Chad Seifried

The Culture of History in Sport Management's Foundation: The Intellectual Influence of Harvard Business School on Four Founding Sport Management Scholars

In this essay, the researchers explore the careers of four foundational figures in sport management, who received training as historians. Drawing on a wide range of primary and secondary sources, we illustrate how Earle Zeigler, Guy Lewis, Stephen Hardy, and Lawrence Fielding helped create the field of Sport Management with insights drawn from business historians, especially those at the Harvard Business School. Overall, we claim that sport business history can serve to help frame much of the field and is vitally relevant to the study of the sports industry. Furthermore, we advocate that the study of history be included as a prominent area within sport management curriculums. To support this assertion, we elucidate the importance of the historical case-study approach to sport management.

The United States Armed Forces and Their “Bowl” Games From 1942 to 1967 An Example of Organizational Innovation in Action

The collective information produced by this academic pursuit supports the goal of identifying the determinants of innovation and the process of intrafirm diffusion regarding organizational innovation. The U.S. military created 111 American football “bowl” games across six continents in 18 countries and 46 host cities from 1942 to 1967. Using the historical method through an ex post facto historical institutionalism interpretive lens, this study found the U.S. Armed Forces, through the dynamic capabilities of its top officers and officials, organized “bowl” games as product innovation and used football as process innovation to manage the massive mobilization and training of men for the various war efforts of that period. Within, we discovered (a) the resolution of crisis, (b) the emergence and recruitment of leaders, (c) the creation/use of novelty, and (d) the capacity to adapt revealed the military “bowl” game phenomenon and American football existed as critical ingredients for organizational innovation and that product innovation can emerge from process innovation and vice versa to support organizational innovation. Furthermore, novelty, although identified as a product innovation, must be supported, promoted, and adapted to create and sustain the goals associated with organizational process innovation. Next, intrafirm diffusion was shown to involve and compel job specialization, imitation/emulation, forged alliances, the creation of special service positions, and the development of newsletters and other internal/external media. Finally, this work supports and recognizes the utility of the “historic turn” with respect to the ability of how history can inform and improve today’s efforts toward innovation.

A review of the North American Society for Sport Management and its foundational core

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to explore the development of the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM) and to map the foundation that specific individuals, historical works, and historians provided the founders of that organization and the field of sport management in general. The paper also aims to track the early beginnings of sport management and present sport as a viable area for business and management historians to conduct their research and discuss theory. Design/methodology/approach – Following the initial work started by deWilde et al., this study drew on a wide range of primary and secondary sources and took an antiquarian and reconstructionist approach. Specifically, time-specific sport-related/focused dissertations, research articles, and archives from NASSM, along with published books and archives, were used to work toward the purpose of the study. Findings – This paper illustrates that some of the critical founding members of sport management and NASSM drew upon the trainin...

The Historical Ideal-Type as a Heuristic Device for Academic Storytelling by Sport Scholars

The goal of this research endeavor is to take the previous calls of sport scholars to expand into alternative research approaches (e.g., history, case study, law reviews, philosophy, etc.) and to show how storytelling can be an effective tool through the use of a heuristic device. The present analysis attempts to focus on the usage of the historical ideal-type as a heuristic device for academic storytelling so that scholars within sport studies can possibly become more comfortable in other methodological approaches. To support this goal, an example of a sport-focused historical ideal-type is reviewed along with an ideal-type activity practiced in other disciplines. Finally, the contribution and employment of academic storytelling and historical ideal-types will be promoted as an important tactic to enhance the impact of a scholar’s academic findings and overall writing potential.

The Misconception of Corporal Punishment: A Rejoin to Albrecht's “Drop and Give Us 20, Seifried: A Practical Response to Defending the Use of Punishment by Coaches”

Dr. Rick Albrechts article, titled “Drop and Give Us 20, Seifried: A Practical Response to Defending the Use of Punishment by Coaches,” argued that I held a disregard for the unintended negative consequences of punishment and pointed out several items of concern he felt obligated to communicate to the scholarly and professional community to support this notion (Albrecht, 2009). While several of the issues he brought to our attention deserve merit, in this reply, I focus my counter on Albrechts assertion that corporal punishment under my definition is “fatally flawed” and outside the mainstream of coaching (p. 474). I also discuss the cultural differences and expectations between the classroom and competitive athletics to help develop the issue. Finally, I offer advice to him and other members of the scholarly coaching education fraternity on how to better reduce the disconnect between them and real practicing coaches.

