MMS714 Case Study: Ethical Issues and Culture at Cricket Australia

This case study delves into the ethical and organizational challenges faced by Cricket Australia (CA), particularly in light of events like the ball-tampering scandal and the subsequent appointment of Patrick Murphy as Integrity Manager. The analysis covers the corporate culture, leadership styles, and ethical considerations within CA, drawing from multiple files and perspectives. Key issues identified include a lack of trustworthiness, centralized decision-making, gender diversity problems, and hierarchical inflexibility. Murphy's role involves conducting a cultural audit and recommending strategies to the Board of Directors to improve ethical practices and organizational integrity. The study also addresses the ethical dilemmas faced by Murphy and suggests actionable strategies for CA to enhance its corporate culture and rebuild its reputation, ultimately aiming for a more ethical and integrated sporting organization. Desklib provides access to similar case studies and solved assignments for students.

Running head: SPORTS ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOR
Sports Organization Behavior
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SPORTS ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOR
Abstract
The purpose of the following report is to measure the various issues within the corporate culture
of the Cricket Australia. It is one of the biggest organizations in the sports industry in Australia.
Cricket is also regarded as the most favorite and popular sport for the Australians. In the recent
past, the incident related to ball tampering by the two of the most senior players in Australian
cricket team David Warner and Steve Smith has been in light. Cricket Australia has been very
much strict in banning them from the international cricket for a year. The overview of the
organization has been given. Patrick Murphy has taken over as the new Integrity Manager in
Cricket Australia. He has met with the different department and functioning units of the
organizations and discussed several important things about the organization. He has also
identified some problems inherent in the corporate culture and leadership style of the
organization. The different loopholes have been discovered by him. He has also recommended
some strategies after the culture audit of the organization. He has also highlighted some of
unethical issues within the organization that have been discussed in detail as well. The various
recommended strategies will probably help the organization to do better in the future indeed.

2SPORTS ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOR
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
The overview of the Cricket Australia.............................................................................................3
Challenges for Patrick Murphy........................................................................................................4
The main issues with Cricket Australia...........................................................................................5
The cultural audit for Cricket Australia...........................................................................................9
The ethical considerations affecting Patrick..................................................................................13
Instances of ethical considerations in sport...................................................................................14
Strategies to be presented to the Board of Directors of Cricket Australia.....................................15
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................18
References......................................................................................................................................19
Appendices....................................................................................................................................24

3SPORTS ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOR
Introduction
The purpose of the following report is to depict the various issues that have been
predominant in the chosen sports organization over the last few years. The ethical problems and
the various social issues will be discussed in this report. The sports organization that has been
chosen for this paper is the Cricket Australia (CA). This organization has seen several issues
over the past few years.. These issues will have to be dealt with the proper insight into the
matters that took place within the organization. The report will have to be presented as per the
case study that has been provided. The new appointment of the Integrity Manager of Cricket
Australia Patrick Murphy has seen a lot of incidents take place under his managerial career.
The corporate culture of the sports organizations is the main thing that will have to be
discussed and highlighted for the betterment of the sports organizations (Alvesson, 2012). The
interest of the entire world will have to be sought in this regard. The culture of the sports
organizations is a very significant aspect for the overall development of the same. The various
internal and external stakeholders are associated with the development of the sports
organizations. Many ethical issues arise within the workplaces that have to be taken care with the
best efforts. The sports organizations should look to take care of the different issues. Cricket
Australia had faced several ethical issues over the past few years. These issues will have to be
discussed and the ways to cope up with these issues will be discussed over here in this paper.
The overview of the Cricket Australia
Cricket Australia is one of the largest national cricket boards that control the game of
cricket and the cricketers in Australia (Cricketaustralia.com.au, 2018). The CA has made several
strategies within the board that has been exceptional to lead the players and the administrative

4SPORTS ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOR
members. The national board of cricket control in the country takes care of all the issues that
arise within the context of the country (Cricketaustralia.com.au, 2018). The various issues that
have been laid out in this case study will be highlighted on the background of the new Integrity
Manager Patrick Murphy. There have been several challenges that have been identified within
the corporate culture of the organization Cricket Australia. The impact of coming of Patrick
Murphy into the administration of the Cricket Australia had been a very important incident
indeed.
Challenges for Patrick Murphy
Patrick Murphy was very much aware that he would have to face several challenges in
this context. It would be very much problematic for him to adjust with these challenges. These
challenges have been very hard because these have been troubling the administration of Cricket
Australia for a long time now. Patrick Murphy was not at all a newcomer to the administration of
the sports industry. In fact he had taken care of several duties in the administration of the sports
organizations in the last few years. He had earlier worked with the sports organizations like the
Australian grand Prix Corporation (AGPC) and Tennis Australia (TA). He had served these
sports organizations earning a very good amount of reputation from them as well. The public
profiles these companies had were not very impressive but the he had helped these organizations
to shape up their cultures in the better ways and organize their public profiles to design it with a
better impression in mind (Alvesson, 2012).
Patrick Murphy had identified that the lack of trustworthiness had been one of the major
setbacks for the corporate culture of the sports organizations. This is why he wanted to develop
the trust of the users and stakeholders. He had made up the proper idea of how the sports

