David Shilbury

A Study of Organizational Effectiveness for National Olympic Sporting Organizations

This study applies the competing values approach (CVA) of organizational effectiveness to a sample of nonprofit Australian national Olympic sporting organizations (NOSOs). The purpose of the study was to determine the psychometric properties of the subscales developed within each of the four quadrants composing the CVA. Two hundred eightynine constituents from 10 NOSOs participated in this study. Initial factor analysis resulted in six of the eight theoretically derived cells in the CVAeach yielding one reliable factor. These were Flexibility, Resources, Planning, Productivity, Availability of Information, and Stability. The other two cells, Skilled Workforce and Cohesive Workforce, each produced a two-factor structure. To understand the relationship between these manifest factors (cells) and organizational effectiveness, a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted, which revealed that the rational-goal model, comprising Productivity and Planning, was the critical determinant of effectiveness in NOSOs.

The role of the board in building strategic capability: towards an integrated model of sport governance research

Governance is a critical issue confronting sport organisations. Its importance in the management of sport organisations has been heightened due to the transition of many sports from predominantly volunteer administered organisations anchored in an amateur ethos, to professionally managed entities catering to a more sophisticated sport marketplace. This paper identifies four elements from the sport governance literature as the key research foci to date: shared leadership, board motivation, board roles, and board structure. Four generic themes (performance, conformance, policy and operations) are also examined and expressed as governance capabilities. The strategic role and performance of the board, while central to the practice of governance, is shown to be a weakness in many sport organisations. Further, the strategic role of the board is underdeveloped in the sport management and governance research literature. Finally, it is noted that the governance literature is shaped by a normative and prescriptive approach that may not fully encompass the diversity that

Professionalisation, sport governance and strategic capability

Sport governance research is growing in volume and routinely highlights the tension between volunteers and paid professionals in relation to shared leadership, board motivations, and board structures and performance. Using governance as the lens through which progress is viewed, this paper demonstrates sports transition from an amateur, volunteer-driven pastime to a more business-like sector. Empirically derived data, from a larger action research study examining the strategic capability of New Zealand national sport organisation boards, are integrated with prior research and theoretical developments to exemplify the state of sport governance theory and the sector generally. Outcomes from the review of sport governance research, combined with a selection of results from the study of strategic capability, highlight the challenges associated with volunteer board engagement, given the increasing demands for strategic thinking and action, while also balancing this task with the conformance, policy and operation roles.

A conceptual model for sport services marketing research : integrating quality, value and satisfaction

This paper advances our understanding of the relationship between quality, value and satisfaction in the context of spectator sport services. This is achieved through an analysis and examination of relevant secondary data culminating in a conceptual model. Although extensive research has been conducted in the three separate areas of quality, value and satisfaction, to date no work has been reported attempting to develop macro models that capture the concepts and their potential interrelationships. Such macro models could enhance the communication and stimulate further research for sport marketing scholars. This paper proposes a model apposite for further research and in the process leads to the potential confirmation, rejection or indeed, adaptation of the conceptualization of sport services.

Implementing corporate social responsibility in English football: towards multi-theoretical integration.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to bridge the micro-macro divide by trying to integrate the micro-domains focus on individuals (i.e. managers) with the meso-domains and macro-domains focus (i.e. leagues/football clubs and the socio-political environment, respectively). The examination takes place within the context of English football and in relation to the implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on data collected by 21 charitable foundation managers of the top two divisions of English football. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim from digital voice recorders and were analysed using grounded theory coding techniques. Findings – The study found a paradoxical context in which foundation managers make strategic decisions in an endeavour to harmonise multiple environmental and institutional “recipes”. Managers are confident that they have the capability to do so, yet realise that this capability is the result of a heavy...

Corporate social responsibility in professional team sport organisations: towards a theory of decision-making

Research question: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is increasingly important to business, including professional team sport organisations. Scholars focusing on CSR in sport have generally examined content-related issues such as implementation, motives or outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to add to that body of knowledge by focusing on process-related issues. Specifically, we explore the decision-making process used in relation to CSR-related programmes in the charitable foundations of the English football clubs. Research methods: Employing a grounded theory method and drawing on the analysis and synthesis of 32 interviews and 25 organisational documents, this research explored managerial decision-making with regard to CSR in English football. Results and findings: The findings reveal that decision-making consists of four simultaneous micro-social processes (‘harmonising’, ‘safeguarding’, ‘manoeuvring’ and ‘transcending’) that form the platform upon which the managers in the charitable foundations of the English football clubs make decisions. These four micro-social processes together represent assessable transcendence; a process that is fortified by passion, contingent on trust, sustained by communication and substantiated by factual performance enables CSR formulation and implementation in this organisational context. Implications: The significance of this study for the sport management literature is threefold: (1) it focuses on the individual level of analysis, (2) it shifts the focus of the scholarly activity away from CSR content-based research towards more process-oriented approaches and (3) it adds to the limited number of studies that have utilised grounded theory in a rounded manner.

