferent scales. When the S value s relatvely small, the result means that the coaches profcences are good. If S=, t shows that the coaches profcences are excellent, and the entre control system at that moment s flawless. Accordng to the concept of the acceptable areas of the performance evaluaton matrx theory, some dfferences between the equpped abltes and the mportant abltes of the competence for youth nlne hockey coaches are allowed, and they are not necessarly dentcal. If the allowed attrbutable rsk s Δ, the dfferences between the equpped abltes and the mportant abltes of the coaches competence could be assessed whether they are smaller than the allowed dfferences. However, the coaches competence s relatvely dffcult to be equvalent. We hypotheszed that to assess f the result shows S. The hypothess s as below: H : S HA : S (1) s the sum of a number (k) of the dfferences between A and B. If w represents the rato of the dfferences between the equpped abltes and the mportant abltes of a certan tem (), then k 1 w 1 and A B ws w, whle 1,..., k. As a result, k S A B w. 1 1 k The Journal of Global Busness Management Volume 9 * Number 1 * February

9 From the above n accordance wth the weghted formula ( w ) we re-wrote the hypothess test (1) as below: H : A B w, whle all 1,..., k. H A : A B w, whle partly 1,..., k. Whle, hypothess test (2) was equvalent to the followng: H : A B, whle all 1,..., k. (3) H A : reject H In terms of hypothess testng (3), the test statstc can be referred to Pearson s goodness of ft test (cf. Desu (23)). In hypothess test (3), when the test statstc s close to the k 1 degrees of freedom n 2 a Ch-square dstrbuton and could reject H under the level test, the result s P( ( k 1) T( obs)). In ths formula, A B 2 k T 1 C attrbutable rsk. Accordng to hypothess tests (1) and (2), 2 2 S A B wa B w C C However, Thus, rejectng H, and T ( obs) are the values of the sample test statstc. Next, we wll dscuss the k 2 2 A k B 2 w C T W (1 ) ( k 1). In ths case, C A B w k w W C s the functon of (w 1, w 2,..., w k ). Next, mathematcs programmng was appled to dscover the extreme value W. The program s: 2 Maxmze: k w W C Subject to: k 1 1 w 1 Wˆ represents the extreme value found by the mathematcal program, and the correspondent P 2 2 -value s ˆ 2 2 P( ( k 1) T( obs) W). The s the ntal value. If P( ˆ ( k 1) T ( obs) W ), then we dd not have adequate evdence to accept the null hypothess. Analyze The outstandng achevements of worldwde youth athletes came not just from ther long-term dlgent practce and wll power. Coaches also play an extremely mportant role. They provde psychologcal and physcal help to youth athletes n order to enhance ther sports sklls. Along wth globalzaton and mprovements n scence technology, more sports tranng and coachng sklls have professonalzed the coachng feld. As ndcated by Hong (21), t can be learned from coach tranng courses and methods provded by dfferent nsttutons around the globe that the essental qualtes of coaches focus on knowledge of professonal theores, professonal sports sklls, technques and strateges. In other words, the competence of coaches s traned systematcally and respectvely through varous sports categores to acheve optmal athletc tranng results. Relevant references (Peak & Brown, 198; Cheng, 2; Xue and Hseh, 21; 1 (2) 114 The Journal of Global Busness Management Volume 9 * Number 1* February 213

10 Jang and Huang, 24) also show many factors nfluencng coachng competence. These factors can be generally put nto three categores: professonal knowledge, professonal sklls and professonal atttude. To further explan the relatonshp between these three categores and coaches competence, a cause-effect dagram was appled to show the mprovement of coaches competence. In fgure 4, nlne hockey specalst knowledge and sports scence knowledge were classfed nto Professonal Knowledge. Professonal Sklls nclude nlne hockey basc sklls tranng, specalst physcal ftness tranng, competton tactcs and strategy applcatons, psychologcal tranng and performance, sports njury preventon and handlng abltes, and sports team management. Professonal atttude conssts of coaches atttude towards athletes, excellent work atttude, and wllngness to make sacrfces. Professonal Knowledge Sports Scence Specalst Knowledge Excellent Workng Atttude Professonal Atttude Atttude towards Athletes Sacrfcng Atttude Basc Sklls Specalst Physcal Ftness Tactcs and Strateges Psychologcal Tranng and Performance Sports Injury Preventon and Handlng Sports Team Tranng and Management Coaches Professonal Abltes Specalst Sklls Fgure 4: Cause-Effect Dagram for Youth Inlne Hockey Coaches Competence. Through the analyss of the cause-effect dagram, ths study further examnes the mplct meanng of each dmenson: 1. Professonal Knowledge Youth nlne hockey coaches are requred to have complete relevant knowledge to be competent n selectng players, plannng, tranng and managng compettons. In general, coaches professonal knowledge should nclude: (1) Specalst knowledge of nlne hockey, ncludng the development and sklls progresson of nlne hockey, and organzng relevant nformaton from real competton experences. (2) Sports scence knowledge: coaches must be equpped wth general scence knowledge such as physology, psychology, pedagogy and socology. It s necessary to be famlar wth appled scences such as sports socology, sports psychology and sports medcne. 2. Professonal Sklls Youth nlne hockey coaches usually gan ther professonal sklls from formal tranng, practcal The Journal of Global Busness Management Volume 9 * Number 1 * February

