Sports Organization Behaviour in Cricket Australia

Running head: SPORTS ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOUR
Sports Organization Behaviour
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Authors Note:

1SPORTS ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOUR
Executive Summary:
The report aims at providing an overview on Sport Organization Behaviour in the context of
Cricket Australia. It is a governing body of the game in Australia at the national level,
possessing the vision of making Cricket the favourite sport of Australia. The governing body
appointed Patrick Murphy as the Integrity Manager to take of any negative publicity. He was
known for the expert handling of negative public opinion. Before getting into the details of
the role he underwent an extensive research on Cricket Australia thereby discovering
persistence of issues within the system that were absolutely beyond his expectation. The
report commences with mention of the key issues of Cricket Australia based on the review of
the five files. The report also undertakes a culture audit based on the supporting theory and
examples from case study. Through the report one can also find a mention of the ethical
considerations that confronts Patrick Murphy and the means through which they get sorted.
The report also mentions other instances when good ethical practices took place in the sports.
The report ends with the mention of proposed strategies to the Board of Directors of Cricket
Australia for assisting the renewal of organizational culture along with supporting the vision.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
Discussion:.................................................................................................................................4
1. Main Issues of Cricket Australia............................................................................................4
2. Culture Audit of Cricket Australia through Examples and Supporting Theory.....................8
3. a. Ethical Considerations Confronting Patrick and the Ways of addressing them..............11
b. Instances of Good Ethical Practices in Sport:......................................................................14
4. Strategies Proposed to Board of Directors for Organizational Culture Renewal in Australia
..................................................................................................................................................16
Conclusion:..............................................................................................................................19
References:...............................................................................................................................20
Appendices:..............................................................................................................................20

3SPORTS ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOUR
Introduction:
The report aims at providing an insight into sports organization behaviour in context
of Cricket Australia (CA) where Patrick Murphy joined in the position of Integrity Manager
(cricket.com.au, 2018). CA is not simply the governing authority but also represents the
custodian of cricket purporting three key values on how the game is played, its integrity and
spirit. CA also believed in the philosophy that cricket represented the sport for all and had the
purpose of inspiring everyone for loving the game. Patrick Murphy was quite a name in the
sports industry and held an impressive resume that described his stints in the Tennis Australia
(TA) and Australian Grand Prix Corporation (AGPC) (gradaustralia.com.au, 2018). He
helped these organizations in repackaging the aspects of the culture and in rebuilding their
public profile. In fact, he possessed the ability of demonstrating the renewed culture of an
organization to the external stakeholders. Patrick Murphy’s reputation in this particular
domain is held higher thereby drawing in global interest and recognizing him as a prominent
culture and integrity renewal consultant. Patrick was aware of the significant role of sport in
defining the national identity of Australia. However, he was never been passionate about
adopting athleticism but remained captivated in the means through sports organizations
managed their ethical situations and the role-played by the sport culture in representing social
responsibility. During his stint in the AGPC, he proved to be an expert in handling negative
opinion. For much of the time he spent in AGPC, he honestly and equitably engaged the
stakeholder group to refrain from negative publicity. In addition to this, during his job role at
Tennis Australia he ensured building an inclusive culture with staffs, management and the
players. Patrick Murphy would read and watch news stories across the world with immense
interest in the developments of the sport in relation to the ethical behaviour and the
organizational culture along with maintaining an interest in the aspects of social
responsibility. These characteristics made Murphy an ideal candidate for Cricket Australia. In
spite of the expertise and the experiences, he believed that the new role as an Integrity
Manager at Cricket Australia would be a different ball game. The report here gives an
overview of the primary issues at Cricket Australia based on the reviewed files of Patrick
Murphy. The report also undertakes a culture audit at Cricket Australia. Through the report,
one can also find a mention of the ethical considerations that confronts Patrick. The report
also undertakes investigation of the instances of the good ethical practices occurring in sport.
The report draws a concluding note by proposing immediate or future strategies to the Board

4SPORTS ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOUR
of Directors of Cricket Australia for ensuring the renewal of the organizational culture and
supporting the vision of Cricket Australia.
Discussion:
1. Main Issues of Cricket Australia
i. Issues Related to the Integrity Unit: The Integrity Unit was responsible for
protecting the Australian Cricket from the threats of match fixing, doping and other activities
(cricketaustralia.com.au, 2018). The unit also held the responsibility of over viewing the
measures related to anti corruption, behaviour issues and Cricket Australia’s role in illicit and
anti doping substance program. In spite of its presence, CEO decided key decisions in
relation to the integrity of the game along with the compliance and risk manager. This
implied that authority and power came from the central source at the Cricket Australia and
there was no collaboration between the unit members in terms of the values and the beliefs
and the compliance and the integrity issues. The CEO represented the leader who tried to lead
in the same manner as expected by the captain of Australian cricket. In addition, the CEO
also held the responsibility of managing resources and exercising control over program
delivery for integrity team.
ii. Issues Related to Staffing: Cricket Australia (CA) represented a huge organization
that spread across Brisbane and Melbourne (cricketaustralia.com.au, 2018). Although the
general staffs had management or business qualifications, ranging from the diploma to the
masters levels, but most decision making were conducted at senior level of the management.
According to the observations put forward by Patrick Murphy, CA represented conventional
hierarchical structure. A move into the hierarchy and senior positions of the management was
only possible until positions vacated through process of retirement. There were staffs that
have been waiting for a long time in order to get a senior position. It was discovered through
the staffs that there was not only a lack of opportunity at Cricket Australia but also limitation
of the revenue streams towards the traditional sponsorship and media. There existed a male
group in the age group of mid thirties suitable for the senior level positions of the
management. Various staffs felt overlooked when recruiting for senior positions. This will
gradually lead to the underpinning of an already sluggish organization.

5SPORTS ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOUR
Figure 1: Cricket Australia Broadcast Deals
Source: cricketaustralia.com.au, 2018
iii. Issues Related to Diversity, Sex and Workplace: Firstly, according to Patrick
Murphy’s observation the female workers at Cricket Australia started in the administrative
positions no matter their qualifications being equal to the male counterparts. Hardly any
women were assigned management responsibilities. Besides, the male employees often joked
about the presence of a grass ceiling that prevented the advancement opportunities for the
female peers in cricketing environment. Secondly, the request of a female employee for four
day work schedule after returning from maternity leave along with a formal request of
working remotely for a single day in a week since it did not involve face to face
communication with stakeholders and others staffs was met with negative response from the
CA management(cricketaustralia.com.au, 2018). They said that this would encourage deviant
behaviour towards productivity and would be an unfair act for those who cannot work from
remote location. This was very much in contrast to the fact that flexibility in the work
schedule not only improves the staff morale but also encourages a work life balance thereby
enabling the workers in thinking creatively about management of jobs. There existed
evidences of instances in the past when two of the staffs have been threatened dismissal since
they opted to work from home in absence of the CEO. These threats have prevented the
employees from disclosing their need to work off the site. They have therefore expressed
reluctance in suggesting flexible and creative solutions in improving the conditions of