Chapter 7
The Sport Team As an
Effective Group
Mark A. Eys, Shauna M. Burke, Paul Dennis,
and Blair Evans
“I can tell you one thing, and this is the great thing about this team: no matter
how many good players we’ve got, the team spirit is unbelievable. We are like
a family and every time we come here, we are not even thinking about who is
going to play the game. It’s all about whoever is on the pitch just giving
everything.”
Belgian fullback Vincent Kompany
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Introduction
• Membership and involvement in a
group is a fundamental characteristic
of our society
• Each of us interacts daily with
numerous other people in group
settings
• Family, work, social situations, sport
teams
• We exert influence on other people in
groups and, in turn, those groups and
their members have an influence on us
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Nature of Sport Groups
“Every group is like all other groups, like some other
groups, and like no other group.”
- Carron & Hausenblas
• Groups are simultaneously common and unique
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Definition of Sport Groups (Teams)
“A collection of two or more individuals who
possess a common identity, have common goals
and objectives, share a common fate, exhibit
structured patterns of interaction and modes of
communication, hold common perceptions
about group structure, are personally and
instrumentally interdependent, reciprocate
interpersonal attraction, and consider
themselves to be a group.”
- Carron & Eys (1998)
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Definitional Categories for Groups
1.
2.
3.
4.
Common identity
Common goals or objectives
Common fate
Structured pattern of
interaction
5. Group structure
6. Personal and task
interdependence
7. Interpersonal attraction
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G
R
O
U
P
N
E
S
S
Group Cohesion
• Cohesion is the most important small
group variable
• Need a sense of “we”
• It is multidimensional
• Why a group sticks together and remains
“united in the pursuit of its instrumental
objectives and/or for the satisfaction of
member affective needs” – Carron,
Brawley, and Widmeyer
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the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Cohesion Depends on Perception
• Perception can come from a group’s members or
other groups
• Unity within a group manifests in two principal ways:
in relation to the group’s task and in terms of the
social aspects of the unit
• Additionally, cohesion for individuals depends on:
• Group integration – Each individual’s perceptions of the
group as a total unit, set, or collection
• Individual attractions to the group – Each individual's
personal attractions to the group
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Group Cohesion
Task
Social
Individual
Group
Integration
Attractions
to the
Group
Individual
Group
Integration
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Attractions
to the
Group
Correlates of Cohesiveness
Environmental
Factors
Leadership
Factors
Cohesion
in
Sport Teams
Team Factors
Personal
Factors
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without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Environmental Factors
• Proximity
• Individuals physically closer tend to bond together (locker
room, dorm, travel, classes, etc.)
• Size
• Moderate sized groups show greatest cohesion, and larger
and smaller groups exhibited the least (Inverted-U
relationship)
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reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of
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Personal Factors
• Characteristics, beliefs, or behaviors of group
members
• Satisfaction
• Comes from feeling valued and competent, social relations,
recognition from others, relationship with coach, etc.
• Competitive state anxiety
• Athletes who perceive their teams to be higher in task
cohesion experience less cognitive anxiety
• Social loafing
• Individuals tend to decrease the amount of effort they
expend when completing a group task compared to the
amount of effort expended when alone
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Leadership factors
• Interrelationships among the coach, the athlete,
cohesiveness, and performance are complex
• Some coaching factors can influence the level of
cohesion:
• Decision style
• Stronger cohesion when team members
are allowed to participate in decision
making
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Team Factors
• Cohesion is influenced by:
• Structural characteristics
• Roles and norms
• Processes that take place between group
members
• Group goals, communication
• Group performance outcomes
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written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Team Factors: Roles
• A set of behaviors that are expected from
the occupants of specific positions within
the group
• Formal roles
• Explicitly set up by the group,
individuals are trained for these roles
• Coach, team captain, and manager
• Informal roles
• The result of the interactions that take
place among group members, not
assigned
• Leader, task booster, enforcer, mentor,
team clown, etc.
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Role Clarity vs. Ambiguity
•
Role ambiguity
•
•
Lack of clear consistent information regarding one’s role
To prevent ambiguity, athletes must understand
the major aspects of their role:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Scope of responsibilities
Behaviors necessary to successfully fulfill role responsibilities
How role performance will be evaluated
Consequences of unfulfilled role responsibilities
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Role Acceptance
• The whole team needs to be on the same
page with respect to their collective goal
• The individual athlete will better understand
their role responsibilities
• Everyone on the team needs to fulfill their
role so they team can succeed
• To encourage role acceptance, coaches
should minimize the status differences
among roles
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Other Role Elements
• Elements of role involvement that are important to
group environment and contributors to
cohesiveness
• Role efficacy
• Athlete’s beliefs about capabilities to carry out role
responsibilities
• Role conflict
• Athlete’s perceptions of incongruent expectations
• Role overload
• Athlete has too many role expectations
• Role satisfaction
• How happy the athlete is with their given role(s)
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Team Factors: Norms
• Standard for behavior that is expected of members of
the group
• May be task irrelevant or task relevant
• Reflects the group's consensus about behaviors that
are considered acceptable
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Norms (cont.)
• Four contexts in which
norms exist
• Competition
• Practice
• Off-season
• Socially
• Important norms within
those contexts:
Put maximum effort toward
task
Support each other
Continue training and
maintain contact
Attend social events
Respect for each other
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Relationship Between Group Norms
and Group Cohesiveness
Development of
cohesiveness
Development of
norms
STABILITY
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Team Factors: Group Processes
• Group processes
• Establish group goals and rewards
• Communication
• Circular relationship to cohesiveness
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Team Factor: Performance Outcome
• Cohesiveness contributes to performance success,
and performance success increases cohesiveness
• Task cohesion AND social cohesion
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Team Building
• Strategies to help members work
together more effectively
• Provides meaningful experiences
that lead to a greater sense of unity
• Use team building for both task and
social purposes
• Might be direct or indirect
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Team Building Approach
•
•
•
The Spink and Carron approach
An indirect intervention process
1. Introductory stage
2. Conceptual stage
3. Practical stage
4. Intervention stage
•
Steps 1-3 occur during coach-sport
psychology specialist interactions
Coach learns about group dynamics
and preps strategies to develop
cohesion within his or her team
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Stages of Team Building
•
Introduction stage
•
•
Sport psychologist provides a brief overview of the
general benefits of group cohesion
Conceptual stage
•
•
Sport psychologist teaches coach about the various
components of the team building protocol
Helps coach identify key areas to focus efforts
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Stages of Team Building (cont.)
• Practical stage
• Coaches engage in an interactive brainstorming session
• Generate specific team building strategies
• Coach must be involved because:
a) Personality and preference
b) What is effective with one group may be
ineffective with another group
c) Controls protocol, which increases
investment
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Additional Team Building
Approaches
• Personal-Disclosure Mutual-Sharing intervention
(PDMS)
• Sport psychology specialists ask team members to write a
passage that answers a personal question about their sport
involvement
• The specialist leads a team meeting where members read
their passage aloud
• Demands a high level of responsibility to ensure that the
statements remain confidential
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Additional Team Building
Approaches
• Mastery Approach to Coaching (MAC)
• Ideal for youth sport settings
• MAC protocol for team building is based on the expectation
that positive and task-oriented coaching behaviors enable
positive group environments
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Additional Team Building
Approaches
• Sport psychology specialists might include athletes as
active contributors to team building strategies
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