Leadership
Leadership is seen as any behaviour that moves a group
closer to attaining their goals.
‘the behavioural process of influencing individuals and
groups towards set goals.’ (Barrow, 1977)
A leader is generally good at making decisions, good
interpersonal skills such as communication. They can
motivate, give appropriate feedback and are generally
diplomatic.
They are confident, show initiative with organisation and
instructional advice.
They must have the vision in order to help the group
achieve their goals, they should have all the skills,
qualities and beliefs that the rest of the group has only in
a greater degree, they are often the group role model.
Care must be taken that the role as leader and manager
are not one and the same thing.
Leadership theory Nature / Nurture
Three general theories have emerged relating to the
effectiveness of leaders.
Effective leadership was believed to be as a result of
specific innate personality characteristics. Thus the
‘great man’ theory emerged (Carlyle, 1841) meaning that
great leaders where born and not made.
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These ‘great men’ were thought to have universal /
common traits. Trait theory suggested that certain
personality and physical attributes such as height,
physical attractiveness, intelligence, self confidence
might be associated with leader success.
It may be true that the particular traits are all useful and
necessary to some degree for effective leadership.
A link between an authoritarian style of leadership and
successful coaches has been found, however research has
been inconclusive in determining personality traits which
differ significantly from non leaders.
Research then went down the road of the situational
approach, seeing that the leaders and group members are
involved in a variety of roles according to the demands
of the situation.
Out of this view came the interactional approach
proposing that the effectiveness of leadership is as a
result of both situational and individual factors.
While not ignoring the leader’s personal characteristics,
the interactional approach stresses their appropriateness
to the group in a given situation. So the groups goal/task
will be highly important in choosing the right leader.
There are two ways in which leaders develop or are
validated:1 Prescribed leaders – formally appointed by a higher
authority i.e. in cricket
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2 Emergent leaders – a leader who achieves their status
or authority by having group support, combined with the
skills, knowledge etc that is required.
Whether a leader emerges or is prescribed from above
they still exert their influence among the team or group
by virtue of their personal qualities.
Fiedler’s contingency theory of leadership
Fiedler (1967) emphasised with his theory that the
effectiveness of a leadership style is contingent
(dependent) on the overall situation and can’t just be
determined by assessing the leader’s traits or behaviour.
Most
Favourable
Moderately
favourable
Least
Favourable
Task orientated
Approach
Relationship
orientated
Approach
Task
orientated
approach
1
2
Task centred leader – focuses on setting goals;
getting the task done; meeting the objectives;
performance and productivity.
Relationship centred leader – focuses on
developing and maintaining good interpersonal
relationships, is considerate and permissive.
The effectiveness of these styles of leadership depended
on the ‘favourableness’ of the situation, i.e. certain
situations suit certain styles of leadership. The
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‘favourableness’ of the situation depends on three
factors.
1) The quality of the leader’s relationship with the group.
2) Leader’s position of power/authority and resources
available to use to carry out the task.
3) The structure of the task itself.
What Fiedler’s contingency theory demonstrated was
that in order to be effective teachers and coaches must be
able to adapt their style of leadership according to the
favourableness of the situation.
Highly favourable situation
 Teacher/coach had good/positive relationships with
students
 Clear discipline, highly respected, power/authority
 Parents/community are very supportive
 Good facilities, high calibre of students
 Students have good motivation
Moderately favourable situation
 Teacher/coach has friendly relationships with
students
 Venue is an urban school or club
 Limited facilities/good parental support
Least favourable situation
 Poor relationships with group or community
 Task is unstructured, leader’s position is weak
 No community support
 There is a poor discipline structure
 There are only poor facilities
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A task orientated approach adopted by a teacher or coach
will be more effective in either highly favourable or least
favourable situations i.e. the extremes of the continuum.
A relationship orientated style is more effective in a
moderately favourable situation.
By emphasising a certain style of leadership a teacher
doesn’t necessarily exclude any other ways of dealing
with the players or group members.
It is important to remember that leadership is a highly
dynamic process. There are many more variable factors
to consider when deciding on which style to adopt, eg.
gender, motives, abilities, previous exp.
Other Contingency models in brief
Life cycle theory (1976/82) support idea that leaders
should be able to adapt to both task or person orientated
qualities to fit the demands of the group in various
situations
House’s Path-Goal theory (1971) Leaders job is to
facilitate the groups goals using whatever style:
 Directive
 Achievement orientated
 Supportive
 Participative
Vroom and Yetton’s Decision making model (1973)
suggested that in order to encourage greater participation
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and performance output decision making in a group can
be adapted between three styles:
 Autocratic (teacher/coach makes decisions)
 Consultative
 Delegative (group decisions)
Chelladurai and Haggerty (1978) adopted Vroom and
Yetton’s model to form their ‘normative model’ for
decision styles in coaching.
