Sustainable governance is one of the fundamental factors that ensure the success of different sports. In the last few decades, there have been consistent and substantial investments in sports. In the UK, different sports are receiving public funds because of the social and economic opportunities they provide (Alm, 2013). For instance, the Sports Councils have four-year funding investments in sports worth more than £1 billion. Furthermore, sports-related activities have averaged Gross Value Added of more than £20 billion since 2010 (Walter & Tacon, 2018). The economic opportunities place sports among the top 15 industries in the United Kingdom (Forster, 2006). The importance of the sports industry is the primary reason why stakeholders have established guiding principles to ensure good governance in sports. "A Code for Sports Governance"(2017) is one of the strategic steps taken by the UK to enable good governance in sports. The code has guiding principles that prescribe that all National Governing Bodies (NGBs) must create and document concrete structures that will lead to gold standards of sports. The guiding principles apply to all organisations that receive funds from Sport England or UK Sport (Chappelet & Mrkonjic, 2013). The code, according to various studies, has a massive impact on sports organisations and administrations. Thus, this paper will create an overview of the influence of how good governance principles affect the autonomy of sport organisations and administrations in the UK.
Governance, Autonomy and a Code for Sports Governance
The concepts of governances and autonomy are critical points of discussion in sports management. Governance, on one hand, is concerned with creating an environment that is based on a rule, order and collective action (Stoker, 1998). Sport autonomy, on the other hand, represents the ability of sport organisation to operate without external influence Chelladurai & Zintz, 2015). For instance, sporting organisations should be allowed to select their leaders, create governance structures and use public funds without external pressures. A Code for Sports Governance which took force in 2017 contains guiding principles for sport governance in the UK (Alm, 2013). The code dictates that it is a must for any organisation that receives funds from UK Sport and Sport England to create and document concrete structures that will lead to gold standards of sports. The code has five principles that create grounds for sport governance in the UK (Jedlicka, 2018). One of the principles is the structure which revolves around visions, mission and strategies of organisations (Sport England, 2016). The second principle involves democratic processes, regulations and structures that deal management of people. The third principle is encouraging high levels of competence and ethical standard among all the stakeholders in a particular organisation (Chelladurai & Zintz, 2015). The fourth principle involves accountability and integrity in sport management. The last principle revolves around compliance to policies to provide an environment that allows positive relationships with governments and participation of athletes in governance (Sport England, 2016). The principles are conscious frameworks of measuring good governance in the sports industry. However, the principles affect the governance autonomy of National Governing Bodies because sports federations must represent the best interests of their members and abide by government directions (Forster, 2006). Furthermore, the code also requires federations to form alliances with competing entities to achieve mutual results by sharing scarce resources (Forster, 2006). Therefore, the goal of this study is to determine how A Code for Sports Governance affects the autonomy and management of national sport organisations.
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Implications of Good Governance Principles
Recent studies on sort management have shown that there is a growing interest in how good governance principles influence sports (Alm, 2013). Other studies exploring how the guidelines have been adopted by NGBs have found that guiding principles have influenced one sports administration plus behaviour and attitude of directors (Jedlicka, 2018). The principles allow sports autonomy and good governance by enabling sports organisations to encourage sporting competence plus to create, amend and interpret sporting rules. The guidelines allow federations to select leaders and governance structure that allow the use of public funds without obligations and external pressures (Chappelet & Mrkonjic, 2013). One of the ways that the guiding principles influence autonomy and governance of sports organisations is that they define financial frameworks and policies for investments (Girginov, 2019). Primarily, government and investors aim to invest in organisations that are well managed. The guiding principles allow organisations to demonstrate good governance practices that allow positive sporting outcomes. As a result, the organisation attracts monetary funds that they use to run their affairs (Chelladurai & Zintz, 2015).
Sports federations that are well-governed attract public funds and resources such as sponsorships, TV contracts, plus other donations that allow proper management of affairs (Girginov, 2019). The democratic processes, ethical responsibility and integrity create a harmonious environment that encourages more investment (Alm, 2013). More investment leads to sporting outcomes that generate more funds to be shared between the federations. More funds create room for autonomy by allowing federations to manage their affairs (Girginov, 2019). When leaders of federation follow the guiding principles and directions, they create trust between stakeholders (Chelladurai & Zintz, 2015). The stakeholders feel that the leaders are acting in their best interest, and it is one of the fundamental factors that attract more funding (Chelladurai & Zintz, 2015). Abiding by the directions of the principle also enables federations to seek external auditors to streamline their financial and governance records. All these strategic steps create a harmonious environment for positive sporting outcomes (Girginov, 2019). Ideally, the guiding principles allow organisations to create sustainable financial frameworks that enable them to run their affairs without interruptions and pressures from external parties (Chappelet & Mrkonjic, 2013).
