Why more thinking is necessary

Amidst all the brouhaha about the awarding of the 2018 soccer world cup and the allegations of bribery and corruption, very little has been said about the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. In my opinion this is prima facie evidence of a corrupt process. Certainly if the process is not corrupt the people involved certainly need their intelligence checked.

Why?

There are a number of reasons. To begin with Qatar only has a population of 1.22 million per the 2009 census. A country of that size simply does not warrant hosting a world cup.

Certainly a population that size does not warrant the 12 stadiums that need to be built. Indeed the bid recognises this and states, “After the FIFA World Cup™ these stadiums will be partially deconstructed, allowing us to build 22 new stadiums in the developing world.” Forgive me for being unduly cynical but there is no indication of where exactly they will build these proposed new stadiums, and I very much doubt this promise will ever be kept. Nor does the bid explain “partially deconstructed” – there is no indication of whether this means 5% or 95%.

Secondly, temperatures at the time of the tournament will be about 50 degrees centigrade. This is too hot for players to actually play. To overcome this, the stadiums will be air-conditioned. This is all supposed to involve environmentally friendly, carbon-neutral technologies but, even so, is hardly conducive to an enjoyable spectator experience outside of the games themselves; something that the 2010 World Cup in South Africa proved was essential for a successful tournament.

Certainly such factors make it patently clear why the decision needs to be made 12 years before the event! Nevertheless, they also indicate a flawed thinking that makes the decision itself questionable. It is a very good example of what is referred to in this post that questions whether management thinking is an endangered skill. although perhaps the adjective “management” is unnecessary.

Clearly this project is not a good use of the earth’s natural resources and is thus not a “value-based” decision. My concern is, “How much longer can we go on making such decisions?” This is a question we should all be asking ourselves and is definitely an area where more thought is required. 

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This blog is one of several that I write, but is not regular and I only post to it when current events prompt me to make a comment and invite yours. I do hope you will contribute to the discussion and thus help to initiate and bring about the change that is so badly needed. Please click on the link on the top right of your screen to subscribe to a feed. My primary blog is my business one at Zealise but you can also connect to me at Facebook or Twitter