BUREAUCRACY IN SPORT ORGANIZATIONS

Ms. Deepti Shukla

Abstract

The concept of bureaucracy has been discussed at length for two main reasons. First, modern society is controlled/dominated to a greater and greater extent by bureaucracies the government, large corporations, universities, hospitals, unions, political parties, etc., Thus, all individuals must have an understanding and appreciation of the principles underlying bureaucratic structures. Second, although the concept of a bureaucracy appears to be relevant only to large organizations, the elements that make a bureaucracy rational and efficient can be profitably applied to smaller organizations. For example, in the case of football, the most successful teams are clearly characterized by a division of labour (offensive and defensive units, and the specializations within each), a hierarchy (the chief coach, assistant coach, coaches for specialized units, the captain, quarterback), impersonality in selection, utilization and rewarding of athletes, and technical competence on the part of the coaches and players. Further, rules are numerous in football varying from the rules of the sport to the league rules and to the team rules which even control the athlete's life away from the field. What is most significant is that these rules are closely followed by the players. There is no better example of members willing compliance and obedience to the rules and authority of a bureaucracy. The relevance of bureaucratic concepts to national sport organizations is illustrated by Frisby's (1983) study of those organizations in Canada. She found that those national sport organizations that were more bureaucratic were also more effective in terms of both goal attainment and resource acquisition. She contended terms of both goal attainment and resource acquisition. She contended that "Weber's theory of bureaucracy provides a useful framework for understanding the nature of voluntary amateur sport organizations". Even voluntary organizations must rely on bureaucratic processes if they wish to achieve specific goals.