Culture change in elite sport performance teams: Examining and advancing effectiveness in the new era

Reflecting the importance of optimizing culture for elite teams, Fletcher and Arnold (2011) recently suggested the need for expertise in culture change. Acknowledging the dearth of literature on the specific process, however, the potential effectiveness of practitioners in this area is unknown. The present paper examines the activity's precise demands and the validity of understanding in sport psychology and organizational research to support its delivery. Recognizing that sport psychologists are being increasingly utilized by elite team management, initial evidence-based guidelines are presented. Finally, to stimulate the development of ecologically valid, practically meaningful knowledge, the paper identifies a number of future research directions

Takemusu Aiki: Insights into Optimizing Ideational Flow

The Fourth Art of Management and Organization Conference, Banff, Canada, 9-12 August 2008This paper will investigate how designers can connect broader understandings of ‘leadership’with specific design knowledge to enhance creative performance. The emphasis is on how designers can potentially ‘manage’ their thinking within the ideation process – maximise “ways”to spread ‘memes’. A meme is a rule, concept, or idea that can be spread from one person to another. Designers have been described as ‘memetic engineers’ (Dawkins, 1989) because they produce memes or units of cultural information that are recycled and evolve over time. Memes emerge through ‘imitation and recombination’ according to Blackmore (1999), by mixing up ideas to produce new combinations. One approach to understanding and reflecting on existing disciplinary experiences, as well as challenging creative potential, is through researching other conative “ways” – such as ‘Aikido’ – to embrace and reflect on ‘how’ we think instead of purely ‘what’ we think

Analysis of goal scoring in football matches according to performance indicators and the context of competition

