An Analysis of Sports Management Issues at Cricket Australia

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the sports management issues within Cricket Australia, focusing on the ethical challenges faced by the organization. It examines the impact of the Sandpaper gate scandal and the role of Patrick Murphy, the Integrity Manager, in addressing these issues. The report delves into key areas such as the integrity strategy, staffing issues, gender diversity in the workplace, and player conduct. It highlights the importance of corporate culture, ethical considerations, and the need for effective leadership to restore the organization's reputation. The report also provides recommendations for improving ethical compliance, addressing player issues, and fostering a more inclusive and responsible environment within Cricket Australia. It emphasizes the significance of stakeholder relationships and the need for the organization to adapt to modern standards of sports management.

Running head: SPORTS MANAGEMENT
Sports Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive summary
The aim of the following report is to depict the various issues within the Cricket Australia and
the role of Patrick Murphy as the Integrity Manager of the organization to get rid of these issues
positively. The Sandpaper gate issue has been one of the biggest issues that has been confronted
by Cricket Australia. The Cricket Australia has banned David Warner and Steve Smith for one
year as an immediate measure. Patrick Murphy has been very much enthusiastic in making the
renewals of the sports organizations. Mr. Murphy’s findings have been described here and his
recommendations have been described here as well. These things will have to be judged by the
authority. The organization will have to take into consideration the cultural audit and various
ethical considerations. These considerations will be very much effective for the organization to
deal with the various hazards within their organizational framework.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
General overview of the organization..............................................................................................4
Challenges faced by Patrick Murphy...............................................................................................4
All the main issues within the context.............................................................................................5
Culture audit at Cricket Australia..................................................................................................11
Ethical considerations in Cricket Australia...................................................................................14
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................17
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................20
References......................................................................................................................................21
Appendices....................................................................................................................................25

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Introduction
The purpose of the following report is to discuss upon the various ethical issues and
considerations in regards to the sports organization Cricket Australia that has taken place in the
recent times. The ethical issues have been very much significant in the various sports
organizations. Cricket Australia has come to the limelight of the matters since they have been
engaged in certain ethical issues over the years indeed. In this report, those several issues will be
discussed properly. The report will be prepared according to the case study that has been
provided. The issues are quite important in the modern context because the future of the players
and the coaches depend on these ethical issues instead (Stewart et al., 2018).
One of the most important things in the modern context of the organizations is their
corporate culture. It has been seen that the sports organizations will have to be much conscious
about the various things that are included in the corporate culture. This will be very significant
for the development of the sports organizations. Millions of people keep their eyes on the ways
the sports organizations around the world will be performing their works. The fans of the sports
teams rely highly on the ways the sports organizations present themselves. In this way it can be
said that the corporate culture of the sports organizations are very much important for the
improvement of the organizations (Wilson, 2018). The corporate culture and the natural overlook
of the sports organizations depend highly on the role of the several internal and external
stakeholders. The sports organization managers will have to keep an eye on the ways the
sportspersons behave within their professional; practices. Some of these players are the icons to
the fans so they have to manage their works properly. The ethical issues will have to be tackled
properly as well (Testoni et al., 2013).

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General overview of the organization
The Cricket Australia is considered to be one of the biggest sports organizations all over
the world. Cricket is perceived to be the most popular sports all over the world. The organization
has been able to make several strategies that have catered to their success
(Cricketaustralia.com.au, 2018). The players of the game are very famous and the fans consider
them as the role models. The incident that took place few months back regarding the ball
tampering by the senior players like David Warner and Steve Smith has left a negative
impression on the minds of the people. The CA is responsible for all the issues that arise within
the context of the game (Wilson, 2018). The new integrity manager Patrick Murphy has been
appointed by the organization to look after the several problems that have come up in the
organization. He has seen the challenges that are very important for the organization in the past
few months. He would look to improve the corporate culture of the organization and provide the
best insights on how to improve the corporate culture of the organization
(Cricketaustralia.com.au, 2018). The administrative capabilities of Patrick Murphy and his
powers to resolve the conflicts within the organization will be highly important to regain the lost
reputation of the organization.
Challenges faced by Patrick Murphy
Patrick Murphy was born in Victoria. This is the very reason he has been very much
aware of the impact of cricket as a sports on the culture of Australia. The corporate culture of the
sports organizations and the practices of the ethical practices within the organization had
attracted his attention all the more. He knew that the corporate culture of the CA depended
largely on the stances of their external stakeholders in a large way (Cleret, McNamee & Page,
2015). The role of culture within the sports arena had always been the main nurturing point of his

