Organization C

.docx

School

Grand Canyon University *

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Course

615

Subject

Management

Date

Jun 21, 2024

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docx

Pages

9

Uploaded by CorporalChimpanzeeMaster1105

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Cindy Ebelein Organization Evaluation: All Star Cheerleading Nursing: Grand Canyon University LDR-615: Organizational Development and Change Dr. Shawna Wentlandt April 4, 2024
Competitive Youth Sports is currently a multibillion-dollar industry that parents are investing in. Cheerleading is one of the most dangerous sports and attracts millions of athletes a year (Xu et al., 2021). Currently the industry has been burdened with multiple lawsuits regarding sexual assaults and a call to action from the one of cheerleading's largest governing bodies. The U.S. All Star Federation (USASF) is the governing body for All Star cheerleading and has made successful rapid changes to their organization admits multiple sexual abuse claims throughout the cheer industry. USASF can continue to see continued success with correct change implementation. Background Cheerleading is an activity that has been around for a long time. Competitive cheerleading, however, first really hit the stage in the 1970s (Boyce, 2015). As the years progressed so did cheerleading. In 2003 the cheer governing body USASF was founded to create safe guides for cheerleading. Previously there was not specific rules governing cheerleading and part of this is related to cheerleading not being a “sport.” Gibson (2022) discusses that President Nixon signed a law that looked to increase women in sports entitled Title IX in 1972. Title IX specially focuses on cheerleading not being a sport but rather an activity. This means that cheerleading is not a “sport” and therefore does not have to follow the same guidelines as a sport. For this reason a private governing body such as USASF was successful in establishing rules, guidelines, and certifications. Safety in Cheerleading With completive cheer pushed the limits for new skills injuries increased. By 2007, cheer injuries were still rising, and governing bodies were needed to help make cheer safer (Mueller,
2009). USASF was working with private cheer organizations to offer safety courses and certifications. Private cheer competition companies were adopting USASF rules and hiring USASF safety judges to ensure safety at events. USASF efforts were successful in bringing safety to the Cheer Industry. From 2010 to 2019 the cheer industry began to finally see a decrease in injury rates (Xu et al., 2021). Physical safety was not the only thing that USASF was concerned about, and the organization started requiring background checks for all owners and coaches that were affiliated with their organization in 2015. USASF was one of the first in the youth industry to require background checks. For example, Little League International did not require background checks of everyone until 2017. 2015 was a year before Larry Nassar was accused and ultimately convicted of all his sexual crimes related to the gymnastics industry which would change safety policies throughout youth sports. (Mountjoy, 2018). Disruptive Change Although in 2020 USASF appeared to be on top of athlete safety a large disruptive change, the documentary CHEER, appeared on Netflix. Netflix is the largest streaming video service with millions of subscribers (Wayne, 2021). The documentary came out in January of 2020 and initially shed positive light on the cheer industry. However, in September of 2020 one of the stars of CHEER was arrested on charges related to sexual abuse towards a minor ( Ex-’Cheer’ Star Jerry Harris Gets 12 Years in Prison in Child Sex Abuse Images Case , 2022). This rocked the cheerleading world as it shed light on child abuse in the industry. On the coat tails of the CHEER star being arrested other claims of sexual abuse to minors came forward and many in the industry looked to USASF for answers. USASF was then
affiliated with Varsity Brands (A cheerleading competition company). At this time the company worked to assure the key stakeholders in the community (private cheerleading gyms) that their priority was keeping athletes safe. USASF took actions and followed up on sexual abuse claims. Change Strategies USASF worked to act by suspending or banning over 200 members of the organization related to sexual abuse claims. Another change they enacted was to start Safe Sport course given by U.S. Center for SafeSport. The program of SafeSport is to help prevent sexual abuse against minor athletics and protect their wellbeing (Gurgis et al., 2022). USASF raised their membership prices and increased specialized training. The changes implemented by USASF followed resemble Lewin’s Freeze Model of Change. Lewin’s model deals with unfreezing current practice changing and refreezing (Burnes, 2019). Because of the rapid allegations being made USASF had to act quickly to move towards the desired state of addressing concerns raised that were happening within the industry. At the time of allegations, the board of the USASF stayed intact as they responded to the crisis. Gym owners (a large key stakeholder) were upset, and some left the organization choosing to go to nonaffiliated competitions instead of associate with USASF. The board on USASF stayed committed to athlete safety and put out multiple communications to their members outlining changes they were making. USASF also introduced a third-party company to investigate abuse claims in their commitment to athletes. Key Stakeholders The key stakeholders involved included the cheerleading gyms and coaches registered under USASF. When the allegations came out many cheer gyms left not wanting to be affiliated
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