Playing the culture game: Organizational culture in collegiate athletics.

摘要

The research discussed is an examination of the Denison Organizational Culture Model within the context of an NCAA Division IA Athletics Program located in the Midwest. This research bridges the gap between the organizational culture literature and the sports literature and provides a foundation for which to build future research. The purpose of this study was to empirically examine the relationships between four organizational culture traits (Involvement, Adaptability, Mission, and Consistency) with organizational effectiveness outcomes (cohesion, affective commitment, and performance), the moderating effects of culture strength with the organizational effectiveness outcomes, and contextual qualities of the group (size, tenure, and type of task). The present study examined these relationships both at the individual level and group level of analysis. Surveys were administered via the Internet to a sample of 408 participants, composed of 322 student athletes, 55 coaches, and 35 support staff and administration, for a total of 28 teams (14 student athlete teams, 11 coaching teams, and 3 administrative teams).; Based on cross-sectional data, results are reported for both individual- and group-level analyses. Findings yield support for the use of the Denison Culture Model within an athletics context. Positive relationships were found between the four culture traits and cohesion, affective commitment, and self-reports of individual and team performance at the individual level. At the group level, however, although all of the relationships were in the positive direction, they all did not achieve significance as a result of a decrease in statistical power. At the individual level, culture strength did not moderate the relationships between the four culture traits and the organizational effectiveness outcome variable; three moderating effects emerged as significant at the group level of analysis. Based on the findings at both the individual and group levels of analysis, the present research indicates that culture strength is not affected by contextual qualities. In some instances the results indicated that the contextual qualities of a group, size, tenure, and type of task performed have relationships that are opposite than the hypothesized relationships with culture strength when examined in collegiate athletics.