The emergence and perpetuation of a destructive culture in an elite sport in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Recent inquiries into elite sports in the United Kingdom has unearthed examples 4 of destructive cultures. Yet, earlier research left destructive cultures overlooked.

The Gradual Normalization of Behaviors Which Might Challenge Ethical and Professional Standards in Two British Elite Sports Organizations

“…Participants in these reviews also often describe themselves as "defensive of their own position" (King, 2012, p. 5) to explain why they NORMALISATION OF UNETHICAL BEHAVIOURS 4 could not cooperate with other groups in the same organisation. These three examples are consistent with findings regarding the emergence of destructive cultures (Feddersen et al, 2020). They are also consistent with reports on failed leadership in situations of a damaging culture in Danish Swimming (Kammeradvokaten, 2020), systemic failures in protecting youth athletes in USA Gymnastics (Daniels, 2017), corruption and doping in biathlon (IBU External Review Commission, 2021), and ball tampering in Australian cricket (The Ethics Centre, 2018).…”

Organizational stress and well-being in competitive sport: a systematic review

“…Despite these advances, competitive sport is still inundated with organizational issues (e.g. destructive cultures, dysfunctional relationships; Feddersen et al, 2020;Wachsmuth et al, 2018) that threaten the well-being of individuals and groups. Previous research has often sought to explore organizational stress from a performance-driven perspective with less attention paid to the implications of organizational stress for well-being and or other stress outcomes (e.g.…”

An exploration of performance management processes used within Olympic sport programmes

“…The results indicate that the performance leader's role has a significant impact on how performance management processes are delivered across strategic (e.g., identifying the path to success), operational (e.g., nurturing the performance environment), and individual (e.g., clarifying management, coaching and support staff roles) levels. However, we argue that these processes are not solely influenced by the performance leader, and that the performance leader's influence on these processes may change over time (Feddersen et al, 2020). For example, the board can have a considerable influence on how performance management processes are delivered through the strategic direction set for the organization which can feed down into the types of roles and range of responsibilities that coaches, and support staff might have.…”

“…Performance management has been identified as a salient research topic within organizational sport psychology as it is focused on how macro organizational processes influence, and are influenced by, individual behavior and group dynamics to effect the performance of individuals and teams within the organization (Molan et al, 2019). Furthermore, the application of performance management within elite sport has increased significance as factors such as the role delivery of coaches, the coordination of sport science and medical support, and the sport organization's vision and culture can profoundly influence performance across multiple generations of athletes (Arnold et al, 2019;Feddersen et al, 2020;Wagstaff, 2019). Consequently, it is no longer sufficient for researchers and applied sport psychologists to primarily focus on the athlete or the coach-athlete relationship, they must now understand and potentially influence wider contextual/systemic factors which affect athlete performance and wellbeing.…”