Experience of Armed Forces Sports Practitioners on the Role of Sports in War with a Knowledge Management Approach (Case Study of Iraq-Iran Imposed War)

Organizations responsible for sports, war, and peace, like other organizations, need frequent developmental changes to survive. One of the most important requirements of organizational development is "knowledge management". In this regard, the present study was conducted with the main purpose of "explaining the experiences of the role of sports in the war" and the sub-purpose of "explaining the experiences of the role of sports in the Iraq-Iran war" and a qualitative approach was used to achieve the main and secondary goals. The research method of narrative research based on the narrative of those involved in sports has used the role of sports in war. For this purpose, in this research, first, a documentary and library study on the theoretical foundations of the research and all available sources, including Persian and Latin, as well as previous researches were performed. The research method at this stage was historical. Interview questions were asked based on the literature and research background and research ambiguities. To extract experiences, 13 academic, military and sports experts were interviewed. Maxqda software was used to analyze the content of the interviews and extract the categories and concepts and present the report. Finally, based on the recorded experiences, in the main question (what are the experiences of the role of sports in the war?), 6 main themes and 22 codes, in the sub-question (what are the experiences of the role of sports in the Iraq-Iran war?), 4 main themes and 16 codes were identified. Finally, this research led to empiricism and documentation of lessons learned and experiences in the fields of sports and war, and provides the basis for knowledge management in sports.