Anecdotal evidence suggests glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drugs, typically prescribed to manage diabetes mellitus and assist weight loss, are being misused in elite sport. The objective of this study was to investigate sports medicine physicians’ perceptions of GLP-1 drug use in sport. Following an observational cross-sectional approach, 114 sports medicine physicians completed a survey addressing experiences and perceptions of GLP-1 use in competitive sport. Participants had worked in sports medicine for 16.6 years on average, 63

Chapter 3 introduces the most prominent approach to change, the rational philosophy. At the centre of the rational philosophy is the presumption that strategy—and strategic theories—should drive change initiatives. Sometimes referred to as a ‘strategic’ approach, the rational philosophy pursues an alignment between an organization’s structure, its competencies, and the environment. The rational philosophy assumes that organizational change occurs because senior managers and other change agents deem it necessary, navigated through linear thinking and performance by objectives, with managers at the helm. Approaches consistent with the rational philosophy give precedence to strategic decision-making and careful planning around organizational goals. The chapter notes that the rational philosophy commands enormous popularity for leaders seeking to impose a new direction upon an organization. It concludes that the rational philosophy’s concepts offer a useful, if too rigid, initial guide. Organizations are not always rational actors in the change process.

Chapter 2 explores how a philosophy’s method for change reveals the inferences it holds about the best way change can be delivered. A philosophy’s theories generate hypotheses and predictions about organizational change. Philosophies may generate numerous different theories, all based on similar assumptions and premises. However, without understanding philosophies, the relationship between theories becomes murky. Theories also evolve, adapt, and are revised or replaced. The chapter examines how change theories change. It begins by considering some basic questions: What is the goal of theory development in organization change? Will one single theory eventually explain all forms of change? Are theories of change subject to replacement or updating? Can two or more theories become interconnected to create a better new theory? Will there always be innumerable theories to explain change? Each question leads to long-standing and contentious philosophical arguments about the nature of theories.

Chapter 5 examines the models philosophy, or the change interventions typically presented by consultants. The chapter introduces the context in which consultants are engaged, and how consulting models are deployed for change. It then details a series of the foundational models as a means to demonstrate their character and effects. The chapter’s aim is not to provide an inventory of recent change models wielded by consultants, but rather to demonstrate how the models philosophy has shaped a kind of thinking and method. Many powerful and predictive models of change exist in literature, and an even greater number of bespoke models have been developed by consulting firms. Each offers up putative insights into ways to direct and initiate change in an organization. The chapter concludes that models must be utilized with care as many are contradictory or supported by minimal evidence, while others are underpinned by unchallenged hypotheses.

Chapter 9 explores the systems philosophy, which looks beyond simplistic causal views of management and the constituent parts of organizations. Organizations are seen as the sum of their parts rather than as a collection of reducible units. Systems theorists appreciate that any change instigates numerous and sometimes multiplied effects across an organization. The chapter explains how the systems philosophy views the entire organization as the unit of change rather than industry, strategy, structure, processes, culture, psychology, or any other element. It concludes with the assumption that organizational change succeeds when interventions are levelled throughout the entire system because the interrelationships between parts mean that everything is affected. The systems philosophy also gives rise to less prescriptive change theories, where planned, rational change surrenders to chaos and complexity, based on the premise that change involves an unmanageable tension between control and chaos. However, the systems philosophy risks ignoring the ‘softer’, human side of change.

Chapter 6 introduces the institutional philosophy, which seeks to explain how external pressures influence organizational structures and practices, and how an organization’s ability to adapt determines its prosperity. Through an exploration of key institutional debates, the chapter illuminates the ways in which institutions evolve, adapt and respond to various social, political and environmental pressures in their struggle for survival, and a progressive move to a social judgments approach. The chapter also highlights several varieties of institutionalism, including ‘new’ institutionalism as well as issues of identity, power and culture. The chapter then reviews institutional entrepreneurship as a force for innovation and change through disruptions to institutional norms. It concludes that the institutional philosophy downplays internal change and the power change leaders hold over their own fates. Organizational change from an institutional perspective is therefore about sensitivity to a forceful institutional context.

Global majority youth face disproportionate psychosocial stressors and heightened exposure to community violence. Resilience is a key protective factor, and hyper-local sport programs may support its development through culturally responsive mentorship, family and community co-ownership, and psychologically safe spaces. This study explored how such programs in London, UK, may support resilience and perceived community safety among global majority youth. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis and a multi-stakeholder approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 38 respondents across five London-based organizations. All but two identified as global majority. Three interrelated themes emerged: (1) mentorship and identity formation; (2) family and community engagement; and (3) psychosocial processes of self-determination, social identity, and perceived social support. Resilience and perceived community safety were supported through an interdependent relational system, rather than sport alone. The study offers the Architecture of Resilience, a provisional model with implications for program design, policy, and future research.

Chapter 14 provides a summary of the 12 philosophies examined in the book, as well as the approach used for their analysis. It begins by acknowledging that change can be understood as the movement away from a present state toward a future state. However, change is rarely easy or painless. At the same time the capacity to change to meet environmental challenges is essential for organizational survival. The chapter observes that the best ‘philosophy’ for approaching change is complicated by cautious researchers who focus on describing the complexity of change, and zealous business consultants who favour simplistic but authoritative solutions. It highlights that implementing change with consistent success remains a subject of contention, and is influenced by the fundamental assumptions made about the nature of change and its barriers. The chapter concludes that, in the absence of a consensus or unifying theory, it is instructive to understand the 12 fundamental philosophies of organizational change.

