current operating procedures of the sports
organizations and the practices of the dominant
participants reect institutional inuences
and cultivate values, cultures and
tactics which have little connection with
internal organizational efciency and autonomy.
For example, the GSS tacitly legitimizes
and supports actions which put at risk the
political coherence of certain NSO boards as
core decision-making bodies. Furthermore,
it stimulates the boards of directors of these
organizations to adopt similar practices
within the organizations (i.e. stafng, resource
allocation, programmes) or in relation
to local clubs, in order to maintain control. In
other words, a considerable proportion of
the administrative activity of the NSOs’
boards is not connected with the actual work
of the organizations but with political and
institutional functions of the environment.
This evidence strengthens the concept of
Pfeffer and Salanick (1978) about the social
control of organizational choice and behaviour.