Autocratic
Consultative Participative Delegative
They suggested that beginners needed a more task
orientated approach, with experience and skill
development a more person orientated approach could be
adopted. Finally the group might not need a leader at all.
However this view must be treated with caution, as
beginners often need more support and experienced
athletes requiring supportive leadership.
Styles of Leadership
We have already identified several leadership styles, task
orientated and personal relationship orientated. There
are several other categories of leadership style.
Autocratic leaders
Very authoritarian style based on strong rule structures.
Lack flexibility, make all the decisions, quite remote and
generally task orientated.
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 Leader centred, task orientated
 Personal authority of leader stressed
 Usually more effective in team sports, bigger nos.
 Effective when decisions have to be made quickly
 Better with clear goals
 Better in most and least favourable situations
Democratic leaders
Make decisions after consulting with the group. More
informal, relaxed showing a keen interest in the group.
Prepared to help, explain and encourage group members.
 Performer centred, allowing performer input
 Successful with individual sports/coaching
 Better in moderately favourable situations
 Better when decisions don’t have to be made
quickly.
Laissez-faire
Lets the group get on with it by themselves and plays a
passive role. They don’t interfere, may be unsure of the
task so don’t make positive or negative evaluations.
 Makes no decisions
 Group determines the work to be done and its pace
 Acts as a consultant
Lewin et al. (1939) researched into the different
leadership styles, specifically relating it to aggression
and cooperation patterns.
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They found the boys were more aggressive and
competitive, working harder when the leader was present
under the autocratic style.
With the democratic style less work was completed but it
was of similar quality and the boys worked more
consistently, with better relations even when left alone.
The boys in the laissez-faire led group were quite
aggressive towards each other, restless, easily
discouraged producing little work.
Lewin’s study found that leadership style is more
important than personality, with democratic leaders the
most effective. It depends on how effectiveness is
measured.
If it is measured on productivity or developing good
working, co-operative relationships, the leadership style
needs to be varied.
Chelladurai’s multi-dimensional model of leadership
related to sport.
He argued that the style adopted by the leader and its
effectiveness, depended on the situation together with
the leaders characteristics and also the group demands.
His model suggests that in order to achieve high
performance and group satisfaction, a leader must be
dynamic and changeable in relation to the leader,
situation and group to produce the outcomes.
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Chelladurai’s multi-dimensional model (1980)
Required behaviour – the type of behaviour required by
the situation eg. teachers expected to conform to certain
norms and express certain accepted values
Preferred behaviour – the type of behaviour preferred
by the group or performer. Different groups will demand
different things of a leader eg. pro sports team and over
60’s keep fit
Actual leader behaviour – the behaviour shown by the
teacher/coach in a specific situation.
The more that the actual behaviour of the teacher or
coach matches that of the behaviour preferred by the
group then the greater the probability that the desired
outcomes will be achieved, thus leadership will be
effective.
Leadership scales
Chelladurai highlighted 5 types/dimensions of leadership
behaviour that could be adopted developed and measured
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1) Training and instruction-level of instruction
High
Low
High means a rather structured approach, lots of
instruction, hard demanding training etc.
2) Democratic behaviour (decision making style)
High
Low
High means the coach will allow the performer to take
part in decision making, tactics, training etc.
3) Autocratic leader (level of decision making style)
High
Low
High will mean a coach remaining aloof from his team
members. He will make majority of decisions.
4) Social support behaviour (motivational tendencies)
High
Low
A coach who is genuinely concerned for the all-round
social and psych. well being is said to be highly
supportive. Good relationships should exist.
5) Positive feedback (motivational tendencies)
High
Low
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A coach who regularly gives praise and encouragement
in recognition of good performance or behaviour would
score high.
The many and various factors which can influence the
three dimensions of effective leadership, can be seen
below.
There is no ideal or perfect type of style that is
guaranteed effective in all situations.
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A leader must adopt and adapt the style according to the
group and the situation. A balance between what is best
for the performers and the leaders own ideas is necessary
In general all performers prefer training, instruction and
rewards thus the coaching environment should include
 Skill development
 Positive feedback
 Concern for self esteem
 Concern for personal development
1) Slightly older performers with well developed skills
prefer an autocratic style of coaching with a socially
supportive coach.
2) Elite athletes prefer a coach to take over control and
responsibility for training. They also desire high levels
of social support in a more democratic environment.
3) Beginner performers generally prefer a low level of
heavy instruction and training.
4) Male sports performers prefer a more autocratic
approach with more social support than females.
5) Female sports performers prefer a more democratic
coach, allowing them input in decisions.
6) Team sports performers, prefer a more autocratic
style with high levels of demanding training, along with
regular rewards and praise.
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7) Coactive sports performers prefer a more
democratic style of leadership with higher levels of
social support.
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