Management Structure
for eSports Clans
Administration
Let's take a look at everything that happens in a professional clan with a normal business model...
... and try to figure out if it's possible to create a basic organizational structure that can be applied to all clans.
Lari 'D.Devil' Syrota
E-Mail: lari@rjumper.com
Twitter: larisyrota
Can we establish an industry standard for esports clans?
Clan organizations can be partitioned into 4 departments, each of them consisting of several different positions and tasks.
Each department has its own objectives and key figures – yet, they're tightly connected with each other. Basically, they add up to a clan's value added process.
Please be aware that the sub-divisions are based on tasks, not on people. It's not necessary to limit everybody to working on one task only.
Here's what I came up with so far:
Making sure that the whole business runs smoothly and all commercial requirements are taken care of.
Let's go.
Key Figures:

profit and revenue

efficiency of management processes

supervising the whole clan
Logistics
Team Management
maintaining an inventory list
Business Development
optimizing the work flow in all departments
Organizing the players and trying to give the clan as much media presence and as many achievements as possible.
organizing and structuring the entire business
Human Ressources
sending hardware and other equipment to players
Business Administration
planning payments to ensure continual liquidity
filing taxes and preparing the annual financial statements
taking responsibility for legal and administrational issues
performing Managing Director duties
Finances
calling attention to stock shortages
calculating the profitability of investments
analyzing revenues and expenses
doing accounting
Turning the initial attention generated by the teams and players into exposure for your brand and your sponsors.
Communications
Marketing
Making money – mainly by convincing companies to pay for your clan's reach, popularity and success.
Marketing
Website
Informing people about what's going on inside the clan using a self-owned online platform.
The administration of a clan is just the same kind of work as in any other business.
images courtesy of readmore.de
liquidity
long-term development
Tasks:
The team management is the equivalent to procurement and quality management in other businesses.
league rankings

media exposure
Coaching
Travel Management
Team Management
Scouting
prominence and popularity of players

rjumper.com
This is where the actual creation of value takes place, it's the production counterpart.
brand impressions

popularity, amount of fans
Website Development
Brand Management
website statistics
reach, composition of the audience

Public Relations
Community Management
Website Content
Multimedia Content
There is one communications channel that is so substantial that it's sometimes considered to be its own department...
Sometimes, the website does not only serve as a communications channel, but also features a broad variety of content aimed at attracting visitors without having a relation to the clan itself. 

In this case, you should consider the people and tasks related to your website to partially belong to the Team Management department: If you invest in good content and interesting features, people will take notice of you and come back regardless of your teams' performances.
total amount of sales

percentage of overall sponsoring slots and advertising space sold
You pitch your product to the demanders. That's obviously comparable to a company's marketing department.
We are going to create helpful content on all of the tasks mentioned here when The Rocketjumper goes online.

Feedback of any kind is appreciated. Thank you.
Connection: player branding, match statements, ...
Connection: reportings, sponsor presentations, ...
Connection with Team Management: marketing influence on scouting decisions, ...
Key Figures:

Tasks:
Key Figures:

Tasks:
Key Figures:

Tasks:
creating and evaluating new concepts
doing market research and monitoring the industry
deciding the future priorities and long-term goals of the clan
searching for qualified new employees and volunteers
organizing and motivating employees and volunteers
collecting personal data and contact information
keeping track of salary payments
setting up and maintaining software platforms for collaboration/communication
managing web servers and game servers
IT
tournament placements and achievements
looking after league and tournament schedules
deciding what competitions to participate in
searching for practise opponents and organizing bootcamps
taking care of player contracts
motivating the players and improving mental strength
staying with the players at events
analyzing all players' performances and the team atmosphere
establishing a clan environment that promotes talent
opening negotiations with potential additions
analyzing the current state and the future potential of markets (games, countries, ...)
searching for talented players and up-and-coming teams
finding the best means of travel for any situation
organizing and booking trips for players, employees and volunteers
making sure that all the players' needs are taken care of at events
defining and adjusting the corporate identity
monitoring the public perception of the clan and its players
making sure that everything is compliant with the corporate identity
staying in touch with both the specialized and the mainstream press
defining guidelines for social media and monitoring all relevant accounts
maintaining a mailing list
writing press releases
teaching players and employees how to handle media inqueries
staying in touch with the fans
organizing projects and offering incentives to increase fan loyalty
designing the graphical elements of the website
programming the website and contineously updating it with new features
analyzing the way people use the website and adjusting it accordingly
writing news items, articles and taking interviews
organizing a contineous flow of content
maintaining a database of  multimedia content for later use
taking photos and videos at events and other public appearances
conversion rate, 
invested time per sale
sponsor satisfaction, duration of sponsor relationships
Account Management
Sales
E-Commerce
developing a strategy to earn as much revenue as possible
defining the components and the prices of all sales offers
staying in touch with relevant companies
presenting your available offers to potential partners
sending out monthly reportings and supplying the partners with relevant key figures
working on special projects and campaigns to further promote the partners
keeping the current sponsors and advertising partners up-to-date
Event Organization
supporting the partners at events/booths with presence of the clan
coming up with esports-related concepts for the clan's partners to attract many visitors
taking care of the IT at events/booths co-organized by the clan
possibly storing and  shipping products for the clan's online shop
coming up with branding advice for teams and players
making strategic decisions
buying necessary products such as clan jerseys
setting up a technical platform in cooperation  with the website development staff
calculating the optimal pricing
deciding on a profitable portfolio of merchandise and products for sale
developing and running the clan's online shop
All this wouldn't have been possible without the great spadework of ECODIA.
increasing the amount of fans and active website users
providing ingame advice and information about opponents
Additional advice for our German readers:
Es kommt im Marketing vor allem aufs Verdrauen an. Ohne Verdrauen geht nichts.
maximizing the total sales value
negotiating with companies that stated interest in a cooperation
keeping the static content of the website up to date