MMS714 Deakin University: Culture & Ethics at Cricket Australia

This case study delves into the cultural and ethical issues that plagued Cricket Australia following the infamous Sandpaper Gate incident in 2018. The report identifies key issues such as cheating, damage to the spirit of the game, and leadership failures, linking them to relevant ethical decision-making frameworks and social theories of sports. It analyzes the organizational structure, communication, and leadership within Cricket Australia, highlighting the lack of cohesiveness and the impact on the team's reputation. The report also proposes crucial steps for restoring the game's reputation, emphasizing the need for stricter rules, improved ethical training, and a renewed focus on leadership and team cohesion. The aim is to provide insights and recommendations for Cricket Australia to address these issues and rebuild its image, ensuring a future where ethical conduct and sportsmanship are prioritized. Desklib provides solved assignments for students to refer.

Culture & Ethics at Cricket Australia
Title: Culture & Ethics at Cricket Australia
Assignment Name:
Student Name:
Course Name and Number:
Professor:
Date:
0

Culture & Ethics at Cricket Australia
Executive Summary
Rules and regulations are the key to any organization, activity and sports. Sports is more than a
game or a culture, it is something which is worshipped in a country. Cricket being the national
sport of Australia holds a very high place in the hearts of the fans. The game has a massive
impact on the people of Australia. The activities of the players and the association are keenly
observed by the people and they take inspiration from the players as they consider them their
biggest idols. So, under such circumstances of being so highly praised and loved, if the same
players commits some unethical and illegal practices then the whole country gets affected due to
it. With great power and love comes bigger responsibilities. The recent ball tampering incident in
the test match between Australia and South African witnessed some illegal activity from the
Australian players Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, brought the Australia
Cricket Association and the entire Australia to a standstill. The fans were hurt and felt
embarrassed by the practices of the players on the field and were shocked to the core. There are
ethics, values and beliefs which have to be practiced to inspire the future generation of players
and also the people of Australia to work rightfully and make their country proud. But this
incident raised some serious questions regarding the standards of ethics which are being
incorporated in the players and the wrong path on which the players are going by committing
such a disgraceful activity. Betraying the teammates and the rival team, betraying the fans and
betrayed themselves. This issues raised concerns about the future of Australian cricket and the
players, what they will learn from such examples and are the ethics and values of the Australian
cricket is degrading by passing time. This report aims at covering the various issues of the
Sandpaper gate ball tampering incidents to analyze the cultural ethical and organizational
standards of the Cricket Australia, to further recommend some changes which have to be
executed immediately for the welfare of the current and the future standards of Cricket Australia
and for the entire nation.
1

Culture & Ethics at Cricket Australia
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
1. Sandpaper Gate Brings Australia to Stand Still...........................................................................5
2. Cultural Audit of Cricket Australia.............................................................................................9
Mission Statement.......................................................................................................................9
Core Values.................................................................................................................................9
Policy Statement........................................................................................................................11
Organizational Structure............................................................................................................11
Physical Environment................................................................................................................12
Communication & Language.....................................................................................................13
Leadership..................................................................................................................................13
Responsiveness to Change.........................................................................................................13
Roles, Models & Heroes............................................................................................................13
Artifacts & Memorabilia............................................................................................................14
Stories, Myths & Legends.........................................................................................................14
Rites, Rituals & Ceremonies......................................................................................................14
3. The Current Status of Australian Cricket Team........................................................................15
4. Crucial Steps for Restoring the Game Reputation.....................................................................19
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................22
References......................................................................................................................................23
Appendices....................................................................................................................................25
Appendix A................................................................................................................................25
Appendix B................................................................................................................................26
Appendix C................................................................................................................................28
Appendix D................................................................................................................................29
2

