Group success

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  • Created by: z_mills1
  • Created on: 03-04-15 15:16

Group formation and dynamics

Group: two or more individuals interacting with each other, connected via social relationships, share a common objective, sense of group identity, share norms/values

Sociogram: a chart showing the inter-relationships/shared objectives within a group

  • stars - highly popular members
  • isolates - infrequently chosen individuals
  • pairs - reciprocal partners
  • clusters - subgroups/cliques

Group dynamics: the study of groups and the interactive processes that occur between people in a group 

Group dynamic processes:

  • norms (expected behaviour)
  • roles
  • relationships
  • group development
  • the need to belong to the group
  • social influences
  • effects on behaviour of people within the group
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Tuckman's model of group development

Stage 1: Forming

  • get to know each other
  • find out about task/objective
  • show respect for each other (but not working together)
  • coach tells team what to do

Stage 2: Storming

  • team members compete with each other -> forming alliances
  • different types of leader emerge
  • less experienced members will not compromise
  • diificult stage -> team may fail/coach must help the team through this stage
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Tuckman's model of group development

Stage 3: Norming

  • team members agree how to work together -> rules develop/acceptable behvaviour is defined
  • development of trust, ability to accept criticism of new ideas
  • leaders emerge and start to take responsibility for decision making -> coach becomes more of a consultant

Stage 4: Performing

  • team works as a unit -> high levels of interdependence/motivation
  • experienced/skilled/knowledgeable team members are able to make decisions independently
  • consultation is expected, leadership is devolved but authority/direction are accepted in stress
  • dissent is used in an evaluative manner to improve performance
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Cohesion

Cohesion: the dynamic forces that cause a team to stick together

Task cohesion: found in a group that is bound together in a drive to achieve a common objective, a focus on the task, e.g. winning a cup

  • Players need to be able to interact effectively/ good communication
  • Understand own role/other’s role/good co-ordination
  • Poor cohesion can be classed as a faulty process
  • Good task cohesion can help social cohesion
  • task cohesion is more important than social cohesion

Social cohesion: found in a group that is bound together by social bonds, social attractiveness and relationships 

  • Social cohesion is not vital for group success
  • Social cohesion can undermine performance/formation of cliques/not challenging poor performance for fear of upsetting others
  • Social cohesion can aid performance by challenging the norm
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Carron's antecedents

Carron proposed four key antecedents to the development of cohesiveness:

  • Environmental factors – size of group/time/facilities/age 
  • Personal factors - ability/motivation/satisfaction/similarity of group 
  • Leadership factors – style/behaviour/personality/relationship with group 
  • Team factors – focus on task/motivation/stability/ability/shared experiences 
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Faulty group processes

Steiner's model: 

Actual productivity = Potential productivity - Losses due to faulty group processes

Faulty group processes:

  • Co-ordination losses eg poor teamwork/ poor tactics/poor communication
  • Motivational losses eg loss of concentration/low self-confidence/lack of recognition

-> level of cooperation between players varies with type of activity e.g. basketball>athletics

-> sports where higher levels of cooperation are required are more likely to suffer from losses due to poor coordination

-> highly interactive sports requires coach to spend more time practising drills/set plays to get the timings and player movement patters right

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The Ringlemann effect and Social loafing

The ringlemann effect: the diminishing contribution of each individual as group size increases

  • motivational losses tend to occur as group size increases
  • has an adverse effect on output/productivity
  • e.g. tug of war -> individuals in larger groups pulled less hard than in smaller groups

Social loafing: loss of individual effort in a group due to a reduction in motivation

  • some people in a group may feel that their own personal contributions have little effect so try less hard
  • others may perceive that others are not trying hard so they feel justified in working less hard themselves
  • individuals feel less motivated to work hard and are more likely to enage in social loafing
  • social loafing is eliminated or dramatically reduced when individuals believed that their efforts and contributions were monitored or noticed
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Strategies to overcome faulty processes

  • Practice/training to ensure all understand the tactics
  • Give individuals specific responsibility/set goals
  • Explain specific roles within the team
  • Give feedback/video analysis of performance/ reinforcement
  • Develop peer support/encourage each other/encourage open discussion/an effective leader
  • Vary practice to maintain motivation/train in small groups
  • Improve fitness levels
  • Team bonding exercises/social outings
  • Avoid social cliques
  • Create a group identity eg team kit
  • Develop self-confidence/self-efficacy/self-esteem/ credit use of attributions
  • Maintain team stability if possible/limit change
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