{"title":"Williams Racing and Dorilton Capital: Epideictic Blandness in Organizational Change","authors":"Mike Milford","doi":"10.1177/21674795241289792","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"In 2020 the third-oldest racing team in Formula 1, Williams Racing, sold to Dorilton Capital, a global investment group. The change was a dramatic shift in the organization’s identity, from four decades of family ownership to a faceless global fund with no ties to racing. Drastic turns such as these are challenging for organizations. Shifts in identity generate uncertainty with stakeholders, a particular problem for sports organizations where identities and values are prominent. One remedy is epideictic rhetoric, a form that utilizes common values to create identification and orient stakeholders’ interpretations of the change. However, an emphasis on values can invite unwelcome scrutiny that could exacerbate problems. The Williams/Dorilton case demonstrates how organizations can rely on blandness through epideictic rhetoric that mitigates negative aspects through an emphasis on featureless continuity.","PeriodicalId":46882,"journal":{"name":"Communication & Sport","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Communication & Sport","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/21674795241289792","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"COMMUNICATION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In 2020 the third-oldest racing team in Formula 1, Williams Racing, sold to Dorilton Capital, a global investment group. The change was a dramatic shift in the organization’s identity, from four decades of family ownership to a faceless global fund with no ties to racing. Drastic turns such as these are challenging for organizations. Shifts in identity generate uncertainty with stakeholders, a particular problem for sports organizations where identities and values are prominent. One remedy is epideictic rhetoric, a form that utilizes common values to create identification and orient stakeholders’ interpretations of the change. However, an emphasis on values can invite unwelcome scrutiny that could exacerbate problems. The Williams/Dorilton case demonstrates how organizations can rely on blandness through epideictic rhetoric that mitigates negative aspects through an emphasis on featureless continuity.