Ethical Business Practice Impact on WADA

Overview

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is an organization that is concerned with regulating the substances that are used by athletes and players. The organization is involved with enhancing sports that are fair and thus ensuring that no player is placed at an advantageous position over others by the use of drugs is, therefore, one of their activities (WADA, 2019). Recently, the organization made a change in the way that athletes and players who are confirmed to have been doped are handled. The change included the extension of the ban from two years which were previously accepted to four years. The new change saw the organization get into a collision with Russian athletes where the organization banned Russian athletes from participating in the Olympics for four years according to their ethical business practice (Guillou, 2017).  The ban was, however, an issue that led to the rise of complaints of discrimination.

Extending the ban period for personal players and countries from two to four years has had myriad effects on the organization. The view of the increase in the ban is viewed differently by different individuals depending on their inclinations concerning doping. While WADA institutes the rules on a fair basis, two views emanate where some groups believe that their players and countries are targeted while some other groups think that it is for the good of the general sporting experience. The recent change has therefore had such a tremendous negative effect view of the organization seeing that in the past the people used to view the organization as one that was primarily aimed for a good purpose. Some of the most instrumental negative views against the organization which came with the banning of Russian athletes from participating in the Olympics for four years which consequently meant that Russia could not participate in the  2018 Olympics (Guillou, 2017). Most people and especially those who sided with Russia, therefore, viewed the organization as one that was biased as a result. In that view, it is, therefore, necessary to establish that the change has affected WADA instrumentally especially regarding its influence and execution of the anti-doping rules which it is meant to enforce.

Organization

The vision of WADA is to see a world where sports are carried out in a fair manner and where deserving players and athletes are awarded for their competitiveness. The organization’s mission is to lead in the collaborative efforts across the world for sports which are dope-free. The organization is led by the core values of integrity, accountability, and excellence. As per their core values, the organization aims at being the custodians of the values of their code of conduct, ensure impartiality and high ethical standards in sports, develop policies that reflect justice and equality, respect and ensure that the rights of clean athletes are upheld, ensure professionalism in sporting and lastly, ensure that the code of conduct is implemented and complied with (WADA, 2019). 

WADA is a sports body that was established on November 10, 1999, after the international Olympic Committee led the world on an anti-doping in sports declaration. The institution consists of a matching number of representatives from the Olympic Committee and public authorities across the world. The organization is composed of a foundation board which contains 38 members from the Olympics and from governments and who are the custodians of the assets that are owned by the organization and the executors of the directions from the executive committee (WADA, 2019). The executive of the organization comprises of 12 members who are led by the President of WADA and are responsible for making decisions after evaluating the views of the foundation board and the reviews of select committees that they set up.

WADA’s executive power rests with the executive committee. It is the committee that is responsible for ensuring that the organization runs effectively. The executive committee is not only expected to see the organization carry out its daily activities but is also expected to draft new anti-doping rules, revise existing one and also to ensure that the developed rules are executed to the letter (WADA, 2019). The executive committee, for instance, is issued with the power to ban players who are found to have used the substances that are restricted. Also, the executive committee can ban countries where most of the players are found to have doped. To enhance the anti-doping spirit, the organization’s leadership has continually developed new rules the recent one being the increase in the ban of players from two years to four years and also a more intrusive definition of drugs that players and athletes are not allowed to use lest they are classified as those who have doped.

As per the statutes of WADA, doping is not a matter that can be discussed as far as there is enough proof that a player or an athlete is doped with the banned substances. WADA, therefore, would only react by suspending the players. However, there was resistance from the government of Russia whereby the organization found that the government of Russia could have been an accomplice and against calls for negotiations, the organization gave the country a four-year ban (Guillou, 2017). There was not another route of solving the issue since allowing the doped players to compete would have been an abuse to the clean athletes, and hence it would be an allowance for injustice.  

Approach Evaluation

The rational and the administrative decision-making models are some of the decision-making models that could have been applied in this case. The two decision-making models are all involved in the achievement of a set goal. The rational decision-making model first sets clear the objectives and the problems to be encountered and also the future consequences at the frontline before the decision is made (Uzonwanne, 2016). On the other hand, the administrative decision-making model is where the rationality is limited while making the decision. The rational model of decision-making was, however, the best approach since the organization is concerned with the human factor which should be considered above everything while the decision is being made. Using the rationality based decision-making model, the organization could consider the best interests of the human factor which is comprised of all the athletes and admitting that the others are not doped then the organization should only have considered the majority and banned the Russian players alongside their whole team.