11 experence as well as drect observaton. The am s to mprove team members performances. In other words, professonal sklls mean that the level of understandng of nlne hockey, ncludng tranng methods and relevant specalst abltes allows them to enhance team performance. Hoegl (27) ponts out the drect nfluence on the performance effects of doman-relevant sklls. It s worth notcng that the natures of professonal knowledge and professonal sklls are dfferent. Tamr (199) separates knowledge from a skll,.e. knowledge as knowng what, whle a skll as knowng how to apply. The lterature revew shows that professonal sklls for nlne hockey nclude the followng: (3) Basc sklls tranng: battng, stck handlng, wrst shot, slap shot, defense, passng and goaltender tranng. (4) Specfc physcal ftness tranng: establshng a complete tranng sesson focusng on explosve force, speed, speed endurance, muscle endurance, weght tranng, nterval tranng, crcular tranng and repettve tranng. (5) Competton tactcs and strategy applcaton: establshng the awareness of tactcs to tran players dealng wth varous complcated condtons; flexbly employng tactcs and practcng drlls to avod rgd tactcs applcaton n dfferent competton stuatons. (6) Psychologcal tranng and handlng ablty: psychologcal tranng usually has a close connecton to sklls and tactcs, and plays a key role n modern sports tranng. It ncludes mage tranng, stress management, relaxaton tranng, attenton tranng and goal settng. (7) Sports njury preventon and treatment: not every sports team can afford a sports njury specalst, and thus coaches should be famlar wth sports njury types and ther causes as well as emergent handlng procedures; they should also have knowledge of soft and hard tssues, so as to make prompt judgment on emergences as well as be equpped wth psychologcal consultaton sklls. (8) Sports tranng and team management: a team conssts of dfferent members, and therefore t s mportant for coaches to learn how to manage a team, for example, makng tranng plans and assessng tranng effects, fnancal management, seekng sponsorshp, and on the spot gudance. 3. Professonal Atttude Apart from professonal knowledge and sklls, professonal atttude s also another nfluental factor for coaches of youth nlne hockey. After all, professonal atttude s the crtcal element to establshng coaches professonal status. It s shaped by a hghly responsble atttude as well as enthusasm and devoton to the team. It can be understood from the relevant lterature that a professonal atttude conssts of the followng three facets: (9) Atttude towards athletes: coaches should establsh a harmonous team atmosphere and should attempt to develop a sense of securty for players by lstenng to them and respectng ther opnons apart from tranng n ther specalst sklls. (1) Excellent work atttude: A team cannot always be the wnner; therefore, coaches should revew every tranng sesson and competton, and dscuss them wth the players to form a learnng envronment. (11) Atttude of devoton: coaches should not just teach sklls and pursue good competton results, but should also spend extra tme takng care of team members varous problems such as employment, famly ssues and psychologcal dstress, and offer help when possble. Improve The factors that affect a coach s competence were dscussed n the prevous secton; relatve strateges n accordance wth the aforementoned factors wll be proposed to mprove coaches competence n ths secton: 116 The Journal of Global Busness Management Volume 9 * Number 1* February 213