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practice in a large way. He had handled the ethical issues of Australian Grand Prix with much
expertise. He had been engaged in reinventing the national cultures of sports in many ways.
Patrick Murphy has been highly regarded as the individual working as the culture renewal
consultant. This is why the organization’s higher management will be highly dependent on Mr.
Murphy to resolve their ethical and cultural issues (Wagstaff, Fletcher & Hanton, 2012). The
public relation skills of Patrick Murphy had been much important to resolve the Albert Park
group activist protests. He had craftily managed the various issues that led him to earn the trust
of the higher management of the organization Cricket Australia. He has also stressed on the
various issues like the social responsibility of the sports organizations in the best ways (Skinner
& Stewart, 2017).
All the main issues within the context
Many issues have been seen and observed in this situation as the sports culture of the
organization has been much deteriorated the organizational culture of the country. The public
domains have been affected by the display of such unethical actions indeed. The use of the sand
paper to get the reverse swing had been detected by the umpires and the concerned match
officials. The use of the yellow sandpaper had been the most unethical thing for the bowlers.
Cameron Bancroft had been banned because of his actions. Some of the major things that could
be addressed in this matter are the integrity strategy, the staffing, the importance of the gender
diversity in the workplace and the various player issues (Skinner & Stewart, 2017). These issues
will have to be discussed to get a proper insight into the matter indeed. The ethical compliance
issues will have to be dealt in this regard efficiently as well. The various business activities have
led the organization to get the proper brand reputation (Stewart et al., 2018).

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The various ethical issues have been the main causes of worry for the Cricket Australia
indeed. The ball tampering by Bancroft and the assistance of David Warner and Steve Smith has
been very much problematic for the brand reputation of the organization (Wagstaff, Fletcher &
Hanton, 2012). The match-fixing issues also have been the most important things for the various
cricket councils including the CA. The fans had been disheartened after this incident in a large
way. They were of the opinion that they could not trust the Australian team anymore. It had been
a matter of disgust for the people all over (Skinner & Stewart, 2017). The chief of the Cricket
Australia James Sutherland has opined that this class of ethical offence is well beyond the natural
technical offences. The step that is taken to tamper the ball is very much unethical indeed.
Main issues within the organization Details of the issues
Integrity strategy The integrity strategy would be taken to
prevent the players from engaging in the
various issues related to ball tampering, match
fixing and doping. The purpose of the CA was
to keep the integrity of the game by providing
the best ethical considerations to the players.
The education of the players is very much
important in this aspect as well. This will
enable the players to know about the certain
ethical codes that they should always maintain.
Staffing issues The staffing has also been a very huge issue in
Cricket Australia. The organization is located
at two main centers of the country. These are

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located at Melbourne and Sydney. It has been
seen in most of the cases that the employees
are highly educated with degrees in
management. However, the Cricket Australia
has always given the priority to former
Australian cricketers for their contributions to
the country. Patrick Murphy has already noted
that the hierarchy structure of the Cricket
Australia is very much dominated by the
former players and the management
qualification of the players has been
overlooked very highly. They do not have
many opportunities for the development of the
employees within the organization (Skinner &
Stewart, 2017). This has been the most noted
factor for the organizational success. It is
indeed a problem as well. The internal
promotion of the management employees is not
provided.
Gender diversity in the workplace The third aspect of the issues identified by
Patrick Murphy concerns with the gender
diversity within Cricket Australia. This goes
with the problem conflict resolution and the

