Change management: The case of the elite sport performance team

The effective and efficient implementation of change is often required for both successful performance and management survival across a host of contemporary domains. However, although of major theoretical and practical significance, research to date has overlooked the application of change management (hereafter CM) knowledge to the elite sport performance team environment. Considering that the success of ‘off-field’ sports businesses are largely dependent on the performances of their ‘on-field’ team, this article explores the application of current CM theorizing to this specific setting and the challenges facing its utility. Accordingly, we identify the need and importance of developing theory specific to this area, with practical application in both sport and business, through examination of current knowledge and identification of the domain's unique, dynamic and contested properties. Markers of successful change are then suggested to guide initial enquiry before the article concludes with proposed lines of research which may act to provide a valid and comprehensive theoretical account of CM to optimize the research and practice of those working in the field

Great Expectations: Voluntary Sports Clubs and Their Role in Delivering National Policy for English Sport

“The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com”. Copyright International Society for Third-Sector Research and The Johns Hopkins University. DOI: 10.1007/s11266-009-9095-yVoluntary sports clubs (VSCs) account for about a quarter of all volunteering in England. The volunteers work in a mutual aid, self-production, self-consumption system whose main purpose is identifying and nurturing high-level performers. But the new HMG/Sport England strategies leading to London 2012 expects volunteers to make a major contribution to sustaining and extending participation. The study utilized six focus group sessions with a total of 36 officials and members of 36 clubs across the six counties of Eastern England to assess whether and to what extent government policy objectives can be delivered through the voluntary sector. The study focused on the perceptions and attitudes of club members about being expected to serve public policy and the current pressures they and their clubs face. The results lead the authors to question the appropriateness, sensitivity, and feasibility of current sport policy, particularly the emphasis on VSCs as policy implementers.Peer reviewe

Cultural Orientations of sport managers

Various interpretations of sport management are cultural constructs underpinned by core assumptions and values held by members of professional communities. Sport managers world wide share common problems, but differ in how they resolve them. These universal differences emerge from the relationships they form with other people, and their attitude to time, activities and the natural environment. This paper examines the role of sport managers’ cultural orientations in the interpretation and practice of sport management. Using a multiple dimension model (Hampden-Turner and Trompenaars, 2000) it sketches the cultural profiles of fifteen sport managers from seven countries. A combination of methods was employed including questionnaires, interviews and participant observation. It is contended that the culture of sport management concerns a social process by which managers get involved in reconciling seven fundamental cultural dilemmas in order to perform tasks and achieve certain ends. Thus, a knowledge of the cultural meaning of sport management in a particular country would equip sport managers with a valuable tool in managing both the cultural diversity of their own work forces and in developing appropriate cross-cultural skills needed for running international events, marketing campaigns, sponsorship deals and joint ventures

The Social Construction of the Long-Term Athlete Development Framework

This article examines the social construction of the Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) framework (Balyi et al., 2005; 2014) and the Canadian Sport for Life Leadership Team (now Sport for Life), the group responsible for the creation, development and promotion of LTAD. In particular, the study draws upon Schneider and Ingram’s theory of social construction and policy design and empirical data collected from the leadership team and senior civil servants to trace the socio-political developments that have led to the emergence and development of the LTAD framework and the leadership team within Canadian sport. The analysis focuses on the role of government (via Sport Canada) and how the LTAD framework and the leadership team emerged from and attempted to influence the Canadian sport policy process. The findings reveal how the adoption of the LTAD framework can, in part, be explained by the socio-political developments or ‘politicking’ that occurred within and around the creation, development and dissemination of the framework itself. More broadly, the study explains how the LTAD framework has become an increasingly orthodox conception of the athlete development process despite the absence of scientific research to support many of its claims

The Governing of Governance: Metagovernance and the Creation of New Organizational Forms within Canadian Sport

This article examines how the creation of new governing arrangements (i.e., new organizational forms and new actors) has enabled government (Sport Canada) to secure influence over Canadian sport organizations by drawing upon two empirical case studies of newly created organizational forms within the Canadian sporting context. More specifically, we focus on the inter-organizational dynamics between state agencies (Sport Canada) and quasi-autonomous organizational entities (Own the Podium and Sport for Life) to examine the nature of these new governance arrangements and how their creation has extended governmental control over Canadian sport. The analysis highlights the similar trajectories of the two case study organizations and reveals similar underlying patterns of control by Sport Canada in that both newly created entities have been used to strengthen the governmental agencies’ capacity and reach over the sport sector. Furthermore, the study reveals how these resource dependent organizations are being utilized and leveraged by government, often through negotiation, diplomacy and other informal mechanisms, to achieve its own objectives. More broadly, our analysis highlights the underlying mechanisms through which these newly formed networked arrangements operate