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According to Morgan, our understanding of organizational life can be informed by a number of images of organization. In this article it is argued that in sport management research one or two of these images have dominated the field, to the exclusion of others. As such, we have developed only a partial and limited view of the organizational and managerial reality of sport organizations. If we are to enhance our understanding of the structure and processes of sport organizations we need to explore alternative images of these organizations, as this will ultimately help us produce better managers.

Increased interest in organizational change (i.e., shifts in an organization's structure, strategy, and processes) has led to considerable diversity in the theoretical approaches used to explain the phenomenon. This theoretical diversity has caused some scholars to suggest that a more complete understanding of organizational phenomena such as change is obtained when different theoretical perspectives are used in conjunction with one another. This paper examines a process of change that has been occurring in Canadian national sport organizations. Utilizing the theoretical approaches found in work on resource dependence theory, institutional theory, organizational culture, and the role of transformational leaders in managing change, the paper shows how these approaches explain different aspects of the change process. It also shows how a more complete understanding of change may be gained by using more than one theoretical perspective.

Contingency theorists have consistently identified size as a major factor influencing the structure of an organization. This study examines the size-structure relationship in a set of voluntary sport organizations (VSOs). The results of the study generally support the trends identified in the organization theory literature; they also demonstrate that VSOs have unique features that influence the effect that size has on their structural arrangements. This is most noticeable when the association, or more specifically the lack of association, between size and the structure of decision making is examined. The relationship between professionals and volunteers, and their associated struggle for control of these organizations, is identified as a principal factor contributing to this situation.

Many owners of fast food franchises use sport sponsorship as a means of penetrating their local market area. The purpose of this paper is to examine how these franchisees make decisions about sponsorship requests that allow them to enhance their own position within their local market while at the same time ensuring the consistency and continuity of image that successful fast food chains require. Data were collected from interviews with representatives of 11 fast food companies, from articles in the trade literature, and from company documents. Ranging on a continuum from total franchisee control of decision making to a situation in which the autonomy of the local outlet is eliminated, three approaches to making decisions about sponsoring sport teams and events were identified: the independent approach, the communal approach, and the controlled approach. The structure and corporate culture of the restaurant chain are shown to be significant factors influencing the way decisions about sport sponsorship are made.

Sport sponsorship is frequently described as a strategic activity, and thus, it is influenced by both competitive and institutional forces. Using a sample of 28 Canadian companies, this study explores the influence of competitive and institutional pressures on those individuals who make decisions about their company's sport sponsorship initiatives. The results show that the sponsorship activities of rival companies were influential in a company's sponsorship choices. This was particularly the case in highly concentrated industries. We also show some evidence of a first-mover advantage in sponsorship decision-making but found preemptive strategies to yield little competitive advantage. In addition to these pressures from the competitive environment, institutional pressures from companies in the same geographic area, in the form of mimetic activity, in the form of involvement in social networks, and through the occupational training of the decision makers—all played a role in the choices made about what activities to sponsor.

The organizational field encompassing North American major league professional sport changed dramatically over the last quarter century despite the constraining forces associated with this level. Given this, the purpose of this article was to explore the evolution of one organizational field over an extended time period in order to enhance our understanding of the multifaceted nature of its change. Four dimensions of this field were considered for study: communities of actors, their exchange processes, their governance structures, and their beliefs and institutional logics of action. These dimensions were operationalized to provide evidence of the evolution of the organizational field. Data were collected from personal interviews with league and franchise leaders, from documents retrieved from the leagues and Halls of Fame, and from a selection of historical books. The results of this research show increased interaction among the actors in the field, a growing awareness that they were engaged in a common enterprise, and the erosion of the coexisting logics of action prevalent in the field in the early 1970s.

While it is one of the central topics in the study of organizations, the concept of strategy has received little attention in the sport management literature. This paper is, in part, designed to help fill some of this void. Specifically, the purpose of the paper is to empirically verify a framework proposed by Thibault, Slack, and Hinings (1993) for the analysis of strategy in nonprofit sport organizations and to locate a sample of national level sport organizations within this framework according to their strategic type. The results of the study support the existence and utility of the two dimensions identified in Thibault et al.'s framework. They also reveal that there are common characteristics within the organizations that constitute each of the framework's four strategic types. The identification of these characteristics provides us with a preliminary understanding of the strategic initiatives being pursued by those sport organizations.