The rhetorical work of a partnership coordinator in mega-project construction

Over the past six decades, owners of sport teams and municipalities have been involved in the shared construction of new, state-of-the-art sport facilities. The negotiation and acceptance of these Private–Public Partnerships (PPPs) has often been contentious and unsuccessful. There are, however, other examples where team owners and cities enter into productive business relationships. We argue that one reason for a PPP being successful is that there are certain key actors, partnership coordinators, who are involved in this process. In particular, their skilful “work” at using rhetoric helps characterize the PPP in a specific way whereby the perception is that the risk of the project is distributed evenly amongst all the parties. To explore these ideas, a case study is presented of the successful negotiations in Canada between the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League and the City of Edmonton to build a new downtown arena.

Preserving sport and recreation facilities through the 'rehabilitation' of building codes.

Over the next decade, the majority of the building stock within the USA and across the globe will be renovated or replaced by new structures. During the construction process, local government building codes must be respected and adhered to in order to ensure the safety and protection of the community infrastructure and incorporated constituent activity. Interestingly, many building codes lack the normative position to adequately govern renovation activities such as preservation, reconstruction, rehabilitation and restoration. This particularly holds true when discussing large-scale construction projects such as sport and recreation venues. By first establishing that sport and recreation facilities are significant sources of community heritage, the main aim of this review is to raise public and managerial awareness about the need for new building codes (i.e., rehabilitation codes) that take sport and recreation facility renovation efforts into consideration.

Corruption, Rule-Breaking, and Sanctions: The Case of the NCAA

Abstract Corruption in organizations is commonplace across the globe in many industries, including sport. Despite the immense ramifications stemming from corrupt and unethical behavior and interest by sport organizations to comprehend the effects of corruption and employ tools to discourage unethical actions, literature in this area has been limited. In order to curb corrupt and unethical activities, governing bodies often implement penalties or sanctions to deter similar actions in the future. Through a review of rule-breaking, corruption, and sanction literature, and utilizing ethical climate theory (ECT), we examine what features of organizations encourage corrupt types of behaviors, and what tenets of sanctions allow for the greatest effectiveness. The present research used the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a conceptual setting. We present a series of propositions for consideration to improve the viability of the sanctioning process in the NCAA applicable to other third-party regulators.

The impact of price discrimination, price dispersion, and facilities on organizational revenue: lessons from Major League Baseball

ABSTRACT The present research seeks to examine the impact that price discrimination and price dispersion have on an organization’s revenue. Furthermore, we seek to understand whether facility type moderates the relationship between pricing behavior and revenue. Using a data set of Major League Baseball team ticket pricing behavior from 1990 through 2010, a two-staged least squares model is estimated. The findings indicate that both price discrimination and price dispersion does not impact a team’s total revenue. We find that new facilities do moderate this relationship between pricing behavior and revenues. We discuss the impact on the role that price behavior and venues have on revenue decisions for sport and leisure organizations.

The history of the modernisation construct: Tracing the contribution of business and economic historians

Purpose This paper aims to trace and/or historicise modernisation as a conceptual framework from the antecedents to present times. It also highlights the recent and past attention provided to modernisation by business and economic history scholars to recognise their contribution. Design/methodology/approach This paper is a literature review which offers a sample of debate from foundational scholars regarding the concept of modernisation emanating from sociologists, historians and business scholars. To present an analysis of the recent activity from business scholars on modernisation from highly recognizable journals and draw conclusions about the conceptual framework regarding its future as a framing device, the authors used search functions in the Business Source Complete database and specific journal search engines. Findings A keyword search of modernisation produced 45 published articles from 2000 to 2016 in business-related history and Financial Times top 50 journals. The foremost recognizable aspect of modernisation, as a construct presented here, demonstrates the concept that aims to illustrate a basic and/or universal pattern of the social processes that primarily affect development (e.g. cultural, economic, organisational, ecological, technological, etc.). Moreover, the authors demonstrate that economic and business scholars helped identify and explain different types of modernisation, reinforce or connect specific characteristics to modernisation, develop modernisation as an index capable of measurement and provide evidence of modernisation as a rhetorical strategy. Originality/value Little to no previous studies on modernisation emphasised on the contribution of business and economic historians; instead, they focused on the contributions of sociologists and social historians. Business and management historians served as an important voice in the development of modernisation as a conceptual frame. They highlighted the opportunities that are available to position modernisation as a useful tool to predict the future of traditional and advanced organisations.