Impact of Stability on the Performance of Persian Gulf Pro League Football Clubs
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SPORT TK: Revista Euroamericana de Ciencias del Deporte, vol. 9 n.º 2, 129-134© Copyright 2020: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Murcia Recibido: 09/02/2020 Murcia (España) Aceptado: 06/04/2020 ISSN edición web (http://revistas.um.es/sportk): 2340-8812 Impact of stability on the performance of Persian Gulf Pro League football clubs Impacto de la estabilidad en el rendimiento de los clubes de fútbol de la Copa del Golfo Pérsico Misaq Hosseini Keshtan1, Mahmoud Fazel Bakhsheshi2*, Hossein Zareian3, and Mohammad Reihani1 1 Department of Sport Sciences, University of Bojnord, Bojnord, Iran. 2 University of Sistan and Bluchestan, Zahedan, Iran. 3 Sport Science Research Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran. Abstract: The objective of this study was to determine the impact of sta- Resumen: El objetivo de este estudio fue determinar el impacto de la bility/instability on the performance of Persian Gulf Pro League football estabilidad/inestabilidad en el rendimiento de los clubes de fútbol de la clubs. All the clubs that had participated in more than 3 seasons of the last Copa del Golfo Pérsico. Todos los clubes que habían participado en más 17 seasons (2001-2019) of the Persian Gulf Pro League were analyzed in de 3 temporadas de las últimas 17 temporadas (2001-2019) de la Copa del this study (n=26). The performance of each team (improvement or worse- Golfo Pérsico fueron analizados en este estudio (n=26). El rendimiento de ning in ranking) and their stability were analyzed year after year in the pe- cada equipo (mejora o empeoramiento en el ranking) y su estabilidad se riod 2001-2019. The stability was divided in four components: CEO, head analizaron año tras año en el período 2001-2019. La estabilidad se dividió coach, players and club. The statistical analysis was performed with the en cuatro componentes: director, entrenador, jugadores y club. El análisis software SPSS. Stability significantly (p<0.05) increased performance and estadístico se realizó con el software SPSS. La estabilidad aumentó signifi- instability significantly (p<0.05) decreased performance of the clubs in the cativamente (p<0.05) el rendimiento y la inestabilidad disminuyó significa- four components studied: CEO, head coach, players and club. Therefore, it tivamente (p<0.05) el rendimiento de los clubes en los cuatro componentes is expected that the results of this study encourage Iranian football clubs to estudiados: director, entrenador, jugadores y club. Por lo tanto, se espera increase their stability. que los resultados de este estudio animen a los clubes de fútbol iraníes a Keywords: stability; performance; sport management; football. aumentar su estabilidad. Palabras clave: estabilidad; rendimiento; gestión deportiva; fútbol. 1. Introduction Clubs are an important part of the sports industry and they of stability, and this question refers to the factors previously have to face up to the challenge of increasing competition. mentioned: club management, technical staff and players. Factors affecting the performance of sports clubs can be exa- There are different theories and approaches on the impact of mined at three general levels: macro-level, meso-level and mi- stability on the performance of organizations. Concerning cro-level. The macro-level factors include political, economic, stability, several studies support that changing the CEO or cultural, social and international conditions of the country. head coach of the organization can have a negative impact on The micro-level factors are psychological, individual, behavio- its performance. According to this theory, the changes in the ral, and demographic variables. However, the clubs have been management structure cannot eliminate the organization’s affected mostly by meso-level factors such as management and weaknesses and problems (Greiner, Cummings & Bhambri, planning, organization, human and financial resources and 2002; Grusky, 1963; Khanna & Poulsen, 1995; Sakano & infrastructure. In every season of competitions sports clubs Lewin, 1999). This approach emphasizes that the negative strive to improve their skills by providing better performance consequences of managerial change may not appear in the than in the past season (Montanari, Silvestri & Gallo, 2008). short term, but in the medium term the performance of the In the meso-level, the factors that influence the performance organization can decline. of a sports club can be classified into three general groups According to the life cycle approach, new managers can including club management, technical staff and players (Sha- improve the organization’s performance over the long term fiee, Hematinezhad, Dehpanah, & Hosseini, 2012; Audas, with new processes, teams, and strategies (Greiner et al., Goddard & Rowe, 2006; Adler, Berry & Doherty, 2013). 