Understanding which dimensions of organisational capacity support the vertical integration of disability football clubs

Abstract

Disabled people continue to face exclusion from full participation in community sports. Efforts to include disabled people in sports organisations have favoured structural solutions to make sport accessible. Our purpose was to understand which dimensions of a football club's organisational capacity assisted the vertical integration of disability football clubs. A theoretical framework combining organisational capacity and acculturation informed an exploratory and qualitative research design using semi-structured interviews. Findings indicate that the brand and the size of the organisation assisted the generation of integrative capacity. Following the acquisition of integrative capacity, two types of integrationassimilation and accommodation appeared. This study contributes to the extant literature on the vertical integration of disability sport and the management and organisation of disability football. Recommendations for policy makers and practitioners seeking to implement the vertical integration process as this study provides a theoretical and empirical perspective on how mergers can create inclusive organisations.

Investigating Grassroots Sports’ Engagement for Refugees: Evidence From Voluntary Sports Clubs in Germany

“…A well-established model of organizational capacity in the VSC context (e.g., Doherty, Misener, & Cuskelly, 2014; Swierzy, Wicker, & Breuer, 2018) was developed by Hall et al (2003) and includes three main dimensions: human resources (HR), financial, and structural capacity. HR capacity is “the ability to deploy human capital (i.e., paid staff and volunteers) within the organization” (Hall et al, 2003, p. 5) and is often considered to be the key element in the model (Kitchin & Crossin, 2018). Within the grassroots sports context, VSCs are increasingly expected to operate with a more professional and bureaucratic organizational design (Misener & Misener, 2017).…”

“…Systematic planning has continuously been acknowledged as critical to a club’s goal achievement (e.g., Vandermeerschen et al, 2017; Wicker & Breuer, 2014). Interorganizational partnerships that provide VSCs with valuable links to resources and competencies are integral factors in the relationship and network dimension (Kitchin & Crossin, 2018). Infrastructure and process capacity results from the effective use of infrastructure, processes, and organizational culture (Hall et al, 2003).…”

Sport coaches as policy actors: an investigation of the interpretation and enactment of disability and inclusion policy in swimming in Victoria Australia

“…Piggott, 2013;Taylor & Garratt, 2010) and very little of this scholarship has directly explored how coaches have explicitly responded to calls for mainstreaming in the disability sport space (Howe, 2007). Additionally, we highlight that while some scholars have explored the translation of disability and inclusion policy at regional (Kitchin & Howe, 2014) and club levels (Kitchin & Crossin, 2018), sport coaching research has provided few insights into the complexity and contested realities associated with coaches seeking to effectively navigate multiple (and not always aligned) policy imperatives associated with disability and inclusion and performance. This paper, therefore, directs attention to the policy-pedagogy interface of disability and inclusion policies and coaching practices, and the complex relationship between policy and pedagogic rules and practices that, from our perspective, remains relatively unexplored in sport coaching literature (cf.…”

“I Feel We are Inclusive Enough”: Examining Swimming Coaches’ Understandings of Inclusion and Disability

“…Findings from this study have relevance to swimming and debates about disability and inclusive sport in other states in Australia (and indeed the world), but it should be noted that the study looked at the issues of disability and inclusion as they relate to the specific geographical location of metropolitan Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. In thinking of the implications of this study we follow Kitchin and Crossin's (2018) recent sentiments and suggest that Australian Swimming and State Sporting Associations in Australia need to have conversations internally and externally with clubs and coaches about how the integration and mainstreaming of people with disabilities has led to limiting notions of inclusion. We argue than new policy is needed and that this is based on critical reflection of what is understood by "inclusion" and how it might look in this context.…”