Section B: Psychology of sport performance 2. Group dynamics of sport performance

Syllabus Groups and teams – Definition of a group/team (mutual awareness, interaction, common goal) – Knowledge of Steiner’s model of group performance – Awareness of problems associated with productivity of a group/team, including: Motivational factors (social loafing) Co-ordination/co-operation factors (Ringlemann effect) – Knowledge of factors affecting the formation and development of a cohesive group/team

Syllabus Leadership – Understanding the importance of effective leadership – Characteristics of leaders, including: Autocratic – task oriented Democratic – social oriented Laissez-faire – Emergent and prescribed leaders – Theories of leadership, including: Trait theories Social learning theories Interactionist theories – Fielder’s contingency model – Chelladurai’s multi-dimensional model of leadership

Group Two or more people who interact with each other and influence behaviour, usually to achieve a common goal Most common form of a group in sport is the TEAM Have a collective identity, shared objectives with structured interaction and modes of communication – This distinguishes them from a crowd

Group or team formation (dynamics) A group is constantly developing and changing when interaction takes place. Tuckman suggests four key stages of development: – Forming – development of relationships – Storming – conflict between group members establishing roles – Norming – group gains stability and cohesion – Performing – individuals work together towards collective goal

Forming High dependence on the leader for guidance Very little agreement on the aims of the team Individual roles are unclear and the team leader must be prepared to give strong direction

Storming Group decisions are difficult Team members jostle for position as they attempt to establish themselves in relation to others A clearer focus for the team (stronger sense of purpose) Cliques form at this stage (power struggles) Team needs to be focused on its goals to avoid distraction Leader has more advisory or coaching role

Norming Much more agreement and consensus of opinions in the team Roles and responsibilities are clearer Decisions that are very important are increasingly made through group agreement Less important decisions are delegated to individuals or small teams within the group Team are much more social at this stage

Performing Team have more strategies and has a clear vision and clear aims There is no interference or participation from the leader Focus on achieving goals Team members are trusted to get on with the job in hand with little interference Disagreements occur but now they are resolved within the team positively

Cohesion It concerns the motivation which attracts individuals to the group and the resistance of those members to the group breaking up Social motivation or task motivation For a group/team to be cohesive all members must have similar reasons for being attracted to the team

Group productivity The effectiveness of a group can be assessed using the formula: Actual productivity = potential productivity – faulty process Where potential productivity = quantity and quality of the group’s resources relevant to the task Steiner proposed that an effective group needs to be more than simply a collection of talented individuals, they must be able to work collectively together

The Ringlemann effect Rope-pulling: 8 people only pulled four times as hard as one individual

The Ringlemann effect Proposes that the performance of an individual may decrease as the group size increases This is caused by a mixture of factors including low motivation and a lack of co-ordination within the group, leading to poor group cohesion It could be categorised as a faulty process

Social loafing

Performance suffers as groups get larger Co-ordination and motivational problems are the main causes Motivational losses are SOCIAL LOAFING

Leadership The behavioural process of influencing another individual or group towards achieving their goal Is important in influencing behaviour in sport Involves personal relationships and affects the motivation of individuals and groups

Is a leader born or made? Emergent leaders – Come from within the group because they are skilful or because the rest of the team selected them Prescribed leaders – are appointed from an external source to a team – To be successful, both types should be flexible in their approaches varying their leadership style depending on: Personal characteristics Group characteristics Situational demands

Influences on leadership (Chelladurai) Leaders learn to be leaders through social learning and interactions with their environment Chelladurai identified three factors that affect leadership – The characteristics of the situation – The characteristics of the leader – The characteristics of the people who are to be led (group members)

Chelladurai continued… The three types of leader behaviour which affect the outcome are – Required behaviour Depending on the situation and task – Actual behaviour Leader’s action in a situation – Preferred behaviour What the group wants depending on its skills and goals

Chelladurai continued… The more the elements of this model match each other, the more effective the leadership is likely to be If the leadership qualities are what the group want and expect, then they are more likely to follow the leader If the leadership style matches the situation, again leadership is likely to be more effective

Leadership styles Task-oriented leadership and person-oriented leadership are the most commonly accepted These are not mutually exclusive, and effective leadership requires both qualities Lewin divided leadership into three styles – Authoritarian – Democratic – Laissez-faire

Authoritarian Are task oriented and are more dictatorial in style Tend to have commanding and directing approaches

Democratic Person oriented and value the views of other group members Tend to share decisions and show a good deal of interest in the individuals of the group

Laissez-faire Make very few decisions and give very little feedback

Contingency theory of leadership Leadership theory that proposes that the effectiveness of a leader is dependent on (contingent on) a combination of personality traits and the situation Fielder identified two types of leadership styles – Task centred / task-oriented leader – Relationship centred / person-oriented leader

Contingency theory continued… The effectiveness of each style depends on the “favourableness” of the situation, which is dependent on: – The relationship between the leader and the group – The leader’s position of power and authority – The task structure

Contingency theory continued… The situation is most favourable if the relationships between leader and group members are warm and positive, the task clear and the leader is in a strong position of authority If the situation is unfavourable the opposites apply

Contingency theory continued… Task-oriented leaders are more effective in situations that are at the extremes Person-oriented leaders are most effective in situations that are moderately favourable Good leadership can positively affect motivation and performance and bad leadership can inhibit the performance of a team and demotivate individual players