Group Dynamics AS P.E

The role of group dynamics in sport Groups –An interaction between individuals –Communication over a period of time –Collective identity –Shared goals / targets / values Team –Members depend on each other –Offer support for each other –Interact with each other to accomplish goals and objectives.

Group Development Four development stages (Tuckman, 1965) 1. Forming Familiarise, get to know each other, assess strengths/weaknesses of group, roles. 2. Storming Conflicts develop, question authority of leader, leader must take control. 3. Norming Cooperation and solidarity. Work together to achieve goals. 4. Performing Team progresses and functions as a unit.

Steiners Model of Group Effectiveness Actual Productivity = Potential Productivity – Losses due to faulty group process. Actual productivity – how the team performs and the results they get. Potential productivity – refers to perfect performance the team can produce based on the individual skill and ability of each athlete in the team and the resources available. Losses due to faulty group process – relate to the issues that can get in the way of team performance, preventing the team from reaching its potential performance. Losses are normally due to two main areas : motivational faults 2. coordination faults.

Ringlemann effect Group size increases, the individual productivity of the group increases by up to 50%. Not caused by coordination losses but motivational faults or losses. People are not accountable for their own performance – as groups get bigger, athletes hide behind others and don’t get noticed.

Social Loafing Group members do not put 100% effort when they are in a group or team based situation. Individuals who lack confidence, afraid of failure or anxious suffer from social loafing. Individuals who display social loafing often feel that they don’t make a useful contribution to team performance Perceiving others to be working less hard than themselves thereby giving them an excuse to put in less effort Believing that their own efforts will have little effect on the outcome Disliking hard work and assuming that their lack of effort will not be noticed Feeling "off form" and believing team mates will cover for their lack of effort

Interactive / Coactive Interactive = teams who work with each other to achieve a successful performance. Their successful performance is dependant upon interaction and coordination between members. e.g. football teams Coactive groups = individuals need to achieve success in their individual games, events or performances to achieve overall team success. No direct interaction during performance. E.g. Team GB

COHESIon We have social cohesion, extent to which members of the group get on with one another, and task cohesion, the extent to which members cooperate to achieve the group's goals. The following factors affect cohesion: Stability - Cohesion develops the longer a group is together with the same members Similarity- Cohesion develops when the more similar the group members are in terms of age, sex, skills and attitudes Size - Cohesion develops more quickly in small groups Support - Cohesive teams tend to have managers and coaches who provide support to team members and encourage them to support one another Satisfaction- Cohesion is associated with the extent to which team members are pleased with each others performance, behaviour and conformity to the norms of the team Carron (1980) defined a cohesive group as having the following characteristics: a collective identity a sense of shared purpose structured patterns of communication