Elite athletes as mothers: Managing multiple identities

Mothers’ voices are often silent in the sports literature, especially as elite athletes. This research used a symbolic interactionist approach and semi-structured interviews to explore the experiences of nine elite female athletes in New Zealand who were also mothers at the time of competing. The specific objectives were to explore how motherhood impacted on the identity of elite athletes, how they negotiated their multiple identities and roles, and how support systems were utilized to encourage and retain elite athletes as mothers. The women managed their multiple identities and negotiated constraints such as guilt, lack of time and limited organizational support by emphasizing how integral sport was to their sense of self. They highlighted the mutual benefits of motherhood to their sport aspirations and vice versa, by utilizing time/space management strategies, and by creating and accessing strong support networks which sometimes included organizational support. There was a move towards the integration of multiple identities and a focus on how women's choices in leisure and sport were realized for future research and theory development. Sport management practices and policies that create opportunities for mothers to achieve and maintain elite athlete status are also mentioned.     

Effects of achievement standards,choice, sex,and educational level on mathematical performance

The study assessed the effects of achievement standards, and choice of such standards, on mathematics performance in conditions where no tangible rewards were presented for reaching such standards. Elementary, junior high, and high school students performed a multiplication task in conditions where they chose standards, had standards imposed by an experimenter, or had no standards. Results demonstrated that high school students worked more multiplication problems when they chose standards than when identical standards were imposed by an experimenter or when no standards were present. Moreover, male students who chose standards worked more problems than did male students who had no standards; this effect was not found for female students.     

Information Technology and the Emergent Organization

The potential impact of information technology on the workplace is greater than simply changing how work is performed by individuals. Our assumptions regarding information systems in traditional organizations are out of date and being challenged by the capabilities provided by new information technologies. The organization of the future will require a much higher degree of system integration in order to respond to the increasing demands for flexibility and rapid change in the global marketplace. This will require a complete re-thinking of current organizational assumptions and a whole system re-design effort at the organizational level. Performance technologists, in order to play a vital role in building this new organizational future, will need to apply their collective knowledge on the whole system rather than on isolated elements, and to understand the interaction between the technology and the organization.