Performance management of National Sports Organisations: a holistic theoretical model

Abstract

Purpose Organisational performance of sport organisations has been studied over the last three decades. However, little attention was paid towards performance management (PM) compared to performance measurement. The purpose of this paper is to close this research gap by establishing a holistic perspective for PM of National Sports Organisations (NSOs) that accounts for their uniqueness, the interdependence of their operating systems and their relationship with their environments. Furthermore, this paper presents a holistic model of PM for NSOs. Design/methodology/approach The model was developed from a literature review process and uses the macro, meso and micro framework to describe external and internal environmental influences that affect the PM of NSOs. Findings The NSO’s ability to respond to the dynamics of their external environment by implementing organisational processes that account for the resources available and their structural designs influences their PM. Furthermore, the ability of the individuals within NSO to create enabling environments for PM influences organisational efficiency and effectiveness. Research limitations/implications This paper contributes to sport management literature on the PM of NSOs, and informs sport managers on ways to improve organisational performance by implementing holistic approaches to PM. Originality/value This is the first study that takes a holistic approach to PM of NSO and depicts the specific elements that play a crucial role in managing NSO’s multi-dimensional performance.

A stakeholder approach to performance management in Botswana National Sport Organisations

“…On the other hand, stakeholders may also depend on specific services delivered by NSOs: for example, many stakeholders expect NSOs to provide mass participation and elite sports programs (Papadimitriou & Taylor, 2000;Parent et al, 2015). Thus, different stakeholders may be interested in how NSOs implement PM stages that include goals and objectives setting, processes and activities, performance measurement, feedback and feedforward (Kasale, Winand & Robinson, 2018). Despite stakeholder interest in the different stages of PM process, how they influence the implementation of these stages remains unknown.…”

Theorising organisational resilience for sport management research and practice

“…However, if the focus is on organisational resilience the close relationship with performance is still valid, particularly given the impact of performance management regimes on sport organisations (O'Boyle & Hassan, 2014). Sport organisations have a combination of sport, financial, organisational and social factors contributing to their performance, and must take account of the priorities of many different stakeholder groups (Bayle & Robinson, 2007;Kasale et al, 2018). Using Strunz (2012) transdisciplinary research categories, performance management can be viewed as the operationalisation of the sustainability level where targets are identified, reflecting values and priorities at the system level.…”

“…Decisions on the boundaries of the organisational system are linked to the why and for whom questions. Why be resilient needs to be considered alongside for whom, because all key outcomes against which resilience is measured have different implications for different stakeholders (Kasale et al, 2018). Developing the arguments made above based on Bovaird and Quirk (2013), in a sporting context a crucial distinction concerns the sustainability/resilience of an organisation, such as an NSO, and the sustainability/resilience of the sports clubs and activities that it supports.…”

“…The performance management literature in sport has identified factors which enhance performance and those which inhibit performance, which will link to the how of resilience (Bayle & Robinson, 2007;Kasale et al, 2018). Those factors include some which are concerned with the mix of resources, such as the balance of paid staff and volunteers, and others which are less tangible, such as the nature of the organisational culture (Bayle & Robinson, 2007).…”

“…Sport organisations face many challenges because of different stakeholder interests, performance-related funding regimes and the complexity of the macro-environmental context (De Bosscher et al, 2019;Feddersen et al, 2020;Green, 2007;Kasale et al, 2018;Pedras et al, 2020). The Covid-19 pandemic presents new threats for sport management at both elite and grassroots levels (Parnell et al, 2020), as well as possible opportunities (Hammond, 2020).…”