Planning and organizing the Olympic and Paralympic Games: the case of Rio 2016
Sport, Business and Management
ISSN: 2042-678X
Article publication date: 6 April 2021
Issue publication date: 20 July 2021
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to provide an understanding of the multi-layered managerial and organizational challenges of mega sporting events such as the Olympic and Paralympic Games, identify key competencies that address the complexities and uncertainties when planning and organizing the Olympic and Paralympic Games and provide a framework to classify sporting events according to their complexity and uncertainty.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses in-depth semi-structured interview with key organizing actor of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio in 2016.
Findings
Planning and organizing complex and long-term mega sporting events such as the Olympic and Paralympic Games require a set of key competencies, including a range of soft skills (collaboration, negotiation, communication), goal-setting, persistence and resilience, paradox thinking and timing.
Originality/value
Presenting the findings in an unedited and raw interview format provides practitioners and scholars alike with unfiltered and rich data that allows to choose, apply and adapt key competencies and heuristics from Rio 2016 to their own mega sporting projects or research agendas; allows to differentiate between sporting events according to their complexity and uncertainty.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Ricardo Leyser Gonçalves for his time and contribution to this paper.
Citation
Groschl, S. (2021), "Planning and organizing the Olympic and Paralympic Games: the case of Rio 2016", Sport, Business and Management, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 365-383. https://doi.org/10.1108/SBM-06-2020-0057
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited