ResourcesNo.52
January 2008
 
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Book Review
Darlene Kluka & Salmar Burger

 

Hoye, R. & Cuskelly, G. (2007).
Sport Governance
Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann
ISBN: 0-7506-6999-3. Cost: Paperback US$49.95
One of several books to flood the sport management textbook market this year, Sport Governance, provides a fresh perspective on an important topic in the sport management discipline. The focus of the book is the “governance of nonprofit sport organisations and the practices employed by their boards to carry out their governance role” (page xv). The authors provide ample examples of UK and Australian sport governing models and boards. Nearly all examples refer to Commonwealth country sport models, where government involvement takes a meaningful role.
The book is divided into three parts, dealing with sport governance concepts, sport governance fundamentals and sport governance future. Its perspective is based upon a team metaphor, one emphasising the notion that teams follow certain rules, literally and spiritually, in order to achieve performance excellence.
The first part, chapters 1 and 2, focus on the definition of sport governance and factors that influence the actual practice of sport governance. Structure and function details are also outlined.
The second part, chapters 3 through 11, provide great detail on sport governance systems, their structures, and their function, particularly with the use of volunteers. The role of boards in policy and fiduciary decision-making, board member and CEO selection and leadership development are also included. One model of board behavior, including some work with ethical intelligence, leads to strategies of boards and their contributions to growth through strategy formation, implementation, assessment and evaluation. Risk management, an ever-increasing emphasis for boards, is also covered to ensure compliance with regulatory factors. Professionalisation, another huge issue for nonprofit sport governance, deals with the legitimate power of boards and those they employ (e.g., CEO, executive director, secretary general). Board and CEO performance are also issues that have been included. Important variables are brought forth to produce appropriate types of performance assessments. Codes of practice, standards and guidelines and other types of ethical decision-making experiences are also included in this part of the book.
Finally, the third part focuses on the future. An investigation of the “drivers of governance issues” predicts several of the areas of concern for future sport governance. International, national and state/provincial levels are included in the Commonwealth model that is consistently presented in the text.
A few critical remarks must also be made about the book:
  1. The publisher claims that theirs is the first sport management series recognised in the sport management community (page xiii). However, Fitness Institute Technologies (FIT), a United States-based company, published the first series involving sport management in the 1990s and their approach set the benchmark for several years in terms of textbook series’ in the area.
  2. The cover, a paperback, although quite bright (red in color), falls short on its inclusion of photos involving people of color and sports that equitably represent varying levels of sport performance (elite to developmental).
  3. Figure 10.3 appears to be inappropriately labeled. The diagram is a sample of intellectual and social capital, while referring to board structure and leaves out ethical, economic and other forms of capital that affect boards.
  4. It seems that the book would have been significantly enhanced had the authors included models that were outside the purview of the Commonwealth models.
  5. It also appears that the book provides limited information about women’s sport, disabled sport and youth sport governance, particularly as they relate to the larger sport governance picture.
  6. Little mention is made about professional men’s and women’s teams. For example, in the sports of basketball (NBA/WNBA), softball (WPF), volleyball (indoor and beach-AVP) and ice hockey (NHL), there are a number of foundation boards that serve as the nonprofit counterpart of the for-profit sport organisations. A chapter involving these types of boards and the composition, structure and function would have been valuable to the content of the text.
Finally, this text provides those involved with educating future sport managers with prime information about sport governance, particularly from a Commonwealth perspective. There is valuable information for those who plan to work in international sport management with an emphasis on understanding the workings of boards in the nonprofit sport sector. Numerous guidelines and methods for board strategic planning are outlined and included.


Contact
Dr. Salmar Burger
University of Pretoria
Center for Leisure Studies
Department of Biokinetics, Sport and Leisure Sciences
Pretoria, South Africa
Email: salmar.burger@up.ac.za

Prof. Dr. Darlene Kluka
University of Pretoria
Center for Leisure Studies
Department of Biokinetics, Sport and Leisure Sciences
Pretoria, South Africa
Email: eyesport@aol.com
darlene.kluka@up.ac.za




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