Structural change in the Australian Rugby Union : the espousal of a new national competition

A well established body of literature exists in relation to organisational and cultural change. There is however, a notable gap in the number and scope of research that considers the process and effect of change in Australian sport organisations. Over the last decade there has been a radical change in the way that Australian sport is organised and managed, yet both sport literature and practice has not gained substantially from the empirical research conducted in other fields. As a result, the following paper examines the current state of play within a National Sport Organisation (NSO). The theory of archetypes and the decision by the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) to introduce a new national competition creates the relationship between theory and context for this paper. The response to organisational change has become an increasingly important managerial task and thus the study of transitions in sport organisations has become a necessary topic for academic research. This paper will critique sport management literature and its link to organisational theory, and in particular, organisational change by providing a basis for suggested future research. The ARU will be used to demonstrate the applicability of generic management theories to the Australian sport scape.