From careful observation, WADA used the rationality-based decision-making model. The rational decision-making model is one where decisions are made in considerations of the most significant number of people and whereby the decisions are made to bring out the best-intended outcomes regardless of the immediate reactions (Uzonwanne, 2016). The approach that was used by WADA was one that had such a strong consideration of the other athletes across the world who was not doped against Russia’s 43 doped athletes. In that consideration, therefore, the organization delivered justice to the majority. Should the rationality not have been used, other athletes from other countries would have been influenced to be doped, and the outcomes of the competitions would not have been fair for all the athletes.

In the decision-making, WADA made use of the expectancy theory of motivation. The expectancy theory is a motivation theory that pushes humans to believe that every action leads to an inevitable outcome (Haque, Haque & Islam, 2014). In that view, therefore, the organization knew that other nations and athletes were looking at their actions and how much they can execute their code of conduct (Devcic et al., 2018). If WADA did not make the decision, therefore, they would be faced with a raging resistance which would lead to increased doping against their wishes. Thus, the organization could not have made any other decision other than banning Russia and its athletes in the accorded years lest there would be imminent resistance from other countries and players to the extent that the organization would not be able to control doping across the world. 

Collective Bargaining and Labor Management

WADA is an organization that has smaller committees from across the world. The executive committee is also made up of representatives from the Olympics as well as representatives from the government where Russia is of a principal composition. WADA, therefore, risked disbandment of their committees in Russia as well as Russia withdrawing its representatives from the larger foundation board and the executive committee. The risks would arise from the fact that the organization did not allow the nation a roundtable discussion on doping and that the only action they took was banning the country and its athletes from Olympics. The Russian ministry of sports was, however, competent enough to bargain but there was no way out seeing that the anti-doping rules had been broken by a vast majority of the country’s athletes and hence there would not be an efficient way to bargain. The expectancy theory of motivation was still made use of in this case, and it forced the organization to expect support from a large number of nations (Breitsameter, 2017). Consequently, the organization was assured that though Russia withdrew their members from different committees, they would still have a quorum, and it would have a little impact on the organization’s workforce.

Organizational Structure

WADA utilizes the divisional organizational structure. The divisional organizational structure is an organizational structure whereby different functions are delegated to various groups in the organization. WADA is for instance composed of varying levels of management that are delegated with duties, some of which are special while others are general. The smaller committee and foundation board are for instance responsible for reporting to the executive committee that meets and makes the final decisions concerning critical matters and which acts upon recommendations from the smaller committees (WADA, 2019). In that essential case, therefore, the management of WADA has continually investigated cases of doping and made stringent rules. The divisional organizational structure is however negatively affected by the ban on Russia as it could change the composition of the smaller committees, thereby affecting the ability of the organization to act on cases of doping in the country.

Conclusion

The fundamental goal of WADA is to see a world of sporting whereby competitions are held with justice and whereby all players are allowed to compete according to competence and not under the influence of drugs. The organization because of the widespread doping and the way that competitions were growing unfair therefore made stricter rules where the ban on athletes who were guilty of doping were issued a four years ban instead of a two years ban. In that aspect, therefore, the organization found itself at loggerheads with Russia where a decision to ban the country in Olympics for four years was made. The expectancy theory was used and was highly effective in restoring the confidence of other nations and other athletes in the ability of WADA to make sports free of doping. The decision also allowed the organization to restore its vision, mission, and goals seeing that it was a strong body that issued justice without favor.

References

Breitsameter, C. (2017). How to justify a ban on doping?. Journal of medical ethics, 43(5), 287-292.

Devcic, S., Bednarik, J., Maric, D., Versic, S., Sekulic, D., Kutlesa, Z., … & Liposek, S. (2018). Identification of Factors Associated with Potential Doping Behavior in Sports: A Cross-Sectional Analysis in High-Level Competitive Swimmers. International journal of environmental research and public health, 15(8), 1720.

Guillou, C. (2017). « Banning Russia is warranted and necessary », says former WADA chief investigator. Retrieved from https://www.lemonde.fr/sport/article/2017/11/15/banning-russia-is-warranted-and-necessary-says-former-wada-chief-investigator_5215098_3242.html

Haque, M. F., Haque, M. A., & Islam, M. (2014). Motivational Theories-A Critical Analysis. ASA University Review, 8(1).

Uzonwanne, F. (2016). Rational Model of Decision Making. 10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_2474-1.

World Anti-Doping Agency. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.wada-ama.org/