Functionalism In Sports

The prevalence of illegal substance use in baseball is high even though one cannot ascertain with precision the number of players engaging in steroid use. The reason for such high numbers is contributed by players who do not admit use or informing on the behavior of their fellow players. Moreover, the Major League Baseball, MLB despite doing tests does not release definitive numbers although some individuals have detailed players using steroids and other PEDs (Solberg & Ringer, 2011). The MLB presents flawed test results while the porous testing programs show differing results.

Solberg and Ringer (2011) continue to assert that cultural values within baseball itself are the likely contributors to performance-enhancing substance use. As such,

Sports observers echo such an argument by stressing that MLB and other high-competitive sports tolerates and encourages cheating and unfair practices. The authors explain that what leaders pay attention to, how the leaders react to critical incidents and crises, and how the leaders allocate rewards, play a critical role in the culture entrenched in baseball. The baseball leadership is at the helm of cheating to increase the home run hitting hence popularity and wealth coming from the

There seem to be no common social controls and norms in the organizational culture leading to an emphasis on results and profits at the expense of fair play in baseball. However, in their study, Solberg and Ringer (2011) were limited by the fact that cultural values and norms were not the only predictors of human behavior in organizations. They did not consider the issue of social influences, levels of moral development in an individual as well as their