Situational Analysis: Australian Sports Commission & Its Environment

This report provides a comprehensive situational analysis of the Australian Sports Commission (ASC), examining its organizational structure, goals, and environment through the lens of sports organization theory. It explores the ASC's role in the Australian sports industry, its commitment to integrity, teamwork, and high performance, and its organizational structure, including the Australian Institute of Sports, Participation & Sustainable Sports, and Corporate Operations divisions. The report delves into key aspects of organizational theory and research, assessing whether the ASC qualifies as a sports organization, analyzing its uniqueness within the sports industry, and discussing the application of organizational theory and behavior. It also examines the goals, structure, and effectiveness of the ASC, emphasizing the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to address complex issues within the organization. The analysis includes discussion of strategic alliances, and the impact of change on sports organizations, providing a detailed overview of the ASC's operations and its significance in the Australian sports landscape. The report concludes with a discussion of the application of theory, research, and practice in advancing the domain of sports management.

Student Name- Aswin Vijayaragavan
Student Id-216320046
Name of Unit Chair- Dr. Jonathan Robertson
Assessment 1 – Situational analysis of Australian Sports
commission & its environment
INDEX
INTRODUCTION……………………………………………. 1

ASC Overview…………………………………………………. 1-2
Organizational theory & research…………………………………. 3-8
Goals, Structure & effectiveness…………………………………….8-12
Strategy & strategic Alliances……………………………………….12-14
Sports organization & change…………………………………………14-15
Conclusion…………………………………………………………….15
References………………………………………………………………15-17
Introduction
The focus of this report is to understand the functioning, structure and various aspects of the
Australian Sports Commission through the framework of the theory, concepts, paradigm, and
model of sports organization. The critical analysis of this case organization will be helpful in
deepening our understanding about the organizational behaviour of sport. The report will

discussaspects of organizational theory and research, goals, effectiveness and structure,
strategy and strategy alliances, and sport organizations and change. Through investigation
into these aspects, there will be an examination and exploration of the role, functioning and
core values of ASC (Australian Sports Commission).
These aspects will provide a deeper insight into the functioning of the Australian
Sports Association (ASC) and it will be accomplished through a wealth of literature
concerning the domain of Sports Organization Theory.
Australian Sports Organization: Overview
The Australian Sports commission (ASC) is a major sports agency that supports,
develops, and invests in sports at different levels. This organization was founded in the year
1985 and is currently operational under the Australian Sports Commission Act 1989 (ASC,
2017). The goal of Australian Sports Commission is to strengthen the Australian Sport and
create opportunities for more interested sportspersons to engage in sports and bolster the
athletes to achieve success at the global level. Australian Sports Commission is directly
associated with the sports organizations, peak bodies and the different territory departments,
academic institutions, organizations, institutions of sports and the business sector. Its
objective is to create alignment with through the Australian sports sector with the aim to
drive the unified vision of participation growth. The organization has shown its commitment
to espouse the principles of integrity and respect, promotion of teamwork and contribution to
the high-functioning team to produce excellent service. The broader objective of Australian
Sports Commission is to imbue leadership in the national sports sector and support the
national sports organizations and different other partners to create a culture in Australian
sports. The ASC has around 90 or more national Sporting Organization fordisabled people.
(NSOD’s). The governing body of ASC is known for its corporate structure that consists of
three divisions- Australian Institute of Sports, Participation& Sustainable Sports, and
Corporate Operations. These divisions are entrusted with different roles and responsibilities;
this in turn contributes in the key objectives of the organization. The headquarter of
Australian Sports Commission is in Canberra, however being the central body for sport in
Australia it has their staff placed at different parts of the country
Organizational theory and research:
1)Is ASC a Sports organization?