Culture & Ethics at Cricket Australia
Introduction
The aim of this report is to identify issues prevailing at Cricket Australia in relation to
Sandpaper Gate Incident that took place in March 2018. The incident shocked the whole
Australia and also all the cricket fans and players throughout the world. The unethical and
immoral act which was performed by the captain, vice-captain and the bowler, that is, Steve
Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft was recorded on camera and all the media houses
all over the world broadcasted it repeatedly questioning the current standards of beliefs which are
followed in the Cricket Australia. This brought embarrassment and portrayed Australia in a bad
image in front of the whole world. The Australian cricket team is considered as one of those
teams who believe in fair play and inspire the upcoming Australian play to work hard and play
fair. But this incident was a bad example. There are issues which have been recognized as
unethical, against the culture and the organizational belief. This was a pre-planned incident
which makes these issues even more serious as this displays a gameplay which is against the
rules of cricket. Cricket is known as the gentlemen’s game, a game of grace, integrity and
honesty, but with incidence like this there are some alarming signs which arises associated with
the management of players in Cricket Australia. The players committed the biggest mistake of
cheating in the game, which have serious repercussions and thus due to this the captain Steve
Smith has to step down from his position along with the vice-captain David Warner. The people
of Australia reacted strongly to this incident and their reactions were an amalgamation of anger
and sorrow. They did not expect their favorite players to indulge in a false play. The Cricket
Australia is in need for setting up better presidents for the current lot of players and also for the
future one. There is a need for conducting tests on the player’s behavior that will further help in
focusing on the areas which needs improvement individually on each player. Also the ethical
policies, cultural and organizational beliefs require some changes which will help in uplifting the
player’s standards of play, eventually helping in improving the image of the Australian cricket
team in the eyes of the entire world. The issues have to be tackled with an approach that brings a
strong realization in the players who committed the mistake and also sets an example for the
others that they do not commit such activities in the future. This incident has brought down the
image of the Australian team drastically, it will take a long time and many attempts to create
their past image of fair play in the eyes of people, especially for the citizens of Australia. For this
reason, the Cricket Australia is going to devise a number of strategies which will help in
3

Culture & Ethics at Cricket Australia
improving the player’s standards, their ethics, morals and the importance of culture. Also the
Cricket Australia will further implement more strategies which will help in improving their
image in front of Australia and the entire world.
Image source: (images.financialexpress.com)
4

Culture & Ethics at Cricket Australia
1. Sandpaper Gate Brings Australia to Stand Still
There are a number of issues at Cricket Australia as a result of sandpaper gate and this
section will be addressing those issues and the associated theory linked to those issues. The
sandpaper gate incident has brought the Australian Cricket Association to a standstill and also
did shocked the entire nation. The incidents highlighted many issues which were not abiding to
the rules of ethical, cultural and organizational aspect of the game. These issues have also raised
questions about the integrity of cricket Australia, which is going through one of the darkest
period in the history of cricket in Australia (Ahmad, 2015).
There is a thin line between the gray area and the black area. In the same way our naivety
can slip into culpability in no time and without any realization. The first issue which has been
identified in the sandpaper incident is cheating. This unethical act is analyzed through the ethical
decision making framework. The players Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft pre-
planned an unethical act of tampering the ball and this act clearly raises an issue of cheating.
They cheated with their teammates, with the opposite team player, with the cricket association,
with every sportsman and all the fans of cricket all over the world. Ball tampering is allowed
only through natural ways like rubbing on the uniform and using spit, but using an unnatural
thing to tamper the ball and create a diversion is unethical. The thing which makes this cheating
incident even worse is that it was pre-planned and was executed in the guidance of the team’s
captain and vice-captain. The whole Australia felt cheated and embarrassed due to this incident.
The former players raised questions on the ethical standards which are moving down on the
slope rapidly. The last time Australian cricket team was involved in an unethical play was years
back and but the recent times have seen some incidents which are unethical and puts a big
question on the ethical standards of Cricket Australia (Ball & Hryomallis, 2012).
5

Culture & Ethics at Cricket Australia
Image source: (qph.fs.quoracdn.net)
The other issue which has been identified from the sandpaper incident is the damage
which has been caused to the spirit of the game and its integrity. The issue of damaging the spirit
of the game has been identified as a cultural issue and the different social theories of sports have
been utilized to analyze this issue. Sports and culture go hand in hand and cricket is a national
sport of Australia. It’s not just a sport, but it’s much more which is worshipped by a large
number of people. The sport cricket has a reputation of being a gentlemen’s game and the act of
sandpaper gate affected that reputation and ruined the spirit of the game. The element of critical
theory of the social theory focuses on a cultural production, so that the future of Australia
follows a path which is fair and is a solid example of inspiration and motivation for the next
generations. The act of Sandpaper has affected the reputation of cricket Australia and have given
the society a bad example that will have a huge impact on the future generations of cricket in
Australia. There are some cultural guidelines those are the beliefs and the values that have to be
abided by. Sports is a reflection of the culture of a country and their society (Beltrame, 2011).
6

