ABSTRACT

Government sport agencies maintain an enduring interest in National Sport Organisations (NSOs) and deploy a number of tools to make them more effective and efficient. Independent, consultant-led reviews are increasingly used to assess aspects of capability, sustainability, governance, management, and programme delivery. However, it is unknown how NSOs respond to these instruments and the latter’s capacity to induce substantive change. This research investigates how and why NSOs respond to independent reviews of their organisations, whether purposefully, passively or politically. Drawing from documents and interviews with NSO officials, findings demonstrate that NSOs respond both purposefully and passively to recommendations advising centralised control over their networks. While there is evidence that responses to reviews invite further state involvement, the mix of responses, along with the finding that ‘reviews beget reviews’, suggests NSOs maintain considerable agency to ‘muddle through’ recommendations. This study speaks to why reviews may be repeated and why they may face increasing scepticism.

摘要

政府体育机构对国家体育组织（NSO）有着持久的兴趣，并部署了许多工具来提高其效率和效率。由顾问主导的独立审查越来越多地用于评估能力，可持续性，治理，管理和计划交付的各个方面。但是，尚不清楚国家统计机构如何应对这些手段以及后者引发实质性变化的能力。这项研究调查了NSO如何以及为何有目的，被动或政治地回应对其组织的独立审查。从文件和与NSO官员的访谈中得出的结果表明，NSO对建议对其网络进行集中控制的建议进行了有目的和被动的响应。尽管有证据表明，对审查的回应引起了国家的进一步参与，但回应的混合以及“审查引发审查”的发现表明，NSO维持着相当多的机构来“混搭”建议。这项研究表明了为什么可能会重复进行评论，以及为什么它们可能会面临越来越多的怀疑。