Sports organization is defined as a social entity engaged in the sport industry and this requires
the goal to be directed. This isdone with a consciously structured activity system that are
operating under the relatively identifiable boundary. There are five key aspects of this the
definition in the context of Australian Sports Commission.
 Social entity- Australian Sports Commission justifies the criterion of being a social
entity according to the definition of the states regarding a sports organization that
should consist of groups or individuals who mingle with eachother. This interaction
is done with the aim of satisfying the objectives of the organization. Australian
Sports Commission comprises of 517 staff members who have their base throughout
Australia and most of them are situated in the in the headquarters of Canberra (ASC,
2015). Since the Australian Sports Commission has clear knowledge about their
employees located in various parts of the world, which clearly shows that there has
been constant planning in regard to staff requirement at the venues for the
organization to function smoothly.
 Involvement of the sports Industry- Slack & Parent (2006) states that the hallmark
of a sports organization is its direct involvement with more than one aspect of sports.
Australian Sports Commission is a commonwealth entity subsumed under the
Australian government and the members of their board are directly responsible to the
Australian ministry. This satisfies the statement that this is an organization associated
with the sports industry. This distinguishes the sports organization from other
organizations. Keeping in mind the aims and objectives of the Australian Sports
Commission to enhance the number of participants to embrace sports and deliver
high-sport performances throughout Australia, it can be stated that Australian Sports
Commission is the central body of sports for the country.
 Goal directed focus- The core value of the sports organization is to have a focussed
approach within the industry of sports and the goals should be either connected to
profit or achieving victory in international events or increasing the number of
participants. Australian Sports Commission can be considered as goal oriented as it is
diligent in its approach towards increasing the number of participants as well as
securing many medals for the country through their performance programs
(Lunenburg, 2012).
 Structured activity system- Structured activity system connotes that an organization
needs to have a structured activity system that clearly defines the variegated

organizational responsibilities and the roles. This includes the role of the HR,
Marketing, and finance and so on. The clear-cut organizational structure of the ASC
can be witnessed through the multiple roles accomplished by each of the departments
and the fulfilment of the objectives.
ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE OF AUSTRALIAN SPORTS COMMISSION (ASC,2018)
 Identifiable boundary- Sports organizations must have the capability of
distinguishing between its members and the others. The Australian Sports
Organization by keeping a tab on the member NSOD or NSO to fulfil the eligibility
criteria accomplishes this. ASC follows a strict and criteria for looking the
recognition of membership. The organization need to fulfil the basic criteria that is
concerned with the embracing responsibility for the betterment and development of
sports in Australia (Australaian Sports Commision, 2015-16). As it has been that ASC
fulfils all these criteria, it can be stated that it fulfils all the five aspects of the
definition of identifiable boundary and therefore can be classified and labelled as a
sports organization.

2. Is ASC unique? How does it affect the organization?
Now the question that merges is whether ASC is unique,to get a clear picture, it is vital to
realize the nature, disposition and the quintessence of the sports industry. According to Smith
& Stewart, (2006), the sports industry is different from all other industries and they have
provided a range of characteristics to understand the sports industry (Supporting Sport, 2017).
These characteristics include winnings over profits, fixed supply schedule, irrational passion,
brand or product loyalty, variable quantity, technology, vicarious identification, blind
optimism, collaboration and cooperation, level playing the field. All these characteristics
essay a critical role in determining and informing the decisions undertaken by the
organization of Australian Sports Commission. The example of this would be planning the
annual budget and considering the large financial investment that is made to recognize the
activities of Australian Sports Commission at the world stage. According to the Conversation
(2016), it has been found that the Australian Sports Commission spends around 12 million
Australian Dollar to secure a gold medal at the Olympics. Although the financial investment
may seem big compared to the other countries, it is seen that one of the key elements of
sports is irrational passion and winnings more than the aspect of profit. In addition, the other
factors have a bearing on the functioning of sports of the Australian Sports Commission as an
organization of sports. It supervises and monitors the activities of NSO in Australia and
maintains the culture of a level playing field. This is done to ensure that the sports remain
competitive and that participation increases in the specific sport.
3) organization theory and organizational behaviour
Scholars have found key differences between the organization theory and the behaviour of
sports. The core value of organization theory is that it is completely focused towards the
macro perspective. It is embedded in Sociology and its domain of research include strategy,
design and structure, and so on. Another feature of the organization behaviour is that it also
focuses on the micro perspective, the foundation of which is premised on social psychology
and the domains of research include job satisfaction, team building and so on. The
characteristic of organizational behaviour and organizational theory can be understood
through the following illustration of Kate Palmer, the first female CEO of Australian Sports
Commission. In the world of sports, there is a glaring absence of women from both
leadership positions as well as participation (Doherty, 2012). The application of the
Organizational Behaviour is that it can be explained through the examination of the

personality of the individual and their level of motivation. On the other hand, the
Organizational Theory approach looks navigates and analyses the structural conditions that
informs the lifeworld of women and restrains their life chances. In this case, structural
constraints, that prevents women from seeking leadership position and membership in sports
organizations. The Australian Government has adopted the Organizational Theory approach
by deciding to appoint a female CEO for the Australian Sports commission and also by
making a provision that there should be 40 per cent reservation of female on the boards by
the year 2019. This step undertaken by the Australian Government and the Australian Sports
Commission follows the code of the Organization theory approach. In this case, the theory of
Organizational Behaviour is also important to understand the present structure of ASC. It is
being predicted by scholars that after her appointment, Palmer will adopt both the
Organizational Theory and Organizational Behaviour approach to ensure a smooth
functioning of the organization. The adoption of the Organizational behaviour is important to
keep the motivation level of all the employees high and therefore, ensure the satisfaction of
the workforce. On the other hand, the adoption of the Organizational Theory approach will be
useful in ensuring the organization fulfils the objectives and set values with efficiency and
finesse.
4.Critical thinking and interdisciplinary approach
Scholars have identified the significance of theory in the past research in the domain of sports
management. They have emphasized on the application of theory, research and practice and
that teaching will help in advancing the domain of sports management. According to Doherty
(2013), individuals and organizations have employed a theory-based approach. In this, theory
is used for critically examining the variegated aspects of the business of sports. These aspects
consist of critical thinking that are self-explanatory and include setting the question,
collection of information, application of information, consideration about the potential
outcomes and exploration of the perspectives and alternatives. There are certain advantages
of using the interdisciplinary research as against the disciplinary and multidisciplinary
research to understand the problem in a critical manner. The logic is that several researchers
working on the same issue from different perspectives will guarantee a much more holistic
and refined understanding than a singular viewpoint in understanding the problem (Balcescu
& Blage, 2016). This is particularly useful in addressing complex problems that require a
nuanced approach. Since the Australian Sports Commission is the central body of the
country, it is important to adopt an interdisciplinary approach as against a disciplinary or

multidisciplinary approach in analysing the complex decisions taken by the organization that
would have long-term impact in running the sports industry in Australia. Therefore, there is
an interdisciplinary approach with the aim of ensuring that the multiple stakeholders of the
ASC like participation, human resources, finance and so are on the same platform thereby
creating a coordination and effective planning.
Goals, structure and effectiveness of ASC
5) Goals can be understood as statements that provides the synopsis and articulate about the
objectives of an organization. Goals provide direction to the sports managers and assist them
in the decision-making process through the minimization of uncertainty, direction and
motivation of the employees, and establishment of legitimacy from the external groups
through the accomplishment of the goal.
Currently, the objectives of ASC are
 Increase in participation of sports
 Sustainable sport
 Increase in the international success
 Enhancement of the capability of ASC to lead, support and partner
Currently, the top three goals of the ASC are focussed on the external goals. This indicates
achieving a quantifiable desired goal along with the management of the objective. This is
focussed on the ways in which ASC as an organization operates itself rather than trying to
achieve it. According to Slack & Parent (2006), there are mainly two types of goals in an
organization. These two goals are operative and official. Official goal indicates that the goal
is objective in nature and provides a description of the current plans of the organization. On
the other hand, operative goal indicates that the goal is subjective in nature and provides a
description of the reason for the existence of the organization. According to the corporate
report of ASC (2015), the goal will be to enhance the participation in sports, boost the
number of sports related schools, encouragement of sports in schools, create demand for the
participation in sports and overall attempt to understand the fate of sports. With the aim to
overview international success, ASC has secured Top 5 positions in the Olympics and
Paralympics, more than 20 world championships and the number one spot in the Gold coast
2018. These goals are quantifiable and objective therefore these are official goals. On the
other hand, the last two objectives of ASC are subjective, as they cannot be quantified. It is
difficult to measure their success and the ways it will be evaluated in 2019 according to the

current corporate plan. Therefore, the objective of achieving greater success is operative and
the goals that can be quantifiable in terms of winning medals can be stated as official.
6) On an average day to day basis, organizations struggle to manage the resources that are
available to them with the aim of achieving the goals. The strategy of the Australian Sports
Commission in the management of resources is through the allocation of the fixed annual
budget to achieve the outcome of each of their goals.
ANNUAL BUDGET OF ASC TO INCREASE THE PARTICIPATION IN SPORT (ASC,2018)
With the objective of meeting its goals, the Australian Sports Commission have decided and
allocated on the expenditure that would be bore in the next five years. In addition, ASC have
also decided on the manpower in accordance with the expenditure. The Australian Sports
Commission has made an estimate of the expenditure that would be incurred by the
organization in fulfilling each of the goals (Doherty, 2013). This would help them to put forth
the proposal to the government for funding for each year. Therefore, it can be stated that
finance and budget along with the estimated manpower is being considered by ASC for the
accomplishment of its objectives.
Efficiency vs. Effectiveness
Efficiency indicates the amount of resources that would be used in producing the desired
outcome. On the other hand, effectiveness indicates the degree to which an organization can
achieve its goals. The effectiveness of the Australian Sports Commission can be measured
through the assessment of Australia’s capability to win a particular sport event at the
international circuit as documented in the current corporate plan (2015-2020) of ASC. The

