Organizational culture 209 4 What is a cultural dimension? 5 How can organizational culture be measured in a sport organization? 6 How does measuring organizational culture help in changing it? 7 Select a sport organization you belong or have belonged to. Create a list of attributes or values that you believe embodies its organizational culture. Which are the characteristics that distinguish it from other similar sport organizations? 8 Select a sport organization you belong or have belonged to. Describe 10 artefacts that are on show in its premises and explain how each illuminates organizational culture. FURTHER READING Girginov, V. (2010). Culture and the study of sport management. European Sport Management Quarterly, 10(4): 397–417. Jarvie, G. (2013). Sport, Culture and Society: An Introduction. London: Routledge. Markovits, A.S. & Rensmann, L. (2010). Gaming the World: How Sports are Reshaping Global Politics and Culture. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Schein, E. (2010). Organizational Culture and Leadership. 4th edn. San Francisco: JosseyBass. Smith, A., Stewart, B. & Haimes, G. (2012). Organizational Culture and Identity: Sport, Symbols and Success. New York: Nova Science Publishers. RELEVANT WEBSITES • Australian Human Rights Commission at www.humanrights.gov.au • Australian Football League Community at www.aflcommunityclub.com.au • International eSports Federation at http://ie-sf.orgI • Cyberathlete Professional League at www.wcg.com • Rwandan Ministry of Sport and Culture at http://minispoc.gov.rw • Team Rwanda at http://teamrwandancycling.org • Swimming Australia at http://swimming.org.au • USA Swimming at http://usaswimming.org • Australian Rules Football (AFL) at http://afl.com.au CASE STUDY 9.1 Swimming: Drowning in a toxic culture? The idea of an organization possessing a ‘culture’ has been pre-eminent in management vernacular since the 1980s. Yet, the ‘collective programming’ of Smith, ACNMS 2015, Sport Management, Taylor and Francis, Florence. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [23 April 2017]. Created from latrobe on 2017-04-23 18:06:15. Copyright © 2015. Taylor and Francis. All rights reserved.210 Sport management principles culture has been acknowledged as the underlying and unconscious core of sport for centuries. In sport, culture acts as a filter for all participants to cope with order and to contribute to the sport in a meaningful way, where the collective outcome in performance is sovereign over any individual. However, when values and beliefs are challenged with deviant behaviour, an organization’s fundamental culture is challenged, leading to dissonance and fracturing. As an elite sport, swimming has enjoyed the spotlight on the world stage and is one of the premier events in the Summer Olympics program. In fact, as a tangible measure of the sport’s global spectator and sponsor attractiveness, seats for the swimming at the London Olympics (2012) were the most expensive competition event tickets to buy in the secondary market at 242 per cent over their face value. A successful sport must balance participation rates, on- and off-field performance, and commercial sustainability. Building a strong culture around these dimensions has been the reason for swimming’s success, especially in Australia. Despite its high profile and performance success, the culture of elite swimming has experienced numerous problems, intensifying in recent times. Waves of reputational issues have swept over swimming over the last 50 years. Mischievous pranks in the 1960s were supplanted by systematic doping during the 1970s and 1980s in the Eastern Bloc, while Chinese and European teams allegedly employed performance-enhancing drugs in the 1990s and 2000s. In the modern era swimming has revealed inappropriate behaviour of coaching personnel and the current use and abuse of prescription and social drugs by its elite athletes. This has caused the governing authority, the Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) and associated national associations, to question the culture of elite swimming. For example, USA Swimming suffered criticism on its management of misconduct cases by swim coaches and support staff well after its preventative Safe Sport program was implemented. The culture of USA Swimming today is markedly different to the ideals set out in its organizational constitution. In Australia, swimming is often likened to riding a bike in that nearly every Australian learns to do both from an early age. Australians value sport and leisure highly and swimming is a powerful representation of the country’s cultural beliefs. Participation in an almost limitless supply of swimming activities combined with the Australian penchant for sports competition has shaped the nation’s desire for successful in-pool performance at international competitions. Australia is presently ranked first in Commonwealth competition and fifth in the world, but it was an unexpectedly poor team performance at the most recent Olympic Games that caused authorities within Swimming Australia serious concern. Added to the underwhelming performances was an increasing media exposure of reckless athlete behaviour and reports of a poor team work ethos. The worldwide notoriety of a number of Australia’s great swimming personalities such as Dawn Fraser, Shane Gould and Ian Thorpe had been replaced by the more disturbing behaviours of some of its modern stars. The culture of swimming had changed, leading fans and authorities in the broader Olympic movement to brand it toxic. Smith, ACNMS 2015, Sport Management, Taylor and Francis, Florence. