Gender equity for athletes: Rewriting the narrative for this organizational value

Abstract

It is commonly believed that managers have shared understandings of espoused organizational values. However, some researchers have argued that organizational members, including managers, have multiple, conflicting, or ambiguous interpretations of organizational values that may complicate the process of translating values into practices (Martin, 1992; Meyerson, 1991a; Young, 1989). The purpose of this study was to examine the meanings sport managers associate with the organizational value of gender equity for athletes using an analytic framework developed by Martin (1992, 2001). Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with five administrators in one university athletic department. A document analysis of policies and budgets and observations were additional data sources. The findings revealed that administrators offered multiple meanings of gender equity and that those meanings were underpinned by confusion, contradictions, and silences, supporting the differentiation and fragmentation perspectives proposed by Martin (1992, 2001). By relying on dominant narratives, managers sometimes fail to notice other ways of matching organizational practices with espoused organizational values.