Meta-organization design applied to international sport organizations : the case of World Anti-Doping Agency

The concept of meta-organization has attracted great interest from research perspectives since 2005. It is seen as a way to reflect the current organizational reality characterized by associations of independent organizations working together to achieve a common goal. Meta-organization allows understanding globalization and internationalization of our world. However, little has been done on meta-organization. Its understanding remains still poorly developed. This paper focuses on an international sport organization, namely World Anti-doping Agency, which aims at harmonizing the fight against doping in sport. We argue that sport field highlights relevant attributes of meta-organization which help to establish a better understanding of sport organizations’ management and meta-organization’s concept. Their attributes (e.g. openness of boundaries, internal stratification, and consensus decision-making) help to establish a better understanding of international sport associations. This paper contributes to a better knowledge of meta-organization and serves as a starting point for future research in the management of sport organizations.