Managing cultural diversity in sport teams: case studies in Sweden

Abstract: Sports teams often set an outstanding example on how to deal with cultural
diversity. Teams playing on a professional level all over the world, often
have players with different nationalities. Very little research has been
conducted of how to manage cultural diversity in a sport team. Therefore,
the purpose of this thesis is to gain a deeper understanding of how cultural
diversity in sport teams is managed. The thesis has a qualitative approach
and the empirical data was gathered through two interviews with two teams
participating on a high level of competition, namely Akropol BBK (basketball
club) and Assyriska FF (soccer club).

Since almost none research was conducted in this area we chose to focus on
theories concerning how to deal with cultural diversity in an organization
or company. The main findings from this thesis is that, sport teams and
especially cultural diverse sport teams recruit members by their skills and
competences and not by their national or cultural background. Further on,
the manager needs to be aware about the diversity in the team. People coming
from different backgrounds cannot be treated equally, since they have
different values and beliefs. Moreover, the manager should decide that
during practices and matches one language should be spoken. This prevents
the creation that small groups are formed with members from same countries
talking their own language.