No Plan B: the Achilles heel of high performance sport management

BOSTOCK, James, CROWTHER, Philip, RIDLEY-DUFF, Rory and BREESE, Richard (2017). No Plan B: the Achilles heel of high performance sport management. European Sport Management Quarterly, 18 (1), 25-46.

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Official URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/161847...
Link to published version:: https://doi.org/10.1080/16184742.2017.1364553

Abstract

Research question: The severity and immediacy of funding cuts to UK National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs), driven by the ‘No Compromise’ policy framework for Olympic funding, triggers a cyclical need for turnaround management. Adept strategies during times of considerable challenge is stark, yet literature investigating turnaround management within NGBs remains limited. Consequently, this paper examines two questions: how do NGBs respond to UK Sport funding cuts and how are their responses enabled or restricted by their organisational context? Research methods: A case study methodology was used to develop in-depth insights into how three NGBs responded over a twelve-month period of turnaround management. This was informed by 21 semi-structured interviews with chief executives/presidents, performance managers/head coaches and elite athletes. The actions of the NGBs were analysed through a thematic analysis that made use of Boyne’s (2004) 3 Rs of turnaround strategy. Results and findings: The results highlight that NGBs’ turnaround strategies were constrained by extreme funding dependency and a prohibitive institutional environment that led to states of flux and a focus on short-term operational survival. As a result, the measures taken undermined future success. Implications: An embedded feature of the ‘No Compromise’ framework is severe funding cuts. This should be a significant theme in NGB strategy development. The evidence of this study is that NGBs do not prepare, nor react strategically, when faced with the prospect (or fact of) severe cuts. Consequently, the cases of turnaround management in this study signal the urgent need for further research into the impact of the ‘No Compromise’ framework on the management of NGBs.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Turnaround; No Compromise; Retrenchment; Reorganisation; Repositioning
Research Institute, Centre or Group - Does NOT include content added after October 2018: Sheffield Business School Research Institute > Ethical Organisations
Sheffield Business School Research Institute > People, Work and Organisation
Sheffield Business School Research Institute > Service Sector Management
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1080/16184742.2017.1364553
Page Range: 25-46
Depositing User: Jill Hazard
Date Deposited: 06 Jul 2017 14:03
Last Modified: 12 Oct 2023 08:01
URI: https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/16087

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