FACULTY OF ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCE AND POLICY STUDIES

COURSE CODE: PAD101

TOPIC: HOW MINISTRY OF SPORT & YOUTH MANAGE ISSUE OF E-SPORT IN MALAYSIA
CLASS: AM1101A4
LECTURER: SIR MOHD FAREEZ AZNUL ADNAN
DATE OF SUBMISSION: 19/05/2020

GROUP MEMBERS MATRIX NUMBER

Mohammad Syazwan Bin Salamat 2020957167

Mohd Farizal Bin Mohamad 2020990335

Noor Diyana Binti Mohd Salleh 2020957031

Ivy Clarice Kimran 2020549495

 INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, e-sport is very popular among youngsters. E-sports or also referred to as

electronic sports, may be a sort of sport competition using video games. E-sports often takes the
shape of organized, multiplayer computer game competitions, particularly between professional
players, individually or as teams, Although organized competitions have been a part of video
game culture for a long time, these were huge between amateurs until the late 2000s, when
participation by professional gamers and spectatorship in these events through live streaming
became mainstream. By the 2010s, e-sports was a significant factor in the video game industry,
with many game developers actively designing and providing funding for tournaments and other
events.

In Malaysia, although the e-sport industry is still growing here in Malaysia, its impressive
growth has caught the attention of both the corporate and public sectors. But, even if we can see
that e-sport is slowly becoming mainstream in Malaysia, there is no doubt that the local e-sports
scene has its fair share of challenges that makes it difficult to grow further. So, here are the
challenges that the Ministry of Sport & Youth have to face in making e-sport as something that
the society can be proud of.

There were many concerns shared about the e-sports industry, including parental
disapproval, gambling, and the involvement of underage players in the scene. All the issues
raised must be tackled swiftly in order to ensure the steady growth of the e-sports industry. That
is why Strategic Plan for E-sports Development was created by the former Minister of Youth and
Sports, Syed Saddiq which aim in bringing legitimacy to the e-sports industry. It is designed to
ease the concerns of various stakeholders and encourage the public to invest in e-sports and take
time to explore this field, physically or mentally.

Take for an example, a situation happened where the organizers failed to pay winning
teams their prize money for months on end. The AGES (ASEAN Games for e-Sports) 2016
competition proved the point, they failed to pay RM1,000,000 in prize money to its winners.
Another negativity surrounding e-sports in general is it has been associated with gaming
addiction, which was classified as a disorder by the World Health Organization, on Jan 2, 2018.
All of these concerns can affect the e-sport industry especially the players. It can be really hard
for them to keep going with the negativity spreading around them.
 PLANNING

Planning is the most basic managerial function because it sets the direction for the
organizing, leading, and controlling functions. Planning involves on setting objectives and
deciding appropriate action that should be done to achieve the objectives. Planning can be define
as thinking in advance what should be done, when can it be done, and by whom it should be
done. For instance, Syed Saddiq used a strategic approach in order to create the first ever
Strategic Plan for E-sports Development. The plan is to cater to all stakeholders across the e-
sports scene. To do that, a taskforce was created consists of industry leader, professional e-sport
athlete, e-sport senior marketing officer as well as the National Sport Council and former
Minister of Sport & Youth himself.

It is important to plan because planning reduce risks of uncertainty. Planning is always

for the future and the future is uncertain. With the help of planning, various activities can be
done without hesitating because everything has been planned before. In this way, the risk of
future uncertainty is minimized. For example in general, to set sales goals, reviews can be
conducted to see how many new companies are likely to enter the market, whereas in this e-sport
case, the taskforce member will gather all the information, data and strategic, and all the
concerns that were voiced by all stakeholder before proceed to do the next plan.

