The management system and operational mechanism of the Austrian and British Olympic Committees
Both the Austrian Olympic Committee and the British Olympic Committee are relatively influential in the history of the development of the Olympic Movement. They are non-profit organizations independent of the government sports department and public sports organizations, and belong to social charities.
(1) The staff of the Olympic Committee are capable and have relatively single functions, and have the characteristics of “small institutions and big undertakings”.
The Austrian Olympic Committee has only six full-time and one part-time employees, but is responsible for promoting the development of the Austrian Olympic Movement. The British Olympic Committee and the Paralympic Committee work together, but they are two separate institutions. In terms of the number of personnel, there are 45 full-time employees of the Olympic Committee and 30 employees of the Paralympic Committee.
(2) The Olympic Committee establishes a business organization to promote marketing and commercial development. The Austrian and British Olympic Committees are all charitable organizations. In order to better develop the market, the Olympic Committees of the two countries have established operational organizations.
The Austrian Olympic Committee Executive Committee is composed of members of the Association, the Medical Council and the Athletes’ Committee. The Executive Committee wholly invested in the establishment of the Olympic limited liability company, which is also the Secretary-General of the Olympic Committee. According to Austrian law, the income of the Olympic company is tax-free.
The British Olympic Committee established the Olympic Foundation in 2007, which is also the nature of a limited liability company. Its funds are mainly derived from charitable donations and public organizations’ investment in lottery funds. The Foundation became one of the members of the Olympic Committee, and the Minister of the Outreach Department served as the CEO. Another full-time staff member was hired. In addition, 6-7 consultants were hired to work part-time in the Olympic company’s special work, such as the ”Get Set” project in Olympic education.
(3) The Olympic Committee takes the initiative to coordinate the relationship between the association and the national sports organization and promote the cooperation of all parties.
In coordinating the government sports department, the Austrian Olympic Committee has assumed more functions than the British Olympic Committee. The Austrian Olympic Committee maintains a close cooperative relationship with the relevant sports organizations in helping the development of individual associations in the country, especially in promoting the professional development of athletes. The British Olympic Committee has not received the appropriation and funding of the government sports department, nor has it accepted the evaluation of the government department. It has considerable autonomy. However, the cooperation between the Olympic Committee and sports organizations at all levels is closer and regular meetings will be held. Especially in the preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games, the government departments used the lottery fund to establish the Olympic athlete training camp, which played a greater role in promoting the support and development of the Olympic Committee.