Peter Taylor

Organisational Effectiveness of Hellenic National Sports Organisations: A Multiple Constituency Approach

This study applies the multiple constituency model of organisational effectiveness to a sample of Hellenic national sports organisations (NSOs). A 33-item inventory of effectiveness was developed and tested to reflect the common effectiveness-related perceptions of six constituent groups: board members, paid administrative staff, national coaches, elite athletes, international officials, and scientific consultants. Four hundred and twenty-three respondents from 20 NSOs participated in the study. Factor analysis resulted in the extraction of five composite effectiveness variables: calibre of the board and external liaisons, interest in athletes, internal procedures, long-term planning, and sport science support. The multivariate and univariate tests of variance revealed that athletes, coaches and scientific staff are the least satisfied groups, while international officials and board members produce the most favourable ratings of effectiveness. Results suggest the value of using a multiple constituency approach when examining the effectiveness of national sports organisations.

Sport equity : benchmarking the performance of English public sport facilities

Abstract In the UK, public sector sport plays a potentially important role in promoting the inclusion of all groups in society, but inequalities have existed traditionally within sport, typically across social class, age, ethnicity and disability. Using the database of Sport Englands National Benchmarking Service, this paper aims to investigate how public sports facilities were used by five disadvantaged groups over the past ten years. Research data were generated by user surveys at a total of 408 facilities in the years 1997, 2001, 2006 and 2007. The statistical evidence demonstrates a consistent pattern of numerical under-representation of the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups and people aged 60 years or more. Furthermore, there are significant and linear decreases in participation by young people aged 11–19 years and disabled people aged <60 years. Finally, facility type, location, size and management type were found to be major sources of performance differences for certain indicators. The variation across type of facility is greater than the other three structural influences.

From economic theory to leisure practice via empirics: the case of demand and price

Despite the relationship of price and demand being central to economic analysis, doubts have been expressed in leisure studies about the ability of economists to contribute meaningfully to price decisions in leisure, or even to an understanding of price-demand relationships in leisure. This article uses a review of relevant theoretical and empirical considerations and a recent empirical investigation to refute such assertions. It demonstrates how leisure managers might utilize appropriate management information and market research data to improve both their understanding of the price-demand relationship and consequent pricing decisions, with the help of economic analysis.

The relationship between types of sports club and English government policy to grow participation

Sports clubs run by their members account for a significant proportion of sports participation in England and are central to government policy to grow participation. A survey of clubs in the United Kingdom shows that clubs can be clustered into three groups reflecting different levels of formality. While it is not possible to make a definitive estimate of the proportions of English clubs in each of the three groups, the more formal types of clubs probably offer the most viable policy instrument for increasing sports participation. These are split into two groups: large clubs for adults and juniors, owning their own facilities; and clubs focused predominantly on junior participants and relying on hired facilities. These two types of clubs will require different types of support. The third group of clubs are small informal/traditional clubs, with only adult members. As a group they make an important contribution to participation growth but their informality probably makes them a less viable medium for this policy objective.

Performance Measurement In English Local Authority Sports Facilities

In this article, the use of a performance measurement system for local authority sports halls and swimming pools is analyzed, and both the use and benefits of this system are evaluated. In doing so, an example of best practice in the use of quantitative performance measurement and data benchmarking is provided, encouraging a positive attitude toward evidence-based decision making.

Customer oriented public leisure services in the United Kingdom.

The customer is the ultimate judge of the adequacy of public sector leisure provision. In this environment are leisure services provided that customers actually want or does the public sector merely produce what they think their customers want? Moreover, to what extent are the preferences of customers included in the decision-making process in determining the provision of leisure services? To address these and other issues the views of chief leisure officers working in local authorities within the UK have been investigated. This paper presents some of the results of a quantitative survey concerning their attitudes towards customer orientation.

