The Dynamics of Organizational Change in Non-Profit Sport Organizations

Abstract

The purpose of the dissertation was to explore the impact of regulating dynamics on the process of organizational change in non-profit sport organizations. Regulating dynamics are the factors which enable or constrain organizational change. Four regulating dynamics were targeted based on previous literature: capacity for change, organizational culture, organizational politics, and digital technology. To address the purpose, four research objectives were developed: (1) To explore how capacity for change enables or constrains organizational change in non-profit sport organizations; (2) To explore how organizational culture enables or constrains organizational change in non-profit sport organizations; (3) To explore how organizational politics enables or constrains organizational change in non-profit sport organizations, and (4) To explore how digital technology enables or constrains organizational change in non-profit sport organizations. Through a constructivist epistemology, a collective case study methodology of five Canadian national sport organizations was employed. Data collection included semi-structured interviews conducted with 49 staff and Board members and 151 documents. Data were transcribed verbatim and analyzed thematically. Overall, the findings demonstrate how regulating dynamics impact organizational change as they enable and/or constrain change in non-profit sport organizations concurrently and sequentially. All four regulating dynamics examined appeared to enable organizational change while only three – capacity for change, organizational culture, and organizational politics – constrained change. Thus, digital technology appeared to only enable change. The dissertation also demonstrates the impact of regulating dynamics not only at the organization level, but also how systemic and individual level dynamics influence organizational change. The dissertation addresses recent calls by several scholars to examine the “how” of change or, in other words, the change process. In addition, the dissertation extends existing understandings of regulating dynamics beyond the context of organizational design change. In doing so, the author highlights how regulating dynamics impact different types of changes such as governance, structure, processes, culture, and people change. Practically, through regulating dynamics, this dissertation can help explain why change initiatives fail, whether it is because of a lack of capacity for change, poor organizational culture, complex political dynamics, or failing to capitalize on the benefits of digital technology.