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [23 April 2017]. Created from latrobe on 2017-04-23 18:06:15. Copyright © 2015. Taylor and Francis. All rights reserved.Organizational culture 211 An organization’s culture can be a reflection of the culture of a society. Countries like Australia and the United States are passionate about sport. Sport organizational culture values in these two countries tend to reflect the prevailing, broader social values. Sport connects people in a way that very few other activities can achieve. For Americans, there are only two days in a calendar year where professional sport is not televised. For Australians, there are sporting events so important that they command a public holiday in commemoration. A strong, united organizational culture has a positive effect on performance. While difficult to define, when its underlying values and beliefs are tested, an organization’s cultural weaknesses are easily exposed. For example, organizational culture is reflected by the manner in which participants and representatives interact with each other, and with competitors, fans, sponsors and officials. In practice, Swimming Australia’s strategic goals had been challenged. Performances at both the World Championships and the Olympic Games were below expectations, and coupled with numerous, high profile athlete behavioural transgressions, a cultural conflict had become evident. Media reporting had cited poor governance from Swimming Australia and an eroding team culture as the two major reasons for the lack of results in the pool. A new face of swimming was emerging and the previously unwavering universal principles of fairness, competitiveness and pride were being replaced by more discouraging standards. Arguably, the combination of increased media access to athletes, the commercialization of successful athletes, and the necessity for sport to entertain its fans, may contradict Swimming Australia’s traditional values. Nevertheless, by the 2012 London Olympics, Australian swimming was floundering against the tide of public expectations, severely threatening its credibility. At the same time, athlete misbehaviour and poor results cannot be entirely blamed on the athletes. An organization’s policies must at least in part account for dysfunctional behavioural expectations since governance is the overriding framework for cultural practices. Governance exists to balance social and economic goals with stakeholder and partner goals, while ensuring proper legal compliance. Existing strategies and structures had failed and management was accountable for overlooking deviant activity such as pranks, inappropriate harassment, and recreational drug use. The perception within Swimming Australia seemed to be that when the time came to perform, coaches and athletes would ‘step up’. When a sport becomes too insular, unacceptable behaviours may be overlooked. Over time, a strong positive culture can erode, and a new, less attractive set of values and behaviours can emerge. Changing dysfunctional cultural values and behaviours must begin with management. As a result of public scrutiny, Swimming Australia underwent a significant review of its managerial hierarchy and the policies and practices that had been blamed for destroying team dynamism and podium results. The Bluestone Review (Grange 2013) assessed the culture and leadership in Australian swimming. It identified not one single significant issue that was damaging the culture of swimming, but rather a ‘confluence of circumstances’ that had been building for Smith, ACNMS 2015, Sport Management, Taylor and Francis, Florence. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [23 April 2017]. Created from latrobe on 2017-04-23 18:06:15. Copyright © 2015. Taylor and Francis. All rights reserved.212 Sport management principles some time. Rigorous new standards were recommended for personal athlete behaviour, social media usage, and accountability at all levels of the sport. The consideration of successful role models such as Dawn Fraser also appeared in an effort to reinforce more traditional values and standards. In the United States, the Safe Swim Program was enacted to protect the wellbeing of swimmers at all levels of the sport. In addition, the Funnest Sport campaign (2014) is an attempt to refresh the positive perception that swimming as a sport had held for most people. The campaign aims to highlight the positive aspects of competitive swimming, with the intention of attracting more people to get involved. Simultaneously, governing body USA Swimming is endeavouring to reinforce strong ethical values and practices from the elite level to grassroots participation. Its vision ‘to inspire and enable our members to achieve excellence in the sport of swimming and in life’ reflects the desired culture. An organization’s culture can often be resistant to change. Without serious threats like losing financial support or participants, most sport organizations would not tamper with the existing culture. However, when an organization seemingly loses its way, and its culture becomes labelled as toxic, change can be brought about swiftly. Constant media exposure of the competitions, and the celebrity capabilities of athletes, exposes elite sport to negative influences, which if not managed suitably, can undermine performance by destroying positive cultural values, beliefs and practices. CASE STUDY QUESTIONS 1 How reflective of the national culture is the culture of swimming’s governing body in either Australia or the United States? 2 Can the recommendations made by the Bluestone Review be implemented quickly for Swimming Australia so that its positive culture can be revived and a stronger organization can return? CASE STUDY 9.2 In a man’s football world: Women with an eye on the ball Australian Rules football lies at the heart of Australian sporting culture. Put simply, Aussies love their ‘footy’. Australian Rules football has been in existence since the 1850s and commands the largest participation base, live and television audiences, and commercial revenues in Australia. Like all the other football codes, Australian Rules Football (AFL) is predominantly a man’s game: men play it, men coach it and men manage it (but everyone can watch it). The values of dynamism, Smith, ACNMS 2015, Sport Management, Taylor and Francis, Florence. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [23 April 2017]. Created from latrobe on 2017-04-23 18:06:15. Copyright © 2015. Taylor and Francis. All rights reserved.