ORGANISATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY IN NATIONAL SPORTS FEDERATIONS IN EGYPT

Abstract

Organisational sustainability is associated with the concept of organisational development, which emanates from the resources and capabilities that the organisation has in place. Sustainable organisations possess a strategic system, which is reliant on sustainable resources, and good capabilities that lead to strategic success. This study sets out the extent to which the Egyptian National Olympic Committee (ENOC) and its members the National Federations (NFs) are able to create organisational sustainability. The purpose of this research is to empirically study organisational sustainability and to provide insight into its creation within NFs. It has used a mixed-methods strategy that involved two phases. The first, a thematic analysis, identified the characteristics of the sustainable National Federation. It was undertaken by carrying out semi-structured interviews with ENOC and NF board members, experts, and NF consultants to generate the benchmarks or the requirements needed for sustainable National Federations. The second phase used the Readiness Assessment Tool (RAT) (Robinson and Minikin, 2011) in investigating the organisational development pillars based on the resources and capabilities of the Egyptian NFs (organisations that are responsible for developing the overarching performance of the ENOC). The findings indicated that the NFs included in this study need to develop further in terms of resources and capabilities in order to improve their readiness for sustainability. At their current levels of development, they do not exhibit the necessary or sufficient characteristics to become sustainable sports organisations. In other words, the research reveals that the NFs under investigation are not sufficiently developed to establish organisational sustainability due to their limited resources and low levels of capabilities. The study contributes to the body of knowledge by providing a better understanding of organisational sustainability in NFs. In addition, it creates the characteristics, or the requirements needed for a sustainable NF. Furthermore, it offers the first evidence to suggest that Egyptian NFs need more improvements in terms of resources and capabilities to create a strong sports system leading to sustainable success.