Differentiation in national sport organizations in Canada

The purpose of this study was to determine the dominant patterns of task differentiation among Canadian national sport organizations (NSOs). The chief executive officers of 27 NSOs indicated the amount of perceived influence assigned to each of 12 administrative positions or committees over each of 61 selected administrative tasks. Multidimensional scaling and clustering procedures identified four subsystems of administrative positions, seven categories of administrative tasks, and three groups of NSOs. Profile analysis revealed that the NSOs were very similar in the patterns of distribution of influence of the four subsystems in six of the seven task categories. However, there were differences in the total amount of perceived influence by the four subsystems in four task categories. Further, there was an imbalance in the distribution of perceived influence among the four administrative subsystems over relevant task areas.