Journey to excellence : characteristics of sustainable elite athlete organisations / Clive Joseph Stephens.

Abstract

In the past, management of elite athletes has focused on a coach-athlete (CA) relationship model. More recently, there has been a shift in thinking, to accommodate inputs from the multidisciplines of science, medicine and technology. To better understand the effect of the expanding resources, relationships and networks in elite athlete management, this thesis develops and defines the concept of an Elite Athlete Organisation (EAO), and from an organisational perspective, seeks to answer the question, “What are the organisational factors, practices, and resources that together enable an EAO to be effective and to consistently build a sustainable competitive advantage "? The research was conducted over a three and a half year period, utilising a concurrent mixed method approach (longitudinal case studies and a specially developed survey instrument). Data was collected from a cohort of twelve elite athlete organisations (six key members from each organisation (n = 72 in total). The thesis is an original contribution that validates the emergence and importance of an EAO by comparing the Top 10 and Top 50 EAOs in elite sport. The thesis empirically validates the organisational factors that influence or impeded organisational effectiveness. The primary theoretical contribution is to theory development of an EAO, which sees it as a tightly coupled emergent system made up from the totality of organisational factors, artefacts networks and individuals. Essentially, an EAO is a high functioning knowledge based multidisciplinary entity, delivering a range of specialised integrated services to elite athletes who are capable of podium positions at world-class events. Secondly, the thesis contributes to the discussion of effective management practices in multidisciplinary environments. Show more