Management Control in Sports Organizations: Balancing Economic Regulation, Organizational Tensions, and Performance Management

Abstract

Sports organizations are dealing with a lot of institutional pressures. This means they really need to have management control in place. The thing is, sports organizations have to balance two things: the sports side and the business side. This paper looks at how sports organizations use management control. It also explores the problems that come up when the sports side and the business side do not agree. To do this study we talked to people who work with sports organizations. We did eight interviews, with people who are involved in managing and governing these organizations. We looked at what these people said. Found some common themes. Data were analyzed using thematic coding supported by ATLAS.ti software. The results show that people use management control in ways depending on what they do. Managers think of management control to help make decisions and make the organization look good. On the hand people who work in sports think of management control as something that gets in the way and makes them resistant to change. So, management control is mainly a way for organizations to follow the rules and be financially safe than a way to directly manage how well people perform. Management control is really, about making sure the organization is okay financially. Digital tools can really help bring the world of sports and the world of money. This is because digital tools can make things easier to understand. They do this by being simple and easy to learn. Digital tools are a way to connect sports and economics. This research contributes to the literature on management control and sport management by highlighting the organizational and social nature of management control in sports contexts.