Culture & Ethics at Cricket Australia
The third issue which was the main driving force of this act is Leadership. Steve Smith
and David Warner, the captain and the vice-captain respectively, displayed a bad example of
leadership. There is a thin line between leading effectively and misusing leadership. In the
sandpaper gate incident the leadership was misused. If the captain and the vice-captain had been
true to their leadership values the incident would never have taken place and Australia did not
have to get embarrassed in front of the whole world. The theory of moral development has been
utilized here to analyze this issue. Leadership is an activity which requires correct influence on
others which helps in achieving the goals appropriately and rightfully. According to the moral
development theory, leadership is a moral activity too, which requires a set of rules and beliefs
which have to be followed to achieve the desired goals. The act of sandpaper gate was in the
knowledge of the leadership group which included only certain players on the team including the
captain, vice-captain as the main leaders. The coaching team was not informed about it and also
not the other players of the team. This also raises another issue that there is a lack of
cohesiveness in the team. The leadership group did not betrayed just with the rival team, but also
with their own teammates. By keeping them uninformed and also jeopardizing their reputation in
the eye of the world, speaks volume of an issue which is deeper than what is being anticipated.
The issues of leadership and lack of cohesiveness are one of the major organizational issues that
brings togetherness, transparency and trust in a team. According to a sports psychology,
cohesiveness in a team does not only mean the working of all the team players together, but the
cohesiveness also come in sharing the responsibilities and repercussions equally. A victory of a
team is always not a single player’s work, but it’s the team effort. In the same way, a loss of a
team is not due to a single player it is due to the entire team. The sandpaper gate incident may
include only three player’s but the repercussions of it has to be bared by the entire team
(Brukner, Gara & Fortington, 2018).
The cheating in sports can be curbed by utilizing a social and psychological evidence
strategy which involves three approaches that are, create strict rules against cheating, catch them
cheaters in the end and try reducing the dishonesty in the team and between the players. The
Hans-Georg Gadamer’s theory of play is an effective strategy for a good play, which will follow
the right rules and beliefs. This will also help the Australian cricket team in reducing and
controlling their inappropriate behavior in the game.
7

Culture & Ethics at Cricket Australia
Image source: (www.slideshare.net)
8

Culture & Ethics at Cricket Australia
2. Cultural Audit of Cricket Australia
The ball tampering incident has brought forward several aspects which requires a cultural
audit of the Cricket Australia. The hampering of the sport which has been committed by the three
players and the effect on the country Australia as a whole. The audit will examine the entire
situation in the context to the cultural sentiments which have been disgraced and the cultural
values preached at Cricket Australia. According to the Cricket Australia, cricket is a sport for all
Australians.
Mission Statement
The Cricket Australia is the official governing body for the cricket activities in Australia.
The mission statement of this national governing body of Australia is very simple and this is the
beauty of it which inspires one and all in Australia to play cricket. The main mission of the
association is that the sport cricket should be loved by all Australians that inspires the maximum
people to play cricket and make it a part of their life. This mission statement successfully
inspires many people to make cricket a part of their life which is the main cultural indicator. The
cricket Australia is trying to create a strong cultural of cricket in Australia by inspiring as many
people adapt it in their lives (Chalkey, MacMohan & Ball, 2013).
Core Values
The Cricket Australia has introduced new values for their session from 2017-2022, the three
tier model has been utilized for its analysis. There are three main core values which are practiced
and preached in Cricket Australia, they are-
 How they play?
The values for how we play are built by four hundred people across Australia and
have been built around the behavioral aspect of the players. The first one is to be real,
which focuses on showing respect, being straightforward and should have the courage to
accept the challenges and also have the capabilities to challenge others. The second one is
smash the boundaries which focus on inculcating the habit of not getting afraid of failure
and changing the world with the right attitude like innovation. The third one is made
every ball count that encourages the players to make the right decision and relentless,
pushing the players forward to win. The fourth one is stronger together, this focuses on
doing the best activities which are best for cricket (Cheng, Takla & Subic, 2011).
9

Culture & Ethics at Cricket Australia
Image source: (www.cricketaustralia.com)
 The spirit of the Cricket
The spirit of the game lays the guidelines for all the players and especially the
captain the rules which have to be strictly followed on the field, otherwise there are
repercussion for not abiding by them. The spirit of the game is concerned with the code
of conduct of the players on the field which has been laid by the MCC. The spirit of the
game include qualities like respect, togetherness, fair play, honesty and graceful
behavior.
 Integrity
The cricket Australia have a responsibility towards maintaining the integrity of
the game and this is conducted through their integrity management. Under this
management system they have various programs like anti-corruption program, anti-
doping, illicit substance programs, the conduct of the player’s program, and also the
player’s contract.
10

Culture & Ethics at Cricket Australia
All these various new policies are for the betterment of the players, but they are
lacking cultural values and ethics. They are focusing on making good players, but they
are not aimed at making great players like the past players Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath,
Bret Lee and Ricky Pointing.
Policy Statement
The main policy statement of the Cricket Australia has five key areas which are, a
protocol for sustainable participation, gender diversity, and growth of women’s cricket, more
fans as women and girls and a selecting unique talent for the teams. According to the four sector
model, all these policies are mainly focused on the emergence of women’s cricket team and also
there is not a single policy which focuses on the behavioral and ethics test for the future players
and the present ones too.
Image source: (www.cricketaustralia.com)
11