Considering future sport delivery systems

It is evident that the sports infrastructure in Australia is becoming increasingly more complex and, as proposed in this paper, is evolving into a series of specific industries. This paper describes these changes by applying elements of Porters (1998) concept of clusters. In essence, clusters represent overlapping industries, and the increasing ability of sports to leverage financial contributions from organisations relying on a sports ongoing success in the marketplace. Several examples are used to illustrate: (1) the concept of sport clusters, and (2) the issues confronting sports as they interact with a plethora of sport and non-sport organisations. Several outcomes are enunciated in the paper describing the impact of changing sport delivery systems. Conclusions include the need to recognise a broader role for national and state sporting organisations and to leverage financial support from within their cluster to complement existing, but limited government support. The ability to leverage financial resources from within a cluster will also be reliant on revamping inter-organisational networks recognising that a cluster actually becomes the value chain defining supplier and buyer linkages. Finally, a number of research issues are raised calling on scholars to examine changing industry structures and subsequent sporting organisation responses to these changes by mapping the interactions between industries and organisations to better understand cluster networks and competition.

Umpire Participation: Is Abuse Really the Issue?

Umpires (or referees) are essential for the ongoing production of organised sport. It has been widely argued that abuse of umpires by players, coaches, and spectators is ubiquitous and aversive, therefore engendering attrition. Cognitive behavioural theory specifies that attrition and continuation are best understood by identifying the ways that stimuli are interpreted. In this study, 22 umpires of professional and semi-professional Australian Rules football were interviewed to determine what they think of abusive behaviour, and what they find to be rewarding about umpiring. Findings showed that umpires routinely reframe abuse, considering it to be a normal part of their role. Abuse was not deemed to be particularly aversive, and there was no evidence that it contributes to attrition. On the other hand, umpires enjoyed the social world they share with other umpires, and identified social interactions among umpires as a key reason for continuing to umpire. This study highlights the important role that socialisation into the social world of umpiring plays in helping umpires to reframe abuse, and the importance of socialising with other umpires in maintaining their commitment to umpiring. It is suggested that the social rewards of umpiring should be stressed in umpire recruitment, and that the social world of umpiring should be incorporated into umpire training and retention.

Assessing Sport Management Journals: A Multi-Dimensional Examination

The rating of refereed journals has become important for academics and institutions as well as for sport management as a field of study. This paper argues that the dearth of a rating system in sport management works against the best interests of the development of the field. This paper presents a rating scheme for sport management journals, which replicates an earlier study of marketing journals, using weighted multi-dimensional perceptual ratings (Polonsky & Whitelaw, 2006). Forty-five senior sport management academics evaluated 13 journals on four criteria: journal prestige, contribution to theory, contribution to practice and contribution to teaching. Using the weighted scores of the four criteria for each journal and a supporting cluster analysis, four categories of journals were identified. The results of this study will assist academics as they argue the case for the quality of journals in which they publish. Further it facilitates evaluation of sport management journals in relation to one another on the basis of their overall ranking and their scores on the four individual criteria.

Effectiveness of National Elite Sport Policies: A Multidimensional Approach Applied to the Case of Flanders

Abstract While the results of nations in international sport competitions are most often used as an evaluation of effectiveness of elite sport policies, they do not take into account the long-term duration of an athletic career, nor the many confounding variables influencing international success. This paper argues that output evaluation is a one-sided approach to policy assessment. It applies a multidimensional approach to the measurement of the effectiveness of elite sports policy evaluation (meso-level) by examining a four-year cycle of elite sport policies in Flanders. This study endeavors to advance the development of a framework to assess effectiveness of elite sport policies of nations. Data were collected at multiple points of the input-throughput-output and feedback cycle. It was found that in spite of the increasing elite sport expenditures in Flanders (inputs), and notwithstanding the development of the throughputs (processes), this has not as yet lead to acceptable results (outputs) at an international level.