effectiveness of the participation can be understood through the assessment of number of
schools in whether they have included the ASC plan in its grassroots level. It is possible for
ASC to track whether the desired outcomes are met within the framework of the human
resources and goals. In accomplishing this goal, the organization would be considered as
effective.
Below is the list of three methodologies through which the Australian Sports Commission
can measure the efficiency and effectiveness through the collection of data-
Effectiveness
 Review of the grassroot participation- The Australian Sports commission can
measure the effectiveness of its members in terms of increased participation through
monitoring the number of schools and social clubs have been inspired by the
concerted effort of ASC.
 Review of achievement at the international level- Recently, ASC have outlined its
strategic corporate plans of winning medals and aims for Australia to secure many
medals in the Olympics. They can measure the effectiveness through review of the
goals and whether have been fulfilled.
 Collaboration with the stakeholder- The Australian Sports Commission can review
the effectiveness of the stakeholder by evaluating the number of sponsors and partners
who are able to contribute. This can be measured through the job satisfaction of the
employees through the primary data collection method of survey ((Dumitrescu, Cetina
& Pentuscu, 2012)
Efficiency
 Timeline- Measurement of efficiency can be done through an assessment of whether
the goals allocated within the specific deadline are met
 Finance and Budgeting- In this case, efficiency would be measured through the
assessment of ASC to meet its annual budget targets to achieve its objectives.

 Resources- In terms of the resources, efficiency can be measured through the
observation of the number of manpower in increasing or decreasing the proportional
to the yearly profits. In other words, the profit ratio of the employee can be measured.
STRUCTURE OF ASC
7) It can be seen above that the Australian Sports Commission have structured itself into
different silos with respect to the objectives of the organization. For example, the AIS has
been entrusted with the responsibility of securing international sporting excellence through
sustainable goal and by focussing on the grassroots sports in the country. This leads to the
corollary that ASC has employed a horizontal differentiation approach with the aim of
managing the complexity in the specific training of the employees in achieving excellence at
the international level. The Australian Sports Commission has a well-defined and clear-cut
organizational structure where each of the segment is responsible for the achievement of
individual goals. Being one of the external consultants to this organization, I recommend that
they should collect regular feedback where the developmental progress of each of the
individuals will be assessed based on the objectives they have been allocated. Another
strategy would be making these silos accountable with the aim of fulfilling their target based
on the resources allocated to them. Considering the diversity in the achievement of goals of
the Australian Sports Commission, the aim would be to introduce a bottom-approach as

against the top-down approach (Kim, 2014). Doing this would make the employees feel like a
family and render agency and autonomy within the organization. In the end, this would help
to retain employees by creating a sense of loyalty towards the organization. This would also
lead to the maximization of the physical resources through human resources.
Strategy and strategic alliances of ASC
8) The significance of strategy for this organization is that it helps in the selection of
activities and patterns that would contribute to the growth of the organization and render
them a competitive advantage in comparison to their rivals. A perusal and an analysis of the
strategy of the Australian Sports Commission ensues that it has adopted a Business Level
strategy and a Corporate Level strategy. The reason why it is being considered as a corporate
Level Strategy is that it has an executive team that consults with the government of Australia
to discuss the domains they want to participate. After the formulation of the Corporate Level
Strategy it is the responsibility of the three individual silos the participation team, the
corporate operations and the Australian Sports Commission to ensure that each of their
business unit is specific to the strategy. Hence, it can be stated that the Australian Sports
Commission is committed to formulating a strategy that would comply with the achievement
of its diversified goals. The Australian Sports Commission has adopted the combination of
Business Level Strategy which is accomplished by each of the business units and Corporate
Level Strategy that is managed by the top-level management.
9) It would be pragmatic for the organization to adopt the Blue Ocean strategy through the
creation of new markets that would create and seize the demand and make the competition
more aggressive (Agnihotri, 2016). Another effectiveness of this strategy would be that it
would make the competition fulfil the current objectives and at the same time open an
avalanche of avenues to reach to a wider target market. Another strategy would be to
incorporate a new product and introduce a range of new services that would bolster the
grassroot level participation (Gov. of Victoria, 2016). There is an imperative to tap the
advantages provided by the internet as it will entrench the position of the Australian Sports
Commission in the long-term. Children need to be educated about the importance of fitness
and health with the aim of gaining competitive advantage for the Australian Sports
Commission in comparison to its rivals.
10 a) According to (Isoraite, 2009) strategic alliance is an understanding or agreement
amongst multiple companies to collaborate with each other’s strengths to gain competitive