Professioneel Sportmanagement vernieuwen. Praktijkgericht onderzoek naar het ontwikkelen van innovatieve managementpraktijken in de sport

Promotie: dhr. A.H. Broeke, 13.15 uur, Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5, Groningen

Proefschrift: Professioneel Sportmanagement vernieuwen. Praktijkgericht onderzoek naar het ontwikkelen van innovatieve managementpraktijken in de sport

Promotor(s): prof.dr. J.J. Peters

Faculteit: Gedrags- en Maatschappijwetenschappen

Contact: Adri Broeke, tel. 050-595 3702, e-mail: a.h.broeke@pl.hanze.nl

Professioneel Sportmanagement vernieuwen. Praktijkgericht onderzoek naar het ontwikkelen van innovatieve managementpraktijken in de sport

In the course of the previous century the sport world has changed significantly. From a local hobby of some ethyl individuals, sport has developed into an increasingly commercially-organised and worldwide leisure industry.

In recent decades a new professional field, under the heading of sport management, has slowly but surely developed within this changing landscape of sports. Literature into the study of the sport management distinguishes between four types of professional practices: two on Anglo-American and two on Rhineland-European oriented management practices. In those practices, different sport-organisations create value for divergent parties.

Taking into account the specific characteristics of practice-oriented research and methodological criteria, small-scale (n-type) research has been conducted with as the central question: How can sport management professionals contribute from within to the renewal of professional management practices in sport.

Both data-based and knowledge-based research methods have been used to answer this question.

The findings confirmed the assumption that to date the professional practice does not really act as a place where knowledge is developed. Sport managers did indeed appear to have a high professional capacity for finding solutions, but rarely utilised these skills to develop new knowledge in a way that can be shared with fellow professionals. Actual knowledge productivity - taken as the capacity to produce new knowledge that contributes to the improvement of relevant practices - proved to be ready for improvement.

Based on the results of this descriptive research, intervention research was conducted amongst students and practitioners on the improvement of knowledge productivity. To this end, two ‘experimental’ interventions were conducted in relation to knowledge acquisition and knowledge creation processes.

Contemporary sport management professionals are, on the basis of the in this thesis described views and insights, obliged to their profession to present a catalysing contribution and reinforce the innovation power of their own, and/or other professional sport management practices. The intervention research identified four action lines along which innovative practices can be developed: two lines on the micro-level of the workplace and two lines at the meso-level of professional practice.

Finally the thesis sets a forward looking design of the possible and desirable tasks and roles that sport managers of tomorrow could play in sustainable innovative professional practices.