Esta tese teve como objetivo analisar os padrões temporais de marcação de golos no futebol profissional de acordo com a perspectiva dinâmica e em função de diferentes variáveis explicativas relacionadas com a performance das equipas e contexto competitivo. O trabalho inicia-se com a revisão sistemática dos estudos que analisaram a marcação de golos em ligas profissionais de futebol masculino. Em função dos métodos utilizados na recolha e tratamento de dados os estudos analisados foram classificados em dois grupos – realizados segundo a perspetiva estática ou uma perspetiva dinâmica. As vantagens e limitações de ambas as perspetivas no sentido de proporcionar informações relevantes sobre a performance das equipas são discutidas no capítulo. Nos capítulos que se seguem foram analisados os fatores que influenciam os tempos de marcação do primeiro e segundo golos do jogo, tal como do golo-chave (key-goal) que define o resultado do jogo (vitória ou empate). Procedimentos de análise de sobrevivência (função de incidência cumulativa, modelos de regressão de Cox com covariáveis fixas e variáveis no tempo e modelos competitivos) foram desenvolvidos e aplicados para modelar o risco de marcação do primeiro, segundo e golo-chave ao longo do jogo em função de um conjunto de indicadores de performance e variáveis contextuais. Os resultados confirmaram que os indicadores de performance, como o diferencial de golos (diferença entre os golos marcados e sofridos durante o campeonato até ao jogo observado), remates à baliza, sanções disciplinares e substituições, permitem predizer o tempo em que o primeiro golo é marcado pelas equipas da casa. Os resultados também demonstraram que o primeiro golo do jogo marcado pelas equipas de casa tem uma associação positiva e significativa com a vitória final. A análise do segundo golo do jogo revelou que este é marcado com a maior frequência na segunda parte do jogo quando a equipa joga em casa. O modelo de Cox demonstrou que o tempo do primeiro golo tem um efeito positivo e significativo no tempo do segundo golo marcado pela equipa da casa, particularmente se o primeiro golo foi marcado na segunda parte do jogo. Para modelar o tempo do golo-chave foram utilizados modelos de riscos competitivos que demonstraram que as equipas da casa têm uma probabilidade maior de marcar o golo-chave associado à vitória, enquanto as equipas com um diferencial acumulado positivo de golos marcados e sofridos tiveram menor probabilidade de marcar o golo-chave associado à vitória. As equipas da casa e as equipas com um maior diferencial positivo de golos marcados e sofridos demonstraram uma maior probabilidade de marcar o golo-chave associado a um empate como resultado final. O estudo abre novas perspetivas para a análise da performance coletiva no futebol de alto rendimento. A abordagem metodológica proposta no estudo toma em consideração a dinâmica de desempenho coletivo durante o jogo e permite fazer previsões de rendimento coletivo que facilitam a tomada de decisão dos treinadores na direção da equipa.The aim of this thesis is to analyse goal-scoring patterns in professional football in accordance with the dynamic perspective, using different explanatory variables associated with team performance and game context. In the first section there is a systematic review of studies which analyse goal scoring in men's professional football leagues. In accordance with the methods used for data collection and analysis, studies were classified into two groups: studies carried out according to the static perspective and those carried out according to the dynamic perspective. The advantages and limitations of both perspectives in providing relevant information on team performance are also discussed. In the following chapters there is analysis of the factors that influence the time at which the first and second goals are scored in a match, as well as the idea of the key-goal which defines the outcome of the game (a win or a draw). Survival analysis procedures (cumulative incidence function, Cox regression models with fixed and time varying covariates and competing models) were devised and applied in match analysis to estimate the probability of the first goal, second goal and the key-goal being scored during a match as a function of a set of explanatory variables regarding team performance and match context. The findings of this study confirmed that performance indicators, such as positive accumulated goal difference (the difference between the goals scored and conceded during the whole competition up until the match considered), shots on goal, sanctions and substitutions enable the time at which the first goal is scored by home teams to be predicted. They also revealed the importance of scoring the first goal for home teams to win a match. In addition, they showed that the first goal in a match scored by home teams was positively and significantly associated with a winning outcome. Analysis of the second goal of the match demonstrated that this is scored most often by home teams in the second half of the game. The Cox model showed that the time at which the first goal is scored in a match had a positive effect on the second goal being scored by the home team, particularly if the first goal was scored in the second half of the match. The competitive risk regressions model showed that there was a higher probability of home teams scoring the key-goal of match, while there was a lower probability of teams with a positive accumulated goal difference scoring the keygoal that led to victory. Home teams, and teams with a positive accumulated goal difference, showed a higher probability of scoring the key-goal that tied the match. This study brings new perspectives for performance analysis in elite football by taking into account the dynamics of team performance during matches. The approach proposed in this study enables the prediction of scoreline evolution based on performance indicators and thus might facilitate decision-making by coaches regarding instructions given to teams during matches

Eye quietness and quiet eye in expert and novice golf performance: an electrooculographic analysis

Quiet eye (QE) is the final ocular fixation on the target of an action (e.g., the ball in golf putting). Camerabased eye-tracking studies have consistently found longer QE durations in experts than novices; however, mechanisms underlying QE are not known. To offer a new perspective we examined the feasibility of measuring the QE using electrooculography (EOG) and developed an index to assess ocular activity across time: eye quietness (EQ). Ten expert and ten novice golfers putted 60 balls to a 2.4 m distant hole. Horizontal EOG (2ms resolution) was recorded from two electrodes placed on the outer sides of the eyes. QE duration was measured using a EOG voltage threshold and comprised the sum of the pre-movement and post-movement initiation components. EQ was computed as the standard deviation of the EOG in 0.5 s bins from –4 to +2 s, relative to backswing initiation: lower values indicate less movement of the eyes, hence greater quietness. Finally, we measured club-ball address and swing durations. T-tests showed that total QE did not differ between groups (p = .31); however, experts had marginally shorter pre-movement QE (p = .08) and longer post-movement QE (p < .001) than novices. A group × time ANOVA revealed that experts had less EQ before backswing initiation and greater EQ after backswing initiation (p = .002). QE durations were inversely correlated with EQ from –1.5 to 1 s (rs = –.48 - –.90, ps = .03 - .001). Experts had longer swing durations than novices (p = .01) and, importantly, swing durations correlated positively with post-movement QE (r = .52, p = .02) and negatively with EQ from 0.5 to 1s (r = –.63, p = .003). This study demonstrates the feasibility of measuring ocular activity using EOG and validates EQ as an index of ocular activity. Its findings challenge the dominant perspective on QE and provide new evidence that expert-novice differences in ocular activity may reflect differences in the kinematics of how experts and novices execute skills