12 1. Professonal Knowledge The cause-effect dagram (fgure 4) shows that the professonal knowledge of nlne hockey and sports knowledge affects coaches professonal knowledge. Thus, n terms of specalst knowledge of nlne hockey, sports authortes should hold conferences and semnars about youth nlne hockey and encourage coaches actve partcpaton. Communty dscusson and sharng also provde a chance to absorb current and future development trends of youth nlne hockey. Nowadays, socety pursues mult-dmensonal development, and many factors such as dfferent polces technologes may affect the development of youth nlne hockey. For example, nlne hockey was held n the 29 World Games n Kaohsung, whch ncreased ths sport s vsblty and gave a deeper meanng to the development of nlne hockey n Tawan. In addton, by actvely partcpatng n varous sports events, youth nlne hockey coaches were lkely to contact top teams. Apart from accumulatng competton experences, they are also able to observe compettons to record other teams attack and defense sklls for future tranng purposes. Furthermore, regardng the knowledge of sports scence, the coachng tranng for youth nlne hockey requres self-advancement; for example, readng domestc and nternatonal sports-related academc journals, partcpatng n relevant specalst forums and acqurng qualfcatons. These can all contrbute to coaches professonal knowledge. Ln (1999) ponts out that coaches should specalze n domans such as educaton, psychology, physology, socology, sports and scence to formulate effectve sports tranng programs. Successful coaches should also contnuously explore new theores and technques and should mplement strateges sutable for the athlete s ndvdual needs to fully demonstrate ther talents for the best results. Therefore, sports authortes or sports-related departments at the unversty level should also launch courses or qualfcatons specalzng n sports scence. Ths would provde an orderly and progressve coachng tranng procedure as well as offer more resources to those youth nlne hockey coaches who are wllng to enhance ther sports scence knowledge. 2. Professonal Sklls The cause-effect dagram (fgure 4) shows the aspects concernng the professonal sklls of a youth nlne hockey coach, of whch the mplcatons wll be further analyzed here. Generally, professonal sklls have a lot to do wth a person s job. In ths case, a coach s professonal sklls refer to the sklls needed n order to be well-rounded, whch are dfferent from the above- mentoned professonal knowledge professonal sklls emphasze the practcal technques. In other words, possessng professonal sklls s the upmost core value to a coach who has to earn both the players and the outsde world s respect. As a result, regardng basc technque tranng, coaches n youth nlne hockey have to recognze that the sport tself s comprsed of multple open sklls. Durng the matches, the speed of attack-defense tactcs from each sde becomes faster and could vary sgnfcantly. Thus, durng regular tranng, apart from passng on the basc technques based on the coach s own attanment, relevant auxlary actvtes, such as straght-ahead drbble, slalom drbble and drbble passng should be ncluded n the basc technque tranng programs. Meanwhle, the coach also needs to constantly keep updated ether through observng games or attendng workshops to develop professonal sklls. Specfc Physcal Ftness nvolves whether the coach s able to mprove players physcal condtonng so that t s approprate for playng the game, whch means that the coach could match new sport scence technologes wth players' physcal ftness so that the players can apply what has been learned n tranng to games. Therefore, a youth nlne hockey coach must be able to provde a systematc program for the methodology and purposes of physcal tranng and read extensvely both natonal and nternatonal lterature or watch teachng vdeos and obtan relevant nformaton from the Internet; for example, the SAQ The Journal of Global Busness Management Volume 9 * Number 1 * February

13 (Speed, Aglty, Quckness) or SPARQ (Speed, Power, Aglty, Reacton, Quckness) tranng concepts whch are popular nternatonally. Wth thorough understandng of such tranng concepts, a coach would be able to further adjust and mprove hs/her tranng program based on the players feedback. Competton Tactcs and Strategy Applcaton refers to the tactcs used n response to dfferent compettors arranged by the coach as a team leader. Applyng the rght tactcs s the key to vctory. Hence, a youth Inlne hockey coach should be able to master both defensve and offensve tactcs. Accordng to Cheng, Lee and Huang (27), the basc qualty of tactcs thnkng ncludes depth and breadth, aglty and accuracy, logcalty and crtcalty, predctablty and creatvty. They also suggested that qualty tactcs thnkng s crtcal to wn a game. It s a long term process that develops tactcal thnkng n players; therefore, the coach has to enhance hs/her own observaton and learnng abltes, upgradng the creatvty n tactcs through the absorpton of extensve nformaton and then put nto effect both durng tranng and contests. Psychologcal Tranng and Handlng Ablty llustrates the ablty of a coach to handle the psychologcal factors of motvaton, emoton, attenton, wll power and awareness of the youth players antcpaton to a game. Thus, psychologcal factors are also vtal to the team s performance. In addton to mprovng the psychologcal tranng and handlng ablty based on the coach s own attanment, s/he needs to further develop the ablty to make the correct judgment upon the type of games, compettors and arenas to predct psychologcal varatons and possble mental status of youth players, and then provdes counselng n accordance to the player s needs. In other words, the coach represents the soul of the team. To enhance the psychologcal tranng and handlng ablty, the coach wll have to establsh a delberate procedure to grasp the cogntve, external and physologcal factors of youth players so as to refne hs/her professonal sklls wth counselng based on drect observaton. Sports Injury Preventon and Treatment s ndspensable to a sport as physcally ferce as nlne hockey. Many sports teams n Tawan cannot afford athletc traners due to lmted budgets. As a result, the coach s ablty to prevent and treat sports njury has a close relatonshp to the players' safety. Coaches need to possess basc technques such as PRICE (protecton, rest, cng, compresson, elevaton) sports njury treatment prncple and CPR. Furthermore, sports related organzatons should organze workshops regardng sports njury on a regular bass, provdng opportuntes for the coaches to exchange thoughts and opnons wth athletc traners and paramedcs who have long term experences n treatng sports njury. In the meantme, a database should be created n accordance wth moton analyss, njury symptoms and steps for treatment to determne the njures whch occur most among youth players n order to enhance the coach s ablty to prevent and treat sports njures. Just as every corporaton needs an excellent manager, a sports team also reles on the coach s Tranng and Management Ablty to operate well. The coach s not only responsble for the results of games, but also needs to demonstrate hs/her leadershp and organzng ablty that s, plannng and developng actons concernng the team s expected goal through the coach s leadershp and acheve the outcome wth sponsorshp. Hence, sports related organzatons may encourage coaches to attend sports leadershp workshops to further understand leadng sklls for sports teams. A coach also needs to develop hs/her own leadng style, utlzng leadershp and management sklls flexbly based on the players personal characterstcs to acheve effectve tranng and management. 3. Professonal Atttude Professonal atttude presents three mportant facets n the cause-effect dagram, Dagram 1. The contents of these three facets wll be dscussed n ths secton. Atttude toward athletes fathfully presents how a coach vews the players and how the players grow together as a team. Partcularly, coaches nowadays no longer work by smply gvng orders and 118 The Journal of Global Busness Management Volume 9 * Number 1* February 213