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group behavior of the employees. The main
problem that lies within this company is that of
the provision of the opportunities to the women
employees to handle the various positions in
the higher management. The ratio between the
male and female employees is something like
4:1. This is why the women are not given the
proper respect in this sports organization as
well (Blau, 2016). The female employees have
got very few opportunities to progress in this
section. This is also considered to be one of the
biggest barriers for the Cricket Australia.
Patrick Murphy has always wanted to put the
stress on the equal employment opportunities
as per the Workplace Gender Equality Act
(2012).
Player issues The fourt problem that will be discussed in this
issue is that of the various issues regarding the
players and their ethics. The newly appointed
Integrity Manager Patrick Murphy has always
felt the fact that the players should be the heart
of the sports organizations (Bratton, 2015).
This is why the sports organizations should see

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to the fact the players should behave better in
the best ways (Skinner & Stewart, 2017). The
Sandpaper-gate has been the offending fact that
the players left on the minds of the cricket fans
and the entire Australian society. It is a matter
of fact that the behaviors of the players should
depend on their past behaviors (Basford,
Offermann & Behrend, 2014). The things that
they do out of the fields, the ways by which
they spend their times with their families and
friends are the determinants of their current
behavior as well. Patrick has highlighted the
fact that the players should be extra careful
when they treat with their fans (Stewart et al.,
2018). As they are the role models for them
they should behave in the proper ways. It has
also been said that the senior players get an
added advantage when they come up of serving
Cricket Australia with the administrative
duties. The medical facilities that are given to
the former players and the non-cricketing
employees are very much different as well
(Bratton, 2015). One of the biggest issues that

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has been identified here is that of the employee
harassments. Some of the staffs have been
deprived of these facilities as well (Skinner &
Stewart, 2017).
Internship issues The fifth file that Patrick has addressed is
regarding the internship issues. The interns are
not given the proper monetary benefits as
promised. This has come up to be one of the
biggest problems within the organization. The
organization (Herrbach & Mignonac, 2012).
Cricket Australia will have to discuss about the
various issues regarding the internship. Patrick
Murphy found out that the Cricket Australia
has a close link up with one of the local
universities that provides a proper sports
management program for the young people.
The students who came up to take part in these
sports management programs would come up
because of their extreme love for rge sports.
The development cricket culture of the country
would be their most important desire. The
proper management jobs are not given to the
students. They are given some petty jobs.

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Culture audit at Cricket Australia
It is very important to make a culture audit of the chosen organization Cricket Australia.
Through this culture audit a brief idea could be spotted on how Cricket Australia works to solve
the various cultural and ethical issues. Some theories will have to be discussed in this context.
The impact of the power and politics is immense on the ways the higher management will deal
with the various situations. There are several types of power. These are the legitimate power,
expert power, coercive power and referent power (Ozeren, 2014). It is very important to manage
the power for the best interest of the organizations. Cricket Australia is no exception indeed. The
implication of the power largely depends on the person who holds it. This is why the higher
management of Cricket Australia will look to find out the real issues and problems within their
practices and find out the ways to resolve them by using their power (Foddy & Savulescu, 2017).
The impact of the power and politics is huge when the managers of the sports organizations deal
with their internal and external stakeholders. Both the parties want to acquire the most
satisfactory outcome indeed. It might happen the sports organization managers would want the
several changes within their organizations regarding the development of the health and safety
standards (Skinner & Stewart, 2017). This is very much evident in the cultural implications of
Cricket Australia.
The situational power will have to be applied in this context. It has to be remembered that
the Cricket Australia has not been able to provide the cricket fans a fantastic experience that they
can cherish. The ball tampering issue or the Sandpaper gate has been a haunting memory for the
Australian cricket fans over the past few months. The negotiations will have to be made in this