Games of Two Halves: Non-Experimental Evidence on Cooperation, Defection and the Prisoner's Dilemma

We develop a stylized two-period game-theoretic model of the strategic choices made by soccer teams when selecting between defensive and attacking team formations, and between non-violent and violent styles of play. Cooperative behaviour during the early stages of matches is typically superseded by non-cooperation during the latter stages. The propensity for violent play to take place in the latter stages of soccer matches is interpreted as novel non-experimental evidence that players typically resort to mutually detrimental non-cooperative forms of behaviour when the payoffs assume a prisoner's dilemma structure

Social and Organizational Value in Sport: A Shared Value Perspective of a Men’s Health Initiative

One of the primary criticisms of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is that any resources allocated to social programming may detract from an organization’s economic returns. Porter and Kramer (2011) argue that social and organizational returns do not have to be mutually exclusive, and that a shared value approach can effectively improve the environment and social conditions in which a company operates, while simultaneously enhancing the firm’s long-term business. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine a health initiative, aimed at male ice hockey fans and implemented within a Canadian Major Junior hockey context, through the lens of shared value. This dissertation follows the integrated article format, which consists of three separate, but related studies conducted in order to achieve this purpose. Specifically, the three studies examine: (a) how shared value can be created within a non-professional sport context, (b) the initiative’s social impact, and (c) the various means of optimizing a program to meet stakeholder needs. In Study 1, the purpose was to examine how shared value can be generated by incorporating social concerns into an organization’s business operations and interaction with stakeholders. Those that participated in the men’s health initiative were invited to take part in two focus groups following the completion of the program, of which 15 volunteered to participate (Site 1, n = 5; Site 2, n = 10). To enrich the data and further explore their perspectives, those who participated in the focus groups were also interviewed as well as an additional 13 program participants (n = 28) and other stakeholders, including the program designer (n = 1), session instructors (n = 4), representatives from the associate hockey organizations (n = 3), and a representative from the associated fitness facility (n = 1). The qualitative data were analyzed using Porter and Kramer’s (2011) concept of shared value and the Shared Value Strategy and Measurement Process (SVSMP) (Porter, Hills, Pfitzer, Patscheke & Hawkins, 2012). The findings from Study 1 revealed themes that were related to the creation of shared value in sport, including: (a) the initiative’s area of focus, (b) the initiative’s goals, (c) motives for collaboration, (d) co-creation of an initiative, (e) shared value evaluation, (f) moral ownership, and (g) program outcomes. A defining component of a shared value initiative is that, in addition to providing organizational benefits, it must also generate social returns. Therefore, the assessment of an initiative’s social impact is warranted. The purpose of Study 2 was to examine the social impact of the men’s health initiative and was guided using Inoue and Kent’s (2013) integrative framework of CSR impact. Objective health measures and physical activity levels of the program’s participants (n = 80) were assessed at baseline, and follow-up assessments occurred at 12 weeks and 12 months to determine the intermediate and long-term impact. At 12 months, qualitative data were collected through one-on-one interviews with the program’s participants (n = 28). The findings revealed that the program had a positive social impact on those who participated in the program, as well as other members of the community who were not directly involved. Specifically, the intermediate impact on the program’s participants included a reduction in their weight, body mass index, waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, and improvements in physical activity, diet, and self-rated health. The long-term impact at 12 months indicated that the participants maintained a reduction in their weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, and improvements in diet. The changes to the community were reported as improvements in family bonding time, diet, physical activity levels, and awareness of health programs and components. Although many sport organizations offer social initiatives, few undertake any formal program evaluation to determine whether stakeholder needs are being met and whether resources are being used in a strategic manner. Thus, the purpose of Study 3 was to evaluate the design and implementation of the men’s health initiative from the perspective of its stakeholders. One-on- one interviews were conducted with each stakeholder (n = 37) and was guided using Chen’s (2015) program theory. The findings identified several themes that either facilitated or impeded the design and delivery of the program including the managing of partnerships, psychological and social supports/barriers, delivery agents, hockey content, and capacity building. Sport is often positioned as a vehicle for achieving social change. This dissertation supports this notion and reflects how organizations are capable of creating shared value by addressing social needs and developing business returns, benefiting both the organization and community alike. By understanding how shared value can be created, managers are able to rationalize current social programming to stakeholders and make the necessary adjustments to contribute to meaningful social change. Through the assessment of an initiative’s social impact, we can examine whether programs are truly benefiting the constituents and communities for whom they were intended. Lastly, the use of program evaluation allows managers to ensure that stakeholder needs are being met and feedback can be used to optimize future programming

