Cultural Readjustment After Crisis: Regulation and Learning from Crisis Within the UK Soccer Industry

Challenging Turner's (1976, 1978) implicit assumption that cultural readjustment typically follows a crisis, this paper examines the evolution of the regulation of safety management within the UK soccer industry since 1946. Employing a longitudinal case study approach, the industry's response to four crises is examined. This study explores the industry's response to changes in the regulatory framework, through the lens of Gouldner's (1954) patterns of industrial bureaucracy and institutional theory. The persistence of indulgent and mock patterns of behaviour, following a series of disasters, challenges Turner's implicit assumption. Although a move towards a punitive approach to regulatory behaviour effected some changes, there was limited evidence of cultural readjustment due in part to a 'mindset of invulnerability' (Wicks, 2001). This included the fixed belief that hooligan behaviour was the primary problem facing the industry. Our findings suggest that more participative forms of regulation encourage more effective learning from crisis because they challenge core organizational and individual assumptions. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2006.