New Article Alert: Sport and Project Management

Greetings!

We are pleased to announce a new book chapter that we have authored has been published.

The paper entitled "Sport and project management: a window into the development of temporary organizations" is included as a chapter within the Handbook of Research on Management and Organizational History, published by Edward Elgar Publications as part of their 'Research Handbooks on Business & Management' Series. 

Abstract:

The historical study of project-based industries allows largely unexploited opportunities for empirical, methodological and theoretical contributions to the field of management history. McDowell (2015) and Scranton (2014) demonstrate that the study of projects can enable an understanding of temporary and virtual organizations that link together multiple agencies each contributing to an overall value or ‘legacy’ comprising outputs and outcomes. This chapter proposes that researching global or continental scale sport mega-event projects can capture these attributes, for example the delivery and associated long-term legacy of the Olympic Games or FIFA World Cup. Project management history therefore offers a window into the delivery of a project as well as a broader opportunity to study the ways that organizations and individuals within them cooperate to deliver outcomes allowing management historians to contribute to debates around the usefulness of such events to society, as well as the institutional context within which they are nested.



The reference details are as follows:

The Chapter:

Gillett, A.G. and Tennent, K.D., 2020. Sport and project management: a window into the development of temporary organizations. In Handbook of Research on Management and Organizational History. Edward Elgar Publishing. 

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788118491.00016

About the book:

Emerging from what was a somewhat staid sub-discipline, there is currently a battle for the soul of Management and Organizational History (MOH), at the centre of which is a widespread concern that much recent work has been more about how one should or might do history rather than actually doing historical work. If ever there was a time for a new volume on MOH, this is certainly it.

The Handbook, which is edited by Kyle Bruce, comprises many interesting and useful chapter clustered into three sections. Part 1 is concerned with 'Classic Foundations', Part 2 gives a platform to 'Alternative Voices' and Part 3 is 'About History'.

Our Chapter is located within Part 2.

Published:

1 April 2020

ISBN:

9781788118484

eISBN:

9781788118491

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788118491

Pages:

 320

Research Impact: Soccer Mad Boffin Contributes to Soccer Guide

Dr Alex Gillett has contributed to a new book by Adrian Webster (ex-Seattle Sounders FC and Colchester United FC).

Adrian wanted his coaching book to be different. This book shares his views and experiences of having been involved in the game as a player, coach and manager at youth, college and pro levels.

Adrian started to get involved in coaching when he first joined the Seattle Sounders in 1974, quickly discovering the importance of understanding the way that we learn, and that in coaching football is very much like teaching.

Alex contributed by providing advice on content and on the title of the book, to help with clarity of the text, which includes not just technical detail about playing and coaching, but also Adrian's personal reflections on his experiences as a player during the historically significant era of US soccer during the 1970s.  As an author with experience of writing published material on 20th century soccer history, Alex was well equipped to assist Ade in his 'goals' for this book!

A proportion of income from sales of the book will be donated to a childrens' cancer charity.

The book is available to buy now from amazon at a very accessible price:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Guide-Soccer-Coaching-Ades-Way-ebook/dp/B07H3ZF4MB

Frontiers of Management History Book Series launched in conjunction with Emerald!

Soccer-Mad Boffins sign the contract at Emerald HQ

Frontiers of Management History is a new book series that will be published globally by Emerald Publishing.  

The series aims to provide an outlet for forward-thinking management and business historians, whose work addresses new perspectives, theories, frameworks, critiques, and applications for practice. By doing so, Frontiers of Management History will create a new space in which to champion the craft of the historian together with the method of the social scientist, two approaches which in today’s interdisciplinary environment are increasingly ‘speaking’ to each other.

Niall Kennedy (Emerald) with Kevin and Alex

The series will include edited collections as well as authored volumes of management history, and the series editors welcome theoretical, empirical and historiographical contributions concerned with organisations from various sectors. 

For more information or to propose an idea for a book, please email:

frontiersofmanagementhistory@gmail.com

Photo credit: Mick from Emerald

Soccer Mad Boffins Appear at University of Hull

On Thursday 30th November we travelled through the snow across Yorkshire, to Hull and back.

The occasion was a research lecture hosted by the Marketing and Business Strategy subject group of Hull Business School, all about our work on the FIFA World Cups of 1966 and 1994.

Entitled 'Opportunities for All the Team: The 1966 and 1994 FIFA World Cups' the lecture was based on a working paper which we are developing for publication in a forthcoming special issue of a well known sports history journal.

We thoroughly enjoyed presenting our work to our friends at Hull, and hope to be back soon.

Alex and Kevin with lecture slides

Foundations of Managing Sporting Events: Organizing the 1966 FIFA World Cup

Our book 'Foundations of Managing Sporting Events: Organizing the 1966 FIFA World Cup' was recently published by Routledge, as part of their International Studies in Business History series.

The book has been read by academics and non-academics, including individuals from the world of sport. Feedback has so far been excellent, across the board.

More information can be found at the publisher's website here.

Foundations of Managing Sporting Events - Organizing the 1966 FIFA World Cup

Soccer Mad Boffins are very pleased to announce that our new book 'Foundations of Managing Sporting Events - Organizing the 1966 FIFA World Cup' will be published this summer by Routledge as part of their International Studies in Business History series.

The table of contents will be:

1. What, Why, and How?
2. Origins and Background: A Brief History of English Football and the FIFA World Cup
3. Political Capital and International Diplomacy: North Korea and Beyond
4. The FA, FIFA, and the 1966 FIFA World Cup
5. The World Cup as a Temporary Show?
6. The World Cup, Minister?
7. The World Cup and the Provinces: A Tourism Boom that Never Came
8. Legacy and Impact of the Tournament
9. Discussion and Conclusions 

In addition to all that there will also be a forword by the Prof Jim Walvin. 

More info at: https://www.routledge.com/products/9781138645202