2002). This approach states that the organizational perfor- Nowadays many sports clubs have to face the question mance can improve in the first eight to ten years after ma- nagerial change. However, researchers such as Henderson, Dirección para correspondencia [Correspondence address]: Mahmoud Miller & Hambrick (2006) believe that this approach also Fazel Bakhsheshi. E-mail: [email protected] depends on the type of organization and industry concerned. 129 130 Misaq Hosseini Keshtan et al. Regarding coaching stability, the first approach is based and optimally some players need a challenging and dynamic on the common sense theory and it concerns clubs that, af- environment. Montanari et al. (2008) also showed that sta- ter poor performance, change their coaches in the hope bility might not always have a positive effect. The opponents of making an effective move for the future (Audas et al., could predict the team’s actions more easily if the team use 2006). Some authors (Balduck & Buelens, 2007; Dobson & repetitive mechanisms and tactics that can lost effectiveness Goddard, 2001; Gamson & Scotch, 1964; White, Persad & over time (Bantel & Jackson, 1989; Katz, 1982). Gee, 2007) reported that these changes led to improved per- Each year, the clubs of the Persian Gulf Pro League make formance of the club in short-term results and, in some cases, different changes of management, technical staff and/or pla- in the overall season results. yers, and often new managers and coaches are not given suffi- Another approach is called vicious circle theory. This ap- cient time to implement their plans. Moreover, sometimes proach refers to the unexpected costs that can arise in the the new managers do not know well the past of the clubs and process of replacement of the staff, and to the possible ins- this can generate inappropriate conclusions and contribute to tability that rapid changes can generate (Audas et al., 2006). the future failure of the club. Also, there is a large number of Several authors have reported that the effectiveness of the transfers of players in the Persian Gulf Pro League football coach change strategy during the season is doubtful (Allen, clubs, which reduces stability and can lead to poor perfor- Panian & Lotz, 1979; Alidoust Ghahfarkhi & Jalali Fara- mance of the clubs. Furthermore, continuous transfers are as- hani, 2010; Audas, Dobson & Goddard, 1997; Bruinshoofd sociated with enormous costs. Therefore, the objective of this & Ter Weel, 2003; Fizel & D’Itri, 1997; Giambatista, 2004; study was to determine the impact of stability/instability on Grusky, 1963; Scully, 1994, 1995). the performance of Persian Gulf Pro League football clubs. Other approach is called ritual scapegoating theory. It de- fends that the performance of a club on the playing field is 2. Methods more influenced by the characteristics and skills of the players than by the strategies of the coaches. According to this ap- 2.1. Participants proach, if the players do not have the necessary skills, a chan- ge in the technical staff will not work. Also, this approach All the clubs that had participated in more than 3 seasons attributes the dismissal of the technical staff to an attempt of the last 17 seasons (2001-2019) of the Persian Gulf Pro of change the public opinion (media and club’s supporters League were analyzed in this study. Therefore, the following pressure). This is supported by some authors that reported 26 teams participated in this study: 1. Persepolis Tehran, 2. that club managers dismissed coaches to reduce pressure of Esteghlal Tehran, 3. Sepahan Esfahan, 4. Zobahan Esfahan, media and supporters (Frick, Barros & Prinz, 2010; Koning, 5. Foolad Khuzestan, 6. Pas (Tehran-Hamedan), 7. Saipa 2003; De Dios Tena & Forrest, 2007). (Tehran-Karaj), 8. Fajr Shahid Sepasi Shiraz, 9. Malavan According to some authors, players’ stability improves per- Bandar Anzali, 10. Saba Battery (Tehran-Qom), 11. Abu formance by building trust among team members (Berman, Muslam Mashhad, 12. Peykan (Tehran-Qazvin-Tehran), 13. Down & Hill, 2002; Eisenhardt, & Schoonhoven, 1990; Pe- Esteghlal Ahvaz, 14. Mes Kerman, 15. Bargh Shiraz, 16. Rah lled, Eisenhardt & Xin, 1999; Weick & Roberts, 1993). Also, Ahan (Tehran-Ray-Surinet), 17. Tractor Tabriz, 18. Damash team stability enables players to understand each other in the Gilan (Esteghlal Rasht-Pegah Gilan), 19. Foolad Tabriz, 20. long run. Playing together on the field, team players can bet- Padide Mashhad, 21. Siah Jamegan Mashhad, 22. Naft Mas- ter predict each other’s movements and behavior, what makes jed Soleiman, 23. Pars Jonobi jam, 24. Naft Tehran, 25. Este- the game easier. Furthermore, Cohen & Bailey (1997) and ghla Khuzestan, 26. Naft Abadan. Salas, Stagl & Burke (2004)