14 carryng out ther dutes arbtrarly. The process for buldng a powerful team wth devoton has become an mportant lesson for a coach. Therefore, f the coach hopes to refne the atttude of youth players, s/he has to set a goal whch can be attaned by the whole team so as to buld trust and consensus through communcatng wth and lstenng to the players. In addton, the coach has to value ndvdual dfferences and offer assstance, exertng hs/her nfluence through leadng by personal example. Workng Atttude not only demonstrates the coach s professonalsm, but also provdes an ndrect nfluence on the team s performance. As long as the coach pcks excellent players, qualty tranng and supervson should be offered, sharng the gan and loss of each game together wth the players. Among whch, the coach wll have to present extraordnary patence and persstence, brngng hs/her nstructng, tranng, commandng and managng abltes to full play and sacrfcng hmself/herself. Only by dong so can the coach refnes hs/her dedcaton to work. Atttude of Devoton s a lfetme ambton for coaches. To refne the atttude of devoton, the coach has to unceasngly take care of and teach players, sparng more prvate tme to enhance professonal expertse to elevate the team s techncal level, tactcs applcaton and psychologcal condton to establsh the team s devoton. Such process requres long term development and efforts to acheve the team s expected goal. Control The last step of Sx Sgma Methodology s Control. Ths study sets up the gap regulaton mode for equpped abltes and mportant abltes to effectvely montor the coach s professonal sklls. The statstcs T of gap ndcaton S for measurng the equpped abltes and mportant abltes conform to the k-1 freedom of Ch-Square; therefore, the control lmt s as follows: 2 2 UCL ˆ ( k 1) (1 2) W 2 2 CL ˆ ( k 1).5 W 2 2 LCL ˆ ( k 1) 2 W When, the control lmt s as follows: 2 UCL (1 2) CL LCL ( k 1) 2.5 ( k 1) 2 ( k 1) 2 CONCLUSION Wthout an excellent coach, t s mpossble to tran brllant players. An excellent youth nlne hockey coach not only has to possess a sold foundaton for tranng the players n both physcal and psychologcal levels, but also has to constantly acqure better technques and tactcs. Based on the professonal ablty tranng of InWEnt (23) and aded wth a questonnare desgned from relevant lterature, ths study nvestgates the equpped abltes and mportant abltes of youth nlne hockey coaches. Followed by the performance evaluaton matrx, tems of nsuffcent profcency were dscovered. The reasons for nsuffcent profcency were then analyzed by usng the cause-effect dagram to fnd specfc measures for mprovement and adjustng the coach s professonal abltes contnuously through montorng. Moreover, ths study has bult a process wth the Sx Sgma Methodology sutable for mprovng the youth nlne hockey coaches competence. In the sports felds where compettons are The Journal of Global Busness Management Volume 9 * Number 1 * February

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