The conditions and support approaches that lead to organizational development in voluntary sport clubs

The conditions and support approaches

that lead to organizational development in voluntary

sport clubs

EASM 2017 Magda Boven

Background

• 2012-2017

: research on vitality of voluntary sport clubs (VSC’s) in the

northern region of the Netherlands (organizational capacity and

external orientation > questionnaire n=500 VSC’s & n=15.000

members of VSC’s

• 2014

: research on effectiveness of VSC consultants

> focus group meetings, interviews

• 2015

: Creation of the platform for VSC-consultants in the northers

region of the Netherlands to stimulate knowledge sharing

Conclusion: Being in good contact with VSC-consultants & board

members of the VCS’s the question was:

“We know how the VSC’s

stand and what questions are there among consultants but how do we

really help the professionals (and thus the VSC’s) towards a sustainable

future?”

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RAAK-grant

Emphasis in applied research grant on:

• Developing a practical question from understanding

challenges of practitioners (here VSC consultants)

> research, focus group meetings, interviews

• Developing a theoretical frame from the practical

problem and develop a research question

• Develop innovative solutions in co-creation between

knowledge partners and practical partners

• Implement and evaluate new solutions and disseminate

within practice (impact)

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RAAK-project

Practical question: “How can a VSC consultant help

VSC’s to develop towards a future in which social

demands from various stakeholders are making governing

sport clubs more complex”

Research question: “Which competences and

approaches does a VSC consultant need to develop in

order to develop organizational development within

VSC’s, to make these VSC’s more vital?”

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Overview total project

Training & master-learner

Assessment

Analysis and effect

Phase 4

Evaluation & learning

Dissimination & knowledge sharing

Project management

Sport Club

Consul-tant

1-measurement on both the clubs included in the case studies and clubs

not included in the case studies n=100 boards of sportclubs

Questionaire to identify highly valued VSC consultants and more understanding of challenges for this profession.

n=100 consultants

Case-studies of a divers group of valued consultants (observations, stakeholder interviews, in depth interviews).

Competences, approaches and tacit knowledge.

n=6 consultancy trajects

Developing a competence profile, manual with approaches and techniques. Develop a education for consultants with

assignments, training and

master-learning construction. Assessment on the developed competences.

n=15 students/consultants

Case-studies of newly trained

consultants (observations, stakeholder interviews, in depth interviews).

Competences, approaches and tacit knowledge.

n=6 consultancy trajects

March 2017 March 2019

Questionnaire on organizational development. Is there any process learning in these

clubs at this moment? 0-measurement N=240 boards of VSC’s

Partners

NOC

Sport Associations (+/-

70)

Voluntary Sport Clubs (VSCs) (+/- 25.000)

Government

Sportservices Sport

(NGOs)

Min

istry

VW

S

Provinces (12)

Municipalities (388)

Work package 1

Research question: “Under what conditions and what support

strategies does organizational development occur at VSC’s?”

Aim of this study is to gain more insight into conditions and

approaches used by professional sport club consultants, in

developing the organizational capacity of voluntary sport clubs

(VSC’s).

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Theoretic frame (1)

Sport clubs are traditionally mostly internally focused (Horch, 1994)

which need adapt more towards social changes and demands from

members and other stakeholders to be ready for the future (Lucassen &

Van Kalmthout, 2015)

To develop/vitalise sport clubs, they need:

• A strong future oriented vision (Coalter, 2007; Koski, 1995)

• Change processes that are developed buttom-up (Gmür, 2000)

• Focus on sustainable long-term development (Varhagen, 2014)

• Local context and unicity of the clubs are acknowledged (Skille, 2008)

• Volunteers should feel enough space to start initiatives

(Misener & Doherty, 2009)

• Impactful interventions should be embraced (May et al., 2013)

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• The succesful consultants have different backgrounds,

approaches and qualities > there is no ‘one best way’ in process

consulting.

• Many less experienced VSC consultants get insecure when their

approach needs much adoption towards the specific context, the

succesful process consultants don’t.

