Source of Occupational Conflict at Greek Municipal Sports Organizations

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is twofold. At first, to examine the role of political influence in public administration using the non-productive occupational conflicts in Municipal Sport Organizations (M.S.Os). At second, to investigate which might be the particular aspects of conflict creation. Design/methodology/approach: The study used information extracted from semi-constructed interviews. Interviewed participants were employees of different municipal sports organizations of the Region of Attica Greece. They also belong to different occupational levels. Findings: The results indicated that the employees in municipal sports organizations detect the roots of interior conflicts in the political influence, which is a practice as an indirect pressure of the elected management members of the board, to implement a certain policy. The results also revealed a new source of non-productive occupational conflict referred to as “the man close to the President”. Practical implications: Conflicts in the interior of a municipal sports organization adds extra cost. Having knowledge of the deeper causes of a conflict, managers and board members can work in advance in certain procedures to avoid the creation of such situations. This will guide the board and the management of the organization in wiser funds use, and it will help in the creation of a much better organizational environment. Originality/value: This study fills a significant gap in the existing literature. Concerns both the political influence of elected members of a municipal sports organization board as causes of conflicts and particular aspects, which provoke conflict, detected and named as the man next to the president.