Moreover, planning reduces overlapping and wasteful activities. Planning helps to

coordinate the activities and efforts of different divisions, departments and individuals. It helps in
avoiding confusion and misunderstanding. For example, each member of the taskforce that the
former Minister of Sport & Youth have chosen has to know their own job and not to cross the
line by doing other people’s duty. Planning also promotes innovative ideas because planning
selects the best alternative out of the many available. All these alternatives do not come from the
manager itself, other members can share their ideas so that the manager can choose the best out
of the ideas.

The last reason why planning is important is because it gives direction to the employees
so that they know what they are doing and all their efforts are focused towards a particular end.
In this way, planning has an important role in order to achieve the objectives of the organization.
For example, the taskforce member have the same work hard to achieve their goal which is for
the e-sports industry as a whole bring positive economic impacts to Malaysia and stimulate job
employment at multiple levels.

The former minister of Sport & Youth had a short-term plan that he wanted to achieve
which were to introduce athlete welfare, address gaming addictions, have regional e-sports
conferences and summits, establishing a National E-sports League, increase the participation of
women in e-sports, and creating licensed e-sports training centers. This was a five-year Strategic
Plan for E-sports Development.

The next plan is encouraging further e-sports talent development. Ramona Azween Binti
Zaharuddin, one of the task force members involved in promoting E-sports brands and
tournaments in Malaysia. She also run boot camps specifically to guide young aspiring E-sports
athletes to develop the quality of their game. This is giving gamers in Malaysia an opportunity to
express their talent in gaming. However, the general public still regards e-sports as an unhealthy
habit and a waste of time. Therefore, the minister decided to launch the first Dota tournament in
Malaysia. This in hope that it will open the eyes of the world that gamers have the true potential
and a chance in winning in a competition. Through this plan, gamers will be interested in joining
the e-sports.
 ORGANIZING

Once a plan has been developed, a manager can begin to organize. Organizing involves
assigning tasks, grouping tasks into departments, delegating authority, and allocating resources
across the organization. During the organizing process, managers coordinate employees,
resources, policies, and procedures to facilitate the goals identified within the plan. Organizing is
very complex and sometimes involves a scientific review of human resources and priorities.

Organizing is the process of determining what needs to be done, how it will be done and
who is to do it. Organizing also can be defined because the function of management that involves
developing an organizational structure and allocating human resources to make sure the
accomplishment of objectives. For example, Syed Saddiq, the former Minister of Sport & Youth
organized a strategic plan to maintain the continuance of e-sports excellence in Malaysia.

The first importance of organizing is it helps an organization to identify important and

relevant activities which have to be performed in meeting organizational goals. For example, The
Ministry of Sport & Youth has engaged with the gaming community to devise an athlete
development plan, to build a fair and inclusive ecosystem, as well as to magnify the scale of e-
sports to a greater depth and level of attention. As a result, Malaysia has strong support from
both the Government of Malaysia and the local gaming community in making E-sports
development successful.

The next importance is departmentalization or specialization of organizational activities.

In this step, a manager attempts to divide group and related activities into department and units.
The Minister of Sport & Youth believes that creating a team that encompasses all parties is vital
to the success of the plan. Therefore, Syed Saddiq created a taskforce which includes the
industry leader, e-sports senior marketing officer, professional e-sports athlete as well as the
National Sports Council and Syed Saddiq himself. In addition, the taskforce worked very closely
with the E-sports Malaysia Association (ESM), Malaysia Digital Economic Cooperation
(MDEC), and the gaming community to get all the necessary input during the drafting process.

The third importance is clarification of authority. Clarification of authority helps in

bringing efficiency within the running of a corporation. Thus, this eventually helps an
organization to avoid wastage of time, money and effort. It also helps to prevent duplication or
overlap of tasks, resulting in smooth organizational operations. For example, Michelle Low who
has been appointed as one of the Special Taskforce Committee on Strategic Plan for E-sports
Development developed grass root programs which helped the Ministry of Youth and Sports
capturing many young athletes. The minister Sport & Youth’s desire to succeed this development
will be achieved if a lot of people participate in e-sports.

Last but not least, coordination between authority and responsibility. Each individual is
made aware of his or her authority. For example, E-sports athletes’ rights are abused by
irresponsible parties and lack of understanding of athletes’ duties. Therefore, E-sports Malaysia
Association (ESM) as the national association, they must conduct workshop programs on
athletes’ rights and duties for all professional athletes and grass root players who choose e-sports
as their career. The public outreach will increase the level of awareness and understanding of
athletes’ rights and duties, thereby reduce frauds, scams, and exploitations irresponsible parties.
As a result, standard e-sports athlete contract guidelines are in place to guard e-sports athletes’
rights.

So, it is proven that organizing really helps an organization to run smoothly. The Ministry
of Sport & Youth does not have to worry about technical issues as they already organize things
that they want to do in this e-sport industry. This is because any technical issue can happen if
there is no preparation in the organization and it will affect anyone in the e-sport scene. In
conclusion, e-sports has been growing for the past 10 years and it is still considered as a young
industry with immense potentials. With the assistance of fellow citizens and government
agencies, we can bring e-sports into the mainstream and be a nation that embraces the
unstoppable phenomena that is e-sports.
 DECISION MAKING

Each organization must make decisions at one time or another as part of the management
process. Decisions are made in the interests of the organization. Therefore, the decision made by
the organization is to ease the way forward. Whether its strategy, business activity or HR issues,
the decision-making process is complex, involving professionals of all genres. Although small
organizations involve all levels of managers, complex organizations rely heavily on specially
trained teams of professionals to make all kinds of decisions. But remember, such a body cannot
come out with a final decision. Here, the point is, the decision-making process is a cumulative
and consultative process. Overall, this process has its advantages and disadvantages and will
have many rewards and consequences for the overall growth and prospects of the organization.

Decisions are taken to support organizational growth. The entire management structure,
which is a daily operation, is based on management decisions. Leading companies, as evidenced
by their function, are effective communication tools used in addition to the regular decision-
making process that will have huge implications for the company's prospects.

Discussion and consultation are the two main tools that support and ultimately make the
decision. Examples of how decisions about how to start new business activities suggested by the
strategic management team should be developed through a series of consulting processes, which
are now available with the implementation team. Here we see the cumulative effect of decisions
made at different times by different business bodies. The decision made by the strategic manager
is to drive a new and innovative business line or initiative. At this point, the decision made by the
team has become a discussion point for implementation professionals. There is a lot of debate,
research and resolution. Can new proposals be implemented? Is it innovative enough? Can there
be any growth stimulus in the proposed strategy? The handling of these questions stems from
decisions made by strategic groups that have a reflective influence on subsequent management
consultations and meetings. Let's accept, at this point, that the recommendations made by the
business development team will depend heavily on other considerations in the boardroom.

Therefore, the final decision to launch the product or service is through a temporary
decision made by various internal and external parties. Also, the final decision is reflective and
based on research and consultation. The whole process is a chain deal whereby a decision is
made at one point and at a certain point it will have broad implications for how the organization
moves forward.

In fact, being able to make critical decisions is one of the many traits that every manager
should have, be it upper or lower or entry level. Humans are naturally present in their existence
and by their very nature decide to survive, as social psychology says. Generally, managers are
individuals who are made to make decisions that influence others, that is, the existence and
growth of an organization and therefore are defined by human effort to survive and succeed.
Success is success with decisions made, whether by individuals or organizations.

In e-sport, decision making is very important and very different depending on the game
being played. For example, in the Mobile Legends competition, each player must be wise in
making a decision that will not adversely affect the team. Each player has different roles and will
make decisions as planned or unplanned. Therefore, decision making is very important in an e-
sport competition that will determine the course of a competition.
 CONTROLLING

Controlling is one among the important functions of a manager. In order to seek planned
results from the workers, a manager needs to exercise effective control over the activities of the
subordinates. In other words, controlling is monitoring how well the organization is achieving
goals and take action to maintain, improve, and correct performance. Or, we can say that
controlling is making something happen the way it was planned before. In an organization, there
is a systematic process that known as organizational control where managers regulate
organizational activities to make them consistent with the expectations established in plans, and
to help them achieve all determined standards of performance.