Proposition and Exploration of a Complete Model of Strategic Resource Utility

The focus of strategy research in recent years has moved beyond examining resources as the building blocks of competitive advantage and has instead proposed more complex, esoteric theories to explain firms’ performance. While each of these theories is valuable independently, none offer a ‘root-cause’ analysis of competitive advantage. To provide this, strategy scholars should consider revisiting the importance of individual firm-level resources. The purpose of this document is to more thoroughly map out the resource space using several prominent strategy perspectives as a guide and to test the competitive potential of multiple resource typologies. This document is organized into five Chapters. In Chapter I, a conceptual argument is developed that outlines a complete model of strategic resource utility. The complete model is designed to help managers and scholars identify which resources are most likely to generate competitive advantage for a firm, and to propose several ways to move forward empirically. Chapter II is an investigation of the relationships between resource in/tangibility and firm performance. Chapters III and IV test the utility of two sub-typologies of intangible resources. Together, the results from Chapters I-IV indicate that intangible resources—especially those that are easily communicable—are indicative of competitive advantage. Last, Chapter V outlines an agenda for future research based on these results

Proceedings of Mathsport international 2017 conference

Proceedings of MathSport International 2017 Conference, held in the Botanical Garden of the University of Padua, June 26-28, 2017. MathSport International organizes biennial conferences dedicated to all topics where mathematics and sport meet. Topics include: performance measures, optimization of sports performance, statistics and probability models, mathematical and physical models in sports, competitive strategies, statistics and probability match outcome models, optimal tournament design and scheduling, decision support systems, analysis of rules and adjudication, econometrics in sport, analysis of sporting technologies, financial valuation in sport, e-sports (gaming), betting and sports

An Ecosystem Framework for the Meta in Esport Games

This paper examines the evolving landscape of modern digital games, emphasizing their nature as live services that continually evolve and adapt. In addition to engaging with the core gameplay, players and other stakeholders actively participate in various game-related experiences, such as tournaments and streaming. This interplay forms a vibrant and intricate ecosystem, facilitating the construction and dissemination of knowledge about the game. Such knowledge flow, accompanied by resulting behavioral changes, gives rise to the concept of a video game meta. Within the competitive gaming context, the meta represents the strategic and tactical knowledge that goes beyond the fundamental mechanics of the game, enabling players to gain a competitive advantage. We present a review of the state-of-the-art of knowledge for game metas and propose a novel model for the meta knowledge structure and propagation that accounts for this ecosystem, based on a review of the academic literature and practical examples. By exploring the dynamics of knowledge exchange and its influence on gameplay, the review presented here sheds light on the intricate relationship between game evolution, player engagement, and the associated emergence of game meta