21.12.2020

New Findings on the Effects of Organisational Change in Sports

21.12.2020 – Marcel Fahrner and Lara Lesch publish new findings on the effects of organisational change in sports.

In recent years, some sports federations have changed their governance structures by installing paid executives as board members according to § 26 BGB (German Civil Code), while an honorary committee acts as a supervisory board.

Taking the structural reform of the German Handball Federation (DHB) “Perspektive 2020+” as case study, the analysis by Marcel Fahrner and Lara Lesch (Bielefeld University) provides new insights about the effects of organisational change in sports federations on, for instance, the distribution of power between volunteers and paid managers. These findings – which are backed up by organisational theory – might help in shaping future reform processes.

The research paper is based on the Master thesis project by Lara Lesch in the Tübingen M.Sc. Sport Management program and was recently published in the journal Sport und Gesellschaft – Sport and Society.

Fahrner, M. & Lesch, L. (2020). Organisationaler Wandel von Sportverbänden durch Änderungen in Vorstand und Vertretung (§ 26 BGB) – Eine Analyse am Beispiel des Deutschen Handballbundes [Organisational change of sports federations applying § 26 BGB – An analysis of the German Handball Federation reform]. Sport und Gesellschaft – Sport and Society, 17(2), 263-291.