5SPORTS ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOR
organizations should be able to develop the ideas of how the external stakeholders could be
entertained. This corporate culture would be very important tyo attract the variety of the external
stakeholders for the benefit of the organization. It is because he had been regarded very highly as
a person who could really bring in the integrity within the sports organizations and reinvent their
corporate cultures (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2015).
The main issues with Cricket Australia
It is very much evident that the sports organization Cricket Australia had been facing
several problems within their domain that could be very much problematic for them to come iut
of. Patrick Murphy had gone through the five files about the history and corporate culture of
Cricket Australia. He had many important points in this regard since these points would be very
highly important to be genuine causes of worry. The cheating in the ball tampering issue by the
two senior players David Warner and Steve Smith had been very shameful for their reputation.
This is why they would need to reshape their corporate culture in order to arrange the proper
methods of how they could become a successful and integrated cricket playing nation altogether
(Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2015).
The main purpose of the integrity strategy of CA was to make their players stay away
from the international evils of match-fixing, doping and many more activities that could lead
them to the jeopardy (Büschgens, Bausch & Balkin, 2013). These things often remain as a black
spot in international cricket. Some of the things that fall under this category are the code of
conduct for the players, anti-doping and anti-corruption programs and many other programs. The
International Cricket Council (ICC) has always been very much sensitive to these issues. The
ICC has many codes for the conduct of the players and they would like the other nationwide

6SPORTS ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOR
cricket control boards to follow them as well. This would surely be beneficial to keep pace with
the spirit of the game (Dawson & Andriopoulos, 2014).
First file
The activities of the strategic unit of CA were so very much surprising. In spite of having
so many employees in the organization they were not able to manage the things and these things
went out of hand. It is very effective in fact that the incident of ball tampering took place. The
main purpose of CA has always been to motivate the players to play the game in an honest
manner (Azanza, Moriano & Molero, 2013). This will be a boost for the cricket world, the
spectators of the game and the supporters of the Australian cricket team. They are the main
external stakeholders of the sports so the organization would look to integrate their strategies for
the best ways. The decision making power always rested on the CEO of Cricket Australia. The
integrity team did not have the freedom to decide the ultimate things related to the ethical
practices of the organization. Patrick had to make more ground research in order to understand
the main cultural issues that existed within the premises of Cricket Australia (Büschgens, Bausch
& Balkin, 2013).
He has given his opinion that the staff committee members should have their own ways
to make the important ethical decisions. It is not the CEO who should have the final say in this
matter. Rather the other people should provide their own views about this matter as well. The
culture of Cricket Australia was needed to be revitalized to some extent since the common
members of the organization did not have their own voice to protest against the unethical
decisions indeed. The organizational culture and the ethical decisions of the Cricket Australia

7SPORTS ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOR
should have been taken after consulting with the main people of the organization for the best
interests (Nica, 2013).
Second file
As per the second file given to him, his duty was to judge the culture of the organization
and the staffing of the organization in the best ways. He found out that the Cricket Australia is
mainly stretched between the two areas like Melbourne and Brisbane. The main staff base of the
organization is located in these two sections only. The other staffs of the organization are located
in the other parts of the country (Azanza, Moriano & Molero, 2013). As all the staffs do not get
to meet each other and exchange their ideas, this will really be problematic for both of them to
maintain the proper integrity to do the best. The main decisions are mainly made by the senior
managers since the other staffs are are well qualified with diploma and master degrees in
business and management (Weber, 2016).
However, they have the proper idea of dealing with the stuffs that arise within the
organization. The too much interference of the senior level management in the operations has
really been very bad for the organization (Dauber, Fink & Yolles, 2012). The hierarchical
structure was very rigidly maintained within the organization. This is why the lower level
employees or managers had very little option to move up in their ranks. The promotion could be
available only when the senior managers would be retired (Dawson & Andriopoulos, 2014).
There was no option for moving up just by the effectiveness of their works. There have not been
enough revenue streams for the Cricket Australia apart from the online and offline media and the
sponsorships. The employees were denied of their opportunities. This had created havoc in the

8SPORTS ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOR
organizational culture. The outside story was very furnished but the inside was that much ugly
for the people desiring for the promotion (Tutt & Duncan, 2013).
Third file
As per the third file, the gender diversity in the Cricket Australia had been a major issue.
The most illegal things had been committed here that were fatal for the well-being of the
employees (Dauber, Fink & Yolles, 2012). The ratio of the male and female workers was very
poor in this scenario. This is why the gender discrimination and the unequal treatment had been
the major cases within the organization. These had been the notable shortcomings for the
organization indeed. The behaviors of the higher management became unacceptable in these
conditions as well. These allegations in the Cricket Australia prove that the culture within the
organization has not been good enough indeed (Greenberg, 2014).
Fourth File
The fourth file given to Patrick Murphy deals with the various issues related to the
players. Patrick had the belief that the sports organizations will not able to prosper without the
positive contribution of the players (Guiso, Sapienza & Zingales, 2015). They are the main
stakeholders for the sports organizations. This is why they would need to be the role models for
all the supporters both on and off the field. However, the events of ball tampering by David
Warner and Steve Smith had been a very shameful event for the Cricket Australia indeed. The
people who saw them as the role models would be hurt very much indeed (Morgan, 2013).
The overall character and their attitudes to their personal lives, their families and other
factors would be the most important determinant factors to judge the efficacy of the culture of
Cricket Australia. The players had been appointed in the higher management posts of Cricket

9SPORTS ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOR
Australia because of their on-field contributions for the country. It was done by overlooking the
qualifications of the various managers in the organization. The CEO had good relationships with
some of these past players. They take the advantage of these good relationships all the more to be
considered as someone important in the overall panorama of Cricket Australia. One of the major
issues that had been found by Patrick was that of harassment at the workplace (Guiso, Sapienza
& Zingales, 2015).
Fifth file
The fifth file also deals with the fact of the internship with this organization. He found
out that the internship programs had some problems as well (Morgan, 2013). It seems from this
factor that the working experience in the sports industry apart from playing had some good
advantages if one was willing to take part in the administrative section. The payment of these
interns was never a satisfying one. This is why the organization had been criticized by many
people indeed. The players, staff and the CA board members did not respect them either. These
things were very much problematic for them (Eccles, Ioannou & Serafeim, 2012).
Out of these five files the first and third file seemed to be most interesting with a great
cause for worry or concern. The diversity or discrimination between the male and female players
and the rude behaviors often ignited the fire to revolt. The lack of proper functioning by the
management could be considered as a major drawback as well (Schwartz, 2013).
The cultural audit for Cricket Australia
Afrer taking over as the Integrity Manager of Cricket Australia, he has seen many things
that have dropped down the overall reputation of the organization. The corporate culture of the
organization is not at all up to the mark. Rather it has to be noted the leadership style of the

10SPORTS ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOR
organization is something kind of autocratic one. The shortcomings of the organization have
been enough for them to lose their brand image in front of the people. Patrick has always
believed in the fact that the cultural intelligence can surely bring the betterment within the
culture of Cricket Australia (Schwartz, 2013). The most important purpose for reshaping and
redesigning the corporate culture will be to include the creativity and innovation within the
workforce of the organization Cricket Australia. The workplace diversity will have to be
ingrained into the culture of the organization in the best ways. The matter of the gender
inequality should be highlighted in this case since this will create a negative impact on the minds
of the other people. The female players will be afraid to come into this profession if this practice
would go on (Nongo & Ikyanyon, 2012).
Patrick Murphy had to play several other responsibilities to look after the daily operations
that go on within the Cricket Australia. The organization has been a very trusted one by millions
of supporters of the Australian national cricket team. It bears the national identity of the country.
This is why it will be very important for the organization to shape the culture of the sports and
entire Cricket Australia in a way that everyone should respect it (Turner, 2014). The attitudes
and the approaches of the players should be directed in the most positive ways so it should cater
to the joy of all the supporters. The despicable deed of ball tampering in March against South
African team had been flashed in front of the whole world and the media stood there capturing
the entire incident (Patrick & Kumar, 2012). Steve Smith and David Warner did not abode by the
codes of conduct and they committed a deed that could was the breach of the codes of conduct of
both the International Cricket Council (ICC) and Cricket Australia (CA).
The culture of the Australian cricket was thus insulted by the sports lovers of the entire
world. Patrick had heard about this bitter incident in the history of the Australian cricket and he

11SPORTS ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOR
opined that he needed to go into the depth of this entire thing to understand what was wrong with
the incident. The Australian cricket team and their overall performance has left an indelible mark
on the entire scenario of the world cricket (Thomas, 2012). Patrick had come to know that CA
considered itself to be the be all and end all authority of the Australian cricket and they
proclaimed themselves to be the ‘custodians; of the game. It has been clear that cricket signifies
the entire national culture of the game for Australia. This is why the organization like CA must
be very much careful when dealing with the various policies within the organization. They must
be aware that cricket is not just a game or sports for the audience. It is connected to their hearts
as well (Barak, 2016).
The CA had been very much interested in the progress of the cricket since they prepared
the executive management team that could lead the ways and make the policies for the next five
years for the organization (Boulouta, 2013). In this regard it could be said that the organization
should have goven focus on amending the inside culture of the sports organization as well (Shaw
& Partner, 2015). The game and market development team had been prepared that could make
the several important strategies on how the marketing of the sports could be developed and the
desires of the sports lovers could be met properly (Riccucci, 2018). The public affairs and public
relations strategies had to be reshaped as well. The stress had to be given on the digital marketing
of cricket in the best ways. The performance of the team had to be given some special focus
since it involved the success of the team by winning several trophies in both domestic and
international series. The organizational culture for the sports could be developed if the all the
units of the operations could come together and collaborate with each other to make the things
more smooth going as well. It is a matter of fact that a good corporate culture takes a long time
to be built. It is more difficult to maintain it as well (Williams, 2013). There are two opposing