In addition to that, the guiding principle enshrined in A Code for Sports Governance influence autonomy and management of sports organisations by guiding the pursuit of excellence (Girginov, 2019). Primarily, the principles require sporting organisations create structural frameworks of managing people and attracting high levels of competences (Jedlicka, 2018). Thus, NGBs are required to seek and develop talent through scientific support, training, coaching and organising national and international competitions (Chappelet & Mrkonjic, 2013). This move allows federations to create a sustainable model of training the human resource that is required to grow the industry. The human resource is equipped with skills that enhance proper management and governance.
Additionally, the principles encourage integrity and accountability in sports management (Chelladurai & Zintz, 2015). Integrity and accountability mean that there is fairness in talent development. In other words, the management can instill virtues such as determination and sacrifice Chelladurai & Zintz, 2015). These virtues prevent unfair conduct in sports such as taunting, racism and other crooked means of gaining an advantage against the opponent (Geeraert, 2015). In other words, the guiding principles encourage professionalism to allow a positive pursuit of excellence. For example, through the code of conduct, NGBs are required to maintain fairness in their process, such as certifications of coaches Chelladurai & Zintz, 2015). Fairness attracts highly competent professionals who can drive the industry forward by curtailing corrupt behaviour such as the use of performance-enhancing drugs (Alm, 2013). As a result, the federations can run their affairs efficiently without interference from external parties.
Furthermore, the guiding principles in A Code for Sports Governance allow autonomy and proper management of sports by ensuring proper welfare of athletes. Primarily, athletes are the most critical stakeholders in the sports industry (Sport England, 2018). Therefore, the welfare of athletes determines the sporting outcomes of a particular sport. The guiding principle encourages NGBs to take responsibilities of attending to the welfare of employees because they call for compliance with policies and regulations that allow positive relationships (Chappelet & Mrkonjic, 2013). Moreover, since athletes are involved in the pursuit of excellence, it is the role of NGBs to create mechanisms for athletes’ career plans and life skills. The logic behind this argument is that athletes are usually submerged in the talent development process to the extent that they cannot focus on the personal aspects of their lives (Chelladurai & Zintz, 2015). Thus, it is the role of NGBs to create structural frameworks for equipping athlete with skills that will allow them to transition out of the development process (Geeraert, 2015). Further, the strategic principles encourage the participation of athletes in the management process. The athletes, as a result, can help in the creation of effective programs to cater for their welfare (Chappelet & Mrkonjic, 2013). In short, the good governance principles influence autonomy and management of sports by creating specific standards that discourage external interference by maintaining the welfare of athletes.
The final way that good governance principles influence autonomy of sports management is encouraging good leadership. One of the fundamental principles of A Code for Sports Governance is democratic processes in people management (Girginov, 2019). The processes allow federations to accommodate the needs of all members, especially in matters that are highly contested (Alm, 2013). Primarily, without the democratic process, leaders would be dwelling on minor problems that have a consensus and ignoring complex issues that are highly contested (Sport England, 2018). However, with democratic frameworks, leaders can achieve consensus by encouraging new perspectives in the decision-making process. Leaders can derive new directions and priorities from their members (Parent & Hoye, 2018). In other words, the strategic principles enable leaders to avoid the lowest common denominator in a problem by looking for new challenging and productive directions (Walter & Tacon, 2018). As a result, NGBs become more innovative by designing new methods of handling problems and opportunities. Effective leadership promotes sports autonomy and proper governance (Parent & Hoye, 2018).
Furthermore, apart from creating innovative leadership roles, the guiding principles encourage positive communication within sports organisations. One of the most fundamental aspects of A Code of Sports Governance is that it encourages positive interactions by dictating high ethical standards (Parent & Hoye, 2018). As a result, there is better coordination of activities among members of an organisation. Further, positive interaction fosters cooperation to create a free-flowing channel of communication (Chappelet & Mrkonjic, 2013). The channels allow faster sharing of knowledge and eliminate uncertainty in business operations. Various studies have shown that good governance principles facilitate healthy relationships that enable federations to maintain a harmonious environment that is free from external pressures.
Conclusions
In conclusion, this study has shown the implication of A Code for Sports Governance on sports autonomy and governance. The code has underlying principles that revolve around structures, people, communication, standard and conduct plus policies and process in sports federations. The principles create a harmonious environment for the pursuit of excellence by establishing frameworks for measuring good governance in the sports industry. For instance, standard and conduct principle calls for integrity and accountability that allows positive investment outcomes. Placing importance on accountability enables organisations to attract more monetary funds and resources. As a result, the organisations can run their affairs without external interference. The good governance principles define standards lead to gold standards of sports.
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