Success Versus Excellence in an Elite Sport the Case of the GB Rowing Team

Success Versus Excellence in an Elite Sport: the Case of the GB Rowing Team

In the organisation studies / business ethics academic literature there is an established place for the study of organisations that revolves around the difference and relationship between success and excellence. On the surface, elite sport is all about success. For rowing, for example, it appears from the outside as though what ‘counts’ is the number and colour of the medals that are won at European and World Championships and, most notably, the Olympic games. Funding appears to follow success in an apparently virtuous (or, of course, vicious) circle.  The seminar will report on the findings from the empirical work that has been conducted exploring this relationship. The conclusions provide a significant and somewhat controversial development on the conceptual framework that has been developed to date.

About the Speaker: Geoff is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Management and Marketing at Durham University Business School. His research has focused particularly on the work of Alasdair MacIntyre, and he has conducted similar empirical research on business organisations.