Chapter 4 examines the biological philosophy, which suggests that organizations, industries and sectors ‘live’ and endure vulnerabilities like any fragile, mortal organism. It explains that the biological philosophy houses two major theories. First, the life-cycle model maps the developmental progress of individual organizations, and second, the Darwinian concept of evolution by natural selection describes the process of environmental adaptation and change. Also, based on a combination of these theories, the biological metaphor of an ‘ecosystems’ approach to organizational change, has also experienced a resurgence as technological change has increased the importance of networks and cooperation. The chapter acknowledges that while the ideas that organizations - and the populations of industries that contain them - grow (life-cycle) and adapt (evolution), offer useful metaphors, there remains challenges in translating biological thinking into tangible change action.

This revised and extended second edition evaluates the diverse approaches to organizational change that have defined the field. Explaining the assumptions and implications that accompany these diverse philosophies, this book demystifies the complexities of conflicting perspectives and delivers valuable insights into the research and practice of organizational change.

Chapter 10 considers the cultural philosophy, which owes its emergence to anthropology, where change reflects what members of a group consider important. The concept of organizational culture emerged in response to an absence of explanations for how certain values and beliefs gain prominence. The chapter examines the key foundation to the culture philosophy, that change must be preceded by a period of careful cultural diagnosis where common beliefs and values rise to the surface. As a result, imposing change means fighting entrenched sets of values and beliefs shared by organizational members. Accordingly, change managers must, first, be accurate in diagnosing the values that permeate an organization (which are likely to be hidden), and, second, change them without undermining the tacit behavioural fabric holding the organization together. The chapter concludes that unsuccessful attempts to change culture invariably lead to conflicting organizational goals and members’ values, which in turn stimulate an unworkable level of competing values and goals.

Chapter 13 details the dualities philosophy, which argues to abandon change management decision-making based on an either-or choice between change and stability. Organizational change cannot always be a matter of reducing one kind of activity to offset another kind. In fact, often organizations need more of both change and stability. The chapter explains that a duality can be understood as two opposing poles that can vary between conflicted and complementary as the context changes. According to the dualities philosophy, the challenge lies in encouraging both change and stability at the same time. It explores ‘modular’ and ‘ambidextrous’ theories where competing approaches work together, and difference outperforms one extreme or the other. A dualities approach is also sympathetic to the strategy-as-practice trend wherein strategy transforms into organizing and strategizing, where the latter two embrace a dynamic change employing iterative and reciprocal action. The chapter concludes by observing that the dualities philosophy prescribes few tangible change actions, making its implementation challenging in practice.

Chapter 12 describes the innovation philosophy, which arrived as a consequence of rapid changes in globalization, technology and competition. According to the innovation philosophy, the long-term growth of organizations is directly tied to their continual production of new products and services. Organizations embracing the innovation paradigm strive to be flexible, agile, intuitive, imaginative, resilient, and creative in order to stimulate new ideas in the face of increasing complexity and turbulence. The chapter notes that innovation demands risk and experimentation as organizations must push through failure by building momentum and speed through new learning. In addition to outlining the process for fast prototyping of new products, the chapter examines user-centric innovation. ‘Design thinking’ helps organizations focus on a user’s experience of a new product rather than on the organization’s perception of the product’s functional utility. However, as with all aspects of the innovation philosophy, success delivers a significant dividend but comes with implementation challenges, and therefore high risk.

Chapter 8 explains the psychological philosophy, where personal responses to change govern organizational success. In the applied social psychology tradition, the psychological philosophy focuses on individual experiences as organizations attempt change. The ‘human’ side of change introduces links with behavioural science, human relations, human development and organizational development, all combating the mechanistic legacy of scientific management. The psychological philosophy assumes that individual employees constitute the most important unit of analyses in studying organizational change. The chapter examines psychological responses to change with particular interest in resistance and empowerment. It considers organizational development as well as its offspring, organizational learning. The chapter culminates by introducing a cognitive dimension; the ‘thinking’ and believing aspects of psychological change. This section examines decision-making and discusses the nature and implications of beliefs, particularly their resistance to change and their immunity to rational interrogation.

Chapter 1 notes that the need for change features prominently in organizational ambitions, as its success or failure can lead to decisive consequences, from transformational improvements in productivity to catastrophic plunges towards insolvency. Research also reveals a discord between organizations’ change ambitions and their tangible effects on organizational performance. Perhaps most concerning, the evidence informing organizational change is scant and tends to rely on unvalidated theories, models, cases and commentaries. The chapter subsequently outlines how this book’s second edition aims to inventory and explain the diverse and pluralistic organizational change approaches that have attracted research and practitioner interest. It reveals the ‘philosophies’ that guide change theories and models on the presupposition that a better understanding of these underpinning perspectives provides valuable insight for the research and practice of change. The approach assumes that organizational change can be best studied and applied when the philosophies that structure an approach are clearly exposed.

This paper examines the internationalisation of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) through investments in elite sports teams abroad, applying Comparative Institutional Analysis (CIA) to uncover both economic and political motivations. While sports ownership offers stable revenue streams and global commercial opportunities absent in Gulf domestic markets, it also functions as a soft power tool, enabling states to embed themselves in host economies, repair reputations, and project legitimacy. Mapping the cases of Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), and Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG) onto the IMF/Santiago Principles shows distinct institutional logics: QSI as a development fund driving diversification and nation branding, PIF as a stabilisation and reserve investment vehicle hedging oil dependence while embedding Saudi capital into global sport governance, and ADUG as a saving fund building a multiclub empire for long-term wealth preservation. The analysis extends CIA scholarship by demonstrating that SWF ownership of sports teams is not merely financial but strategically political, reflecting governments' nonbusiness objectives and discreet power. Building on this, the paper develops a nascent theory of 'sovereign sport-statecraft', offering a typology of SWF sport investment logics and outlining policy implications for host governments, international sport governing bodies, and civil society.