Executive Summary

This document summarizes the 2019 article by Dennis Coates, Petr Parshakov, and Sofia
Paklina titled “Do managers matter: evidence from E-Sports”.
Problem statement
As professional environments everywhere shift towards team-based working systems, the
importance of managers in a company has grown exponentially. However, there are studies that
challenge the importance of these managers. To study this issue, studies are frequently done on
sports teams: their performance is clearly observable, and there are plenty of samples to draw from.
This specific study takes a different approach, and focuses on E-Sports particularly since it is not
as well researched as traditional sports and also provides new data to research.
Research Methods
The researchers in this study studied data from professional teams of the online game
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Using statistical modeling and regression the researchers
examined the effect managers had on teams while accounting for variables such as the skill of
individual players and the overall organization of the team. They categorized teams into 4 groups.
- A: Teams that previously had managers and continued to have managers
- B: Teams that previously had managers but decided to get rid of managers
- C: Teams that previously had no manager but decided to acquire a manager
- D: Teams that previously had no manager and decided to continue with no manager
By comparing win ratio and in game statistics (kills per death, headshot percentage) the researchers
observed whether the addition or removal of a manager significantly affected team performance.
Research Findings
The researchers found that teams in scenario A consistently won more tournaments than
teams in scenario D, earning on average more than double the amount of money from tournaments
in a single year. However, the researchers also found no statistically significant difference between
the performances of teams in scenarios D and C. They deduced that while teams with managers
generally performed better than teams with no managers, the performance gap may not be created
by the managers themselves. Teams with managers are typically better financed, allowing them to
acquire better players, facilities, and training. Ultimately, the researchers concluded that managers
do not make a significant impact on team performance.
Conclusion and Recommendation
The importance of this article is twofold: the first is that in our present-day team-based
working environment, hiring a manager may be unnecessary since it is equally efficient to allow a
leader to organically rise from teams. The second importance is that the realm of E-Sports is
rapidly developing and contains a wealth of information for both business and economic research.