Understanding Change in National Sport Organizations: An Integration of Theoretical Perspectives

Abstract

Increased interest in organizational change (i.e., shifts in an organization's structure, strategy, and processes) has led to considerable diversity in the theoretical approaches used to explain the phenomenon. This theoretical diversity has caused some scholars to suggest that a more complete understanding of organizational phenomena such as change is obtained when different theoretical perspectives are used in conjunction with one another. This paper examines a process of change that has been occurring in Canadian national sport organizations. Utilizing the theoretical approaches found in work on resource dependence theory, institutional theory, organizational culture, and the role of transformational leaders in managing change, the paper shows how these approaches explain different aspects of the change process. It also shows how a more complete understanding of change may be gained by using more than one theoretical perspective.

Sport governance encounters: Insights from lived experiences

“…Both of these themes contain findings commonly referred to in the literature when examining the implications of structure, and the barriers to governance and decisionmaking within national, state or provincial sport organisations (Amis & Slack, 1996;Auld, 1997;Hoye, 2007;Inglis, 1997). Most of this research in relation to state, national or provincial sport organisations has been driven by the commercialisation of sport, including the role of government funding and increased accountability in return for this support (Enjolras, 2002;Slack, 1985;Slack & Hinings, 1992). The pressure of increasing commercialisation and accountability reveals the tensions evident in two different worlds and cultures as they collide during sport's transition from volunteer-delivered amateur sport to professionally managed and delivered sport supported by volunteers.…”

Examining social media adoption and change to the stakeholder communication paradigm in not-for-profit sport organizations

“…For instance, the institutionalized pressures to radically shift an organization's form from a simplistic to a professional bureaucratic structure to secure revenues would constitute a revolutionary change (cf. Slack & Hinings, 1992).…”

Modernisation and governance in UK national governing bodies of sport: how modernisation influences the way board members perceive and enact their roles

“…This suggests a general process driven largely by commercialisation. However, in many cases, this growth is a direct result of increased government investment and the 'complexity of demands' refers primarily to the accountability 'technologies' and associated tensions among stakeholders that accompany public investment and modernisation reforms (Slack 1985, Slack and Hinings 1992, Hoye and Cuskelly 2003. This makes it difficult both to conceptualise modernisation and professionalisation in empirical research and to assess the relative influence of each set of processes on organisational governance.…”