Sport Psych-5-Performing with others

Performing with others (social)

Teams and performance

The major team variable that affects performance is team cohesiveness.

-Social cohesion= the extent to which team members like each other and the satisfaction they get from their team membership

-Tak cohesion= the extent to which members work together to achieve shared and specific goals.

applications Tuckman (1965) proposed a 4 stage model showing the development of team cohesion. To be cohesive they must pass through all stages:

• 1. Forming- the coming together of group members-meeting new members and seeking to be accepted by the group
• 2. Storming- conflicts as team members vie for position in the group, may involve challenges and banter as members may feel frustrated in learning new systems and making relationships with people they may not have much in common with.
• 3. Norming- most important stage in developing cohesion. The team agrees its goals and standards for good performance. Members find their roles in the team and adopt individual opinions.
• 4. Performing- conflicts are resolved so the team can function effectively. The team becomes focused on performing their tasks.

Leadership and performance

Early research into what makes a good leader focused on trait theories- personality characteristics that make them good leaders. Stodgill's (1948) great man theory of leadership identified several stable traits of leaders in comparison to non-leaders, such as intelligence, both academic and athletic achievements, self confidence and responsibility.

However, he failed to account for which traits would be most effective in which setting and why (simplistic). Research into leadership moved away from trait theories and into leadership behaviour, resulting in a more holistic view of leadership. This looked not at the leader in isolation, but also the type of people being led and the situation.

Lewin (1939) identified 3 leadership styles:

1- Authoritarian= make decisions without team input and expects unquestioning obedience from the team.

2- Laissez-faire= leaves team members to get on without interference. They may help individuals, but tend not to direct the team as a whole.

3- Democratic= make decisions but these take account of the team members views.

In sport, each leadership style can work, but it depends on the sporting situation. 

Chellandurai (1978) have shown the importance of the behaviour of the leader matching the preferences of the team- the ideal outcome for performance and team satisfaction is if there is a match between the required leader behaviour , their actual behaviour and the preferred leader behaviour of the team.

• Prescribed leader behaviour= the behaviour the leader has to do (e.g. abiding by rules). This is determined by the sit.
• Preferred leader behaviour= what the team members want the leader to do
• Actual leader behaviour= what the leader actually does

The combo of prescribed, preferred and actual leadership behaviour have different predicted outcomes depending on how congruent (matched) they are. The ideal model for effective sports leadership is when predicted, preferred and actual behaviour are all congruent.

Coaching and performance

applications  Jowett and Cockerill (2002)- a main aspect of coaching is the…