Pressures on Sports Volunteers Arising from Partnerships with the Central Government

Abstract This paper uses results of two research projects investigating the pressures on volunteers in UK sport to illustrate the implications of partnerships between national governing bodies of sport and the central government. National governing bodies of sport receive funding from the central government via Sport England and UK Sport. This funding has conditions attached. The conditions will affect volunteers at the national level of the NGB, but will also cascade down to volunteers in the sports clubs. Thus, they add to the complexity and scale of tasks performed by club level volunteers, who require additional support to perform them. For most NGBs, this external funding is a very significant proportion of their income, so it may have a corresponding impact on the development of the sports and the work of volunteers. The conditions attached to support can be understood in the broader context of a professionalisation of sport in the voluntary sector. As such, the pressures from the central government are inevitable, but volunteers can also be supported by their NGBs and Sport England.

Determinants of sports volunteering and sports volunteer time in England

This article uses the largest available data set in the United Kingdom to identify the determinants of the decision to volunteer in sport and the amount of time contributed to it. Sport in England relies heavily on volunteers for delivery of participation, which is important for government policy, particularly the Big Society and especially in an environment of public expenditure cuts. Yet intelligence on the nature of sports volunteering is limited. Previous descriptions from national surveys of volunteers in sport have not addressed the independent effects of the demographic and socio-economic variables concerned, nor the distinction between numbers of volunteers and the time they give. This study remedies both shortcomings, analysing national survey data to identify significant influences on both the decision to volunteer and the time given. It identifies significant variations in the expected volunteering rate by gender, age, ethnicity, education, income and the number and age of dependent children. With respect to the time given to sports volunteering, there are significant variations by gender, age and employment status but conspicuously not by education and income. A policy dilemma is that targeting those most likely to volunteer and give time would reinforce existing inequalities in sports volunteering.

The operational efficiency of English public sport facilities

Based on the database of Sport Englands National Benchmarking Service, this paper analyses the operational efficiency of 105 sports halls and swimming pools in England by adopting a mathematical programming technique – Data Envelopment Analysis. Incorporating an insight into the whole industrys performance as well as facilitating a shift from data benchmarking to process benchmarking, analyses at both aggregate and individual levels are presented. At the aggregate level, inefficiency is mainly identified as the inability to use resources in the technically most efficient way. Management type has a significant effect on operational efficiency, where non in-house facilities outperform in-house facilities and the differences in production structure are evident. At the individual level, an illustrative report for an individual facility is presented to demonstrate the assessment of facility performance, the setting of performance targets and the identification of benchmarking partners. Finally, implications and limitations of this research are discussed.

The Balance of Benefit and Burden? The Impact of Child Protection Legislation on Volunteers in Scottish Sports Clubs

ABSTRACT This paper explores the benefits and burdens experienced by volunteers in sports clubs in Scotland arising from child protection (CP) legislation. It positions them in relation to the balance between legislation to reduce risk on the one hand and the promotion of voluntary action on the other. Mixed methods included interviews with 14 representatives of key agencies and a survey of 977 current, disengaged and potential volunteers. These revealed little evidence of positive disclosures leading to the elimination of unsuitable volunteers. It was difficult to identify the extent to which the existence of the CP process deterred unsuitable volunteers from offering to volunteer. Furthermore, some suitable volunteers with criminal records might also be deterred but this is also difficult to identify. Having to comply with CP procedures is a minor deterrent to volunteers, compared to pressures from lack of time, time at paid work and time with their families. Child protection legislation may have stimulated a broader adoption of child protection policies in clubs but it has also imposed additional burdens on volunteers and voluntary administrators. The paper concludes that the difficulties of producing accurate evidence in this sensitive area restrict the extent to which legislation can be informed by estimates of reduced risk, weighed against the increased burden on volunteers. However, if society values the voluntary sector in sport and what it provides, it will have to give this sector additional support to cope positively with the legislation and incorporate it into ‘good practice’ working with children.