• Many VSC consultants question whether their interventions really

lead to positive and long-term changes within the sport clubs >

our goal is also to find out if any effects can be measured.

• Because the many different names de VSC consultants use, they

often do not really feel as being part of a specific profession >

our goal is also to contribute to the professionalisation of this

profession

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Organization development voluntary sport clubs

Organizational strenght - Finance - Volunteers - Members - Offer/services - Staff - Accommodation - Culture External orientation - Social contribution

- Cooperation with third parties

- Respond to trends and developments in the environment

Sustainability/ learning capacity - Degree of reflection

- Diversity in the board

- _{Processes/ transfer/knowledge sharing} - Willingness to change

Ambition - Vision

- Policy

- _{Support among members}

D e gr e e o f v ita lit y Movement O rg an iz ati o n al d ev e lo p m e n t Past-present

- Which movement did they make the past season?

- How did they come to here?

Present-future

- How do they want to achieve the ambition?

- Plans for the coming season?

Support? - Kind of support?

Methodology work package 1

Online questionnaire deployed under boards of VSC’s in the northern

region of the Netherlands:

• Degree of vitality (organizational strength + external orientation)

• Learning capacity

• Ambition

• Development of organizational strength

• Possible nature of support

• Composition of the board

t0 june 2017 t1 juni 2018

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Preliminary results

n=240 VSC’s

Organizational strength

:

• Athough 73,4% has confidence in the future and most of the board

members (62,9%) think development of membership will not be a problem

in the next 2 years, member retention/recruitment is seen as the biggest

bottleneck (32,5%).

• Finance and volunteers > similar situation > +/- 50% stable 25% increase

and 25% decreased

External orientation:

• 54,6% does not work regularly with other VSC’s

• 60,5% does not work regularly with other associations in the area

• 55,4% finds that they are insufficiently able to respond to developments in

the environment

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Preliminary results

Ambition:

• More than half of the clubs believe that the VSC should also contribute

socially in addition to regular offerings.

• 82,6% has a clear view of want they want in future, of this group, only

57,5% has written it down in a yearly plan / vision document

• Only 14,5% involved a delegation of the members

Learning capacity:

• Transfer from old to new board members at 50,2% is not according to a

procedure

• Very variable responses to clearity tasks / responsibilities volunteers,

expertise training for volunteers and making knowledge accessible and

sharing knowledge.

• Positive appreciation of trust, appeal to behavior, evaluation of interventions

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Preliminary results

Composition of the board:

• 73,4% of the presidents is male, only in secretaries are women in majority (52,2%)

• Average age and level of education are higher with chairmen, treasurers and

secretaries than other board members

Support:

• 38,3% of clubs think they are able to tackle bottlenecks themselves, 30% say it's

not self-sufficient

• 72,9% does not receive support

• Most support is received on sporting courses (31,6%), competitions / tournaments

(27,9%), materials / facilities (22,8%).

• Minimal support for internal and external communication, merger, vision

development, target groups, recruitment sponsors / advertisers.

• Largest need recruitment members (31,9%), recruitment sponsorships (30,5%)

and volunteer policy (21,4%).

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Next steps

Cross-sectional analyses:

• Does the extent to which VSC’s have more learning capacity

influence the organizational development?

• What influence does the composition of the board have on the

organizational development of the VSC’s?

• Are VSC’s with their own accommodations more frequently external

(and socially) oriented?

• What influence does a clear ambition that is set and shared with

members (or even drawn up with members) on the organizational

development of he VSC’s?

• What influence does VSC-support (content and nature) have on the

organizational development of the VSC’s?

• ??

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Questions?

Magda Boven

m.a.boven@pl.hanze.nl

Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen

Colleague researchers:

Trooster, A.S. - Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen Kalmthout, J. van - Mulier Institute Utrecht

Roest, J. van der - Mulier Institute Utrecht

Dijk B. – Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen

Slender H.W. – Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen Jong J. de – Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen