Shila Farhangian - Ph.D. Student of Sports Management, Islamic Azad University Sanandaj Branch, Sanandaj, Iran
Mozafar Yektayar - Associate Professor of Sport Management, Islamic Azad University Sanandaj Branch, Sanandaj, Iran
Mozhgan Khodamoradpoor - Assistant Professor of Sports Management, Islamic Azad University Sanandaj Branch, Sanandaj, Iran
Rasool Nazari - Associate Professor of Sports Management, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan Branch (Khorasgan), Isfahan, Iran

Purpose: The purpose of this research was to design a model for the development of organizational succession plans based on sports organizations.Methods: The methodology used in this study is a qualitative methodology and the Grounded Theory method of a systematic approach has been used as the operational method of research. The present study used purposive sampling to select the interviewees (key informed people) and theoretical sampling to distinguish the number of people and find the research path.Results: In this study, with the aim of collecting the necessary data from the informed people of the field of sports organizations, various interviews were conducted and after conducting ۱۲ in-depth and unstructured interviews, theoretical saturation was obtained, but to ensure more, interviews continued up to ۱۵ people. After conducting the interviews, research-related sentences and concepts were extracted, resulting in ۴۶۶ primary concepts, ۲۲۱ secondary concepts and ۳۳ sub-categories.Conclusion: With numerous reviews and revisions and a deep look at the content and concepts of the data, it can be found that the main category in the succession of sports organizations is meritocracy.  Therefore, it can be said that the main phenomenon in this research is meritocracy that all factors and influences move to describe it, and in a sports organization, meritocracy a logical focal category.  

Keywords: succession, meritocracy, sports organizations