In controlling, there is a process that we need to follow, it begins with setting standards
for performance. If possible, the standard should be set in a manner that allows them to be
compared with the actual performance. Next, measuring actual performance. In this step, the
organization must decide what to measure, when to measure, and how frequently to measure.
The actual performance of the employee should be measured against the target. Following this
step is comparing actual performance with standards. This step involves determining if actual
performance compared to standards falls in acceptable limits. Last but not least, the final step is
to respond to deviations. If the deviation from performance is unacceptable, then corrective
action must be taken. But, if the deviation is acceptable, corrective action is not necessary.

In addition, there are 3 types of controlling. Which are preventive or steering control,
screening control and feedback control. For preventive control, it mainly focuses on detecting
undesirable material, financial, or human resources that serve as inputs to the transformation
operation. Basically, it helps to detect problem ahead of occurrence. Therefore action can be
taken before such an issue arises. For screening control, it focuses on the transformation process
to ensure that it is functioning properly. In other words, it is a real-time control. It checks any
problem and examines it to take an action before any loss going to happen. Third, feedback
control. This one focuses on discovering undesirable output and implementing corrective action.
It is all about collecting information about a finished task, assessing that information and
improvising the same type of tasks in the future.
 Move on to the importance of controlling. The first on is, it helps to accomplish
organizational goals. As stated on the first paragraph, it guides the subordinates’ activities on
achieving goals or objectives. It make sure that the use of human and material resources in the
best possible manner. It also will be a benefit towards the employees because controlling will
make the employees work with a full dedication as they know that their job performance will be
evaluated. Moreover, controlling will ensure order and discipline. The application of control
helps on checking all the undesirable activities like corruption, delay in work, theft or maybe
even uncooperative attitude.

For example, in the e-sport industry, this controlling function is applied on where the
former minister of Sport & Youth joined hand with ESM and did a preventive control for under-
18 athletes who are still studying, by providing educational workshops about e-sports. By doing
this, the public would be more receptive towards e-sports and it will also legitimize e-sports as a
viable afterschool activity. They also enforce a passing grade amongst all subjects before
allowing the under-18 athletes to represent their school. ESM is responsible for enacting
guidelines that ensure all athletes under 18 years old receive proper protection for their rights as
well as ensuring that they receive proper academic education while training to become a
professional e-sports athlete.
 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, we can make our country proud of this sport. This can prove the other
countries out there that we also have a lot of talent that makes our country better and developed.
Therefore, our country is also not labeled as an abandoned nation. In addition, this sport can also
prove the public that the sport can also raise or even uplift the country if it is played correctly.
The economy can also be enhanced through this sport as more and more people buy smartphones
or more high quality computers to enable themselves to play e-sport even better. This also proves
that Malaysia is one of the fastest growing countries with high quality mobile technology.
Besides, we can also further our country's name with this industry. As a suggestion, we think the
community should also provide strong support to this sport in order for it to be on the highest
level. The ministry of Sport & Youth can set up a proper awareness campaign to throw away the
negative stigma regarding e-sport. This can be done by educating the public on the benefits of e-
sports. When it comes to misconception, it is our job as someone who knows the industry better
to educate them if they made a wrong statement. We must reach out at every level to educate
parents, teachers, and the community on the benefits and possibilities of e-sports. This can be
done by e-sports festivals, workshops in schools, and game conventions like “Level Up KL”
which is organized by MDEC. By addressing the public’s fears, we can clear up common
concerns and misconceptions, leads to a more positive public sentiment towards e-sports.
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