Organizational Culture Beyond Consensus and Clarity: Narratives From Elite Sport

Abstract

In sport psychology, organizational culture is usually depicted as shared, consistent, and clear—the glue that holds people together so they can achieve success. There is, however, growing discontent in sport psychology with this idea of culture and extensive critiques in other academic domains that suggest this perspective is limited. Accordingly, the authors draw on narrative interviews with participants (n = 7) from different areas of sport and use Martin and Meyerson’s three perspective (integration, differentiation, and fragmentation) approach to culture alongside thematic analysis to reconstruct three “ideal cases” that exemplify each perspective. The findings emphasize a different pattern of meaning in each actors’ narrative and suggest the need to develop a broader, more inclusive concept of culture, so as not to minimize or dismiss cultural content that is not obviously shared, clear, or created by leadership; a course of action that can enhance both research and practice in the area.

A Qualitative Meta-Study of a Decade of the Holistic Ecological Approach to Talent Development

“…Recent research (McDougall et al, 2019(McDougall et al, , 2020 and systematic reviews of organisational culture (Maitland et al, 2015;Wagstaff & Burton-Wylie, 2018) question the use of the integration perspective (i.e., emphasising congruency) on organisational culture. In terms of the HEA, we suggest that researchers should examine who gets to determine what 'correct' ways of thinking are, as described in Larsen et al (2020) and Ryom et al (2020).…”

“…In terms of the HEA, we suggest that researchers should examine who gets to determine what 'correct' ways of thinking are, as described in Larsen et al (2020) and Ryom et al (2020). The integration approach to organisational culture has been subject to severe critique across other research fields (e.g., anthropology, sociology, and management studies) (McDougall et al, 2020). Here, Alvesson (2017) suggests that the integration position represents a significant restriction because it only privileges what is shared and consistent.…”

“…Mountjoy (2019) exemplified this and describes how abuse might manifest in cultures that denies or ignores non-shared features of culture. It might, therefore, be worthwhile considering the underpinning understanding of organisational culture because the integration perspective might add to a false sense of unity (McDougall et al, 2020).…”

“…Yet, continuing with culture should avoide looking for only shared features, which might further the efforts to be more neutral and open in the inquiry. Also, recent research suggests taking a sceptical approach to cultures that appear homogenous and uniformly understood (McDougall et al, 2020). Researchers working from the HEA could follow up growing empirical evidence supporting that ambiguity is endemic in sports organisations (Gibson & Groom, 2018).…”

Order And Disorder: Socio-Psychological Context Of The Norm And Pathology Problem Analysis

“…This problem is significant for social psychology as a whole, as well as for its applied areas, such as organizational psychology, economic psychology, family psychology, and educational psychology, legal psychology, and many others. In our study the phenomenon of organizational culture (Akanjiet al, 2020;Eddington et al, 2020;Jackson, 2020;Kim& Park, 2020;Melnik, 2020;McDougall et al, 2020) serves as the theoretical and empirical analysis focus, which is understood broadly: starting from the lowest systemic levels (culture of a business, government, and public organizations) to higher systemic levels of organized activity (regional and state culture, a culture of interstate entities). In other words, we are dealing with the socio-psychological analysis of the norm and pathology in the consciousness and behavior of members of society at all its systemic levels through the prism of cultural phenomenology and its socio-psychological mechanisms.…”