The Role of Organizational Capacity in Student-Athlete Development

In-depth interviews were conducted with the life skills coordinators of 9 of 21 institutions identified as being “dedicated” to service (Andrassy & Bruening, 2011). As a result of service being one portion of CHAMPS/Life Skills programming, we expanded our investigation to include all aspects of...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Emily J. Andrassy, Per Svensson, Jennifer Bruening, Matt R. Huml, Michael Chung
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Kansas Libraries 2014-12-01
Series:Journal of Intercollegiate Sport
Online Access:https://journals.ku.edu/jis/article/view/10166
Description
Summary:In-depth interviews were conducted with the life skills coordinators of 9 of 21 institutions identified as being “dedicated” to service (Andrassy & Bruening, 2011). As a result of service being one portion of CHAMPS/Life Skills programming, we expanded our investigation to include all aspects of this student development program. In particular, we focused our inquiry on organizational capacity and its role in student involvement. Findings indicate these ‘dedicated’ athletic departments were characterized by strong organizational capacity for engaging student-athletes in meaningful service efforts. The critical role of coaches and mutual values among internal stakeholders emerged as the primary strengths of department’s human resources capacity. Despite the limited financial capacity, departments were able to creatively secure some funding for development programs. The ability to leverage external relationships, an organizational culture promoting participative decision-making and student-athlete development, and on-going efforts to improve service and life skills opportunities for student-athletes indicated strong structural capacity.
ISSN:1941-6342
1941-417X