Cricket Australia’s Organizational Culture

Main Issues at Cricket Australia

The main issues at Cricket Australia can be found from Patrick’s review of the five
files. First, there was no collaboration among personnel in the unit charged with promotion of
integrity in Australian cricket as all integrity-related decisions were made by Risk and
Compliance Manager and the CEO. Apart from not sharing decision-making authority, the
CEO and the Risk Compliance Manager did not share with other staff values and beliefs
related to compliance and integrity issues (Ingerson & Naraine, 2019). The organization was
also crippled by career stagnation of highly qualified personnel as promotion to senior
positions often only happened when a senior person retired.

Additionally, the organization suffered from a lack of diversity. For instance, less than
a quarter of the employees were female. It also had poor working environment that fostered
unethical habits, such as pilfering of merchandise and gossip. The organization also openly
favored past players in employment and treatment at work leading to demoralizing of other
staff who had to work harder and longer than ex-players but received far fewer privileges
compared to the entitled players (Ingerson & Naraine, 2019).

Cricket Australia Culture Audit

The problems bedeviling Cricket Australia are not just an issue of management or
integrity of players, but of organizational culture. In order to address the problems
surrounding Cricket Australia’s culture, it is important to first perform a culture audit of the
organization using different elements of Cultural Web Paradigm.

3
The cultural web paradigm has six elements (MindTools, n.a). With regards to stories,
few positive stories are told about the organization. Employees believe the organization is
inflexible, unfair, and uncaring about their needs. As for organizational structure, it is highly
hierarchical with a top-down approach to decision-making. On power structure, power is
concentrated in the hands of the CEO and the Risk Compliance Manager who alone make
decisions regarding integrity and compliance. As for rituals and routines, there is high
acceptance of inappropriate behaviors, such as gossip and making advances on female
employees. Lastly, regarding symbols, other staff members dressed formally but employees
who were ex-players were allowed to dress informally revealing the privileged position that
they held at the organization.

Ethical Considerations Confronting Patrick

There are a number of ethical considerations that are confronting Patrick and which
need to be addressed. The main ethical issues are harassment and discrimination, fairness,
and abuse of authority. With regards to harassment and discrimination, Cricket Australia
discriminated against women as they all started in administrative roles regardless of their
qualifications. They were also grossly underrepresented at managerial level. Women were
also regularly harassed sexually by some of the male staff who made discomforting sexual
advances towards them (Ingerson & Naraine, 2019). There was also discrimination against
interns, particularly those from South Asian countries like India and Sri Lanka as they not
only had to work longer but also faced racial jokes and disrespect from staff (Ingerson &
Naraine, 2019). Harassment could be addressed by having a no-tolerance policy for
harassment when employees who engage in the practice could face punitive action, including
termination of employment. As for workplace diversity, it could be addressed through

4
deliberate effort to hire more employees from minority groups and instituting policies that
promoted diversity at workplace.

There was favoritism at the organization as ex-players were treated as a privileged
group. They used facilities of the organization the other employees could not use and could
choose when and when not to come for work. Additionally, they were favored in career
progression as they were often first in line during time for promotions. Another ethical
consideration that Patrick faced was abuse of authority. For instance, the top management
allows past players to miss work and invoice the organization for functions they attended that
are not related with Cricket Australia (Ingerson & Naraine, 2019). Increasing transparency in
employment and treatment of employees is one way of reducing instances of favoritism.

Strategies for Organizational Culture Renewal

From the culture audit and examination of ethical issues facing Patrick, it is clear that
Cricket Australia has a poor organizational culture that needs renewal. To renew its
organizational culture, I have proposed a number of strategies to be presented to Cricket
Australia’s Board of Directors for approval. The strategies are divided into those to be
implemented immediately and those whose implementation can be done later.

The strategy that I propose for immediate implementation is one dealing with sexual
harassment at the workplace. I propose that Cricket Australia institutes a zero-tolerance to
sexual harassment policy where any employee who engages in sexual harassment of another
employee or retaliates for being reported for sexual harassment faces immediate disciplinary
action that includes termination of employment. Strong anti-sexual harassment policies have
been found to deter the vice in workplaces (Davis, 2018).

5
The strategies that I propose for later implementation are those dealing with
workplace diversity and fairness. To address the lack of workplace diversity, I propose that
the organization encourages individuals from minority groups to apply for jobs at the
organization, educates managers about the benefits of having a diverse staff, creates inclusive
workplace policies to accommodate the needs of employees from different religions, racial,
and ethnic backgrounds. Such a strategy has been found to be effective as it promotes both
diversity and inclusion (Sherbin & Rashid, 2017). As for promoting fairness, my proposed
strategy is increasing transparency with regards to how people are employed and promoted at
the organization.

6

References

Davis, K. R. (2018). Strong Medicine: Fighting the Sexual Harassment Pandemic. Ohio State
Law Journal, 79, 6.

Ingerson, L., & Naraine, M. L. (2019). It’s Just Not Cricket: A Case of Ethics, Integrity, and
Organizational Culture Within a National Sport Governing Body. Case Studies in
Sport Management, 8(S1), S1-S6. https://doi.org/10.1123/cssm.2018-0014

MindTools (n.a). The Cultural Web: Aligning your Organization’s Culture with Strategy

Sherbin, L., & Rashid, R. (2017). Diversity doesn’t stick without inclusion. Harvard Business
Review, 1.