Leadership
By the end of the lesson you should be
able to:
• Identify the characteristics of leaders.
• Understand the importance of effective
leadership.
• Describe emergent and prescribed leaders.
• Understand trait, social learning and
interactionist perspectives on leadership.
• Explain the theories of leadership.
• In the activity you have just done, do you think anyone acted
as a leader? Did this influence the group in any way? How
effective were they as leaders?
Leadership is ……..
• The behavioural process influencing individuals and groups
towards set goals.
Sporting
Non Sporting
Michael Vaughan
Hitler
Alex Ferguson
Winston Churchill
Sir Alf Ramsey
Robert the Bruce
Vince Lombardi
Nelson Mandela
Sir Matt Busby
Pope John Paul II
Clive Woodward
Gandhi
Martin Jol
Margaret Thatcher
What characteristics do these people all have which make them
good leaders?
Good
Communication
Has respect of
group
Shows Empathy
Good at
making decisions
Must be the
best player
Be a born leader
Experience
Ambition
High Motivation
Good Leader
Be friendly with
their subjects
Determination
Have a
clear goal
Be carefully
selected
Charisma
Disciplinarian
• An effective leader has a number of qualities, no single
quality will ensure effectiveness on its own. Qualities of
leadership include:
• Good communication skills
• High motivation
• Having a clear goal or vision of what needs to be achieved
• Empathy
• Ambition
• Charisma/presence
• Determination
• Good at making decisions
• Experience
Are Leaders Born or Made?
This is a controversial issue. There are 3 theories:
Trait Approach
This theory suggests that leaders are born with the skills
necessary to take charge. It suggests that leadership
traits such as intelligence, assertiveness and self
confidence are stable personality dispositions
If this is true, the trait approach suggests that a leader should be
able to take control of any situation.
How likely is this?
Social Learning Theory
This theory suggests that all behaviours are learned. For
example, when an aspiring captain judges a situation to
have been handled well by an experienced leader, the
method will be remembered and copied should the situation
arise again.
This is called ‘vicarious reinforcement’.
Interactionist Theory
According to this theory, leadership competencies
emerge because of both inherited abilities and
learned skills.
This is generally perceived as giving a more realistic
explanation of human behaviour in sport.
Selection of a Leader
• Individuals can become leaders in one of 2
ways
• Emergent leader – come from within the
group because they are skilful or because the
rest of the team select them by vote or
interview.
• Prescribed leader – are appointed from an
external source to a team.
• Think of advantages and disadvantages of an
emergent leader and a prescribed leader.
Prescribed or emergent?
Emergent
Advantages
Disadvantages
Respect gained quickly
by the group who rate
his/her skill
Respect may well be
short lived and
‘familiarity can breed
contempt’
They tend to be more
popular individuals and
are well liked
They tend to be more
popular individuals and
are well liked
other group members
feel less threatened
Other group members
feel less threatened
Prescribed
Advantages
They have externally
recognised authority
and therefore high
status
May be able to see
problems more
objectively and be
more detached
Disadvantages
slow acceptance from
other group members
because of perceived
threat
the new leader does
not know group
members and therefore
may make incorrect
decisions initially
Leadership Styles
• Two main types:
• Task oriented or autocratic – concerned with the
task demands of the group.
• Person oriented or democratic – concerned with
the interpersonal behaviour of the group members.
Person
Task
The Autocratic Leader ……….
• Makes all decisions.
• Does not take into account the opinions of the group.
• Focuses on group performance and achieving goals.
Is used …………..
• When quick decisions are needed
• With large groups of people
• In potentially dangerous situations
The Democratic Leader ……………
• Will share decision with the rest of the group
• Is interested in developing meaningful inter-personal
relationships within the team.
• Tries to give ‘ownership’ of the task to each individual.
Is Used …………………..
• In a game situation when there are no time constraints
and personal support may be required
• Which style did the leaders of the group activity use?
• Which style of leadership would you adopt in the
following situation:
1.
You are introducing yourself as the new coach
to a hostile group.
Task / Autocratic
2.
You would like to bring together a very large
group of athletes as a team before a big meeting.
Task /Autocratic
3.
You are coaching a highly skilled squash player.
Person / Democratic
4.
A friendly, successful team of lacrosse players
asks you to be their coach Person / Democratic
5.
A novice weightlifter needs coaching just before
the lift
Task & Person
According to Fiedler, the correct style of leadership
to adopt depends on the ‘favourableness, of the
situation
Highly favourable situation
Highly unfavourable situation
Leaders position is strong
Leaders position is weak
Task is simple with clear
structure
Task is complex with vague
structure
Warm group and leader
relations
Hostile group and leader
relations
Fiedler states that autocratic, task oriented
leaders are more effective in both the most and
least favourable situations
Democratic, person oriented leaders are more
effective in moderately favourable situations
High
Group
Performance
Effectiveness
Low
Most favourable
Least favourable
Situation Favourableness
Laissez Faire Style
In this style the leader will stand aside and allow
the group to make its own decisions.
Lewin (1985) found that members of this type of
group tended to be aggressive towards each other
when mistakes occurred and they gave up easily.
Chellandurai’s Multidimensional Model
of Sports Leadership
Characteristics affecting
behaviour
Type of Leader
Consequences
Behaviour
Situational
Required
Characteristics
Behaviour
Leader
Actual
Characteristics
Behaviour
Member
Preferred
Characteristics
Behaviour
Group
Performance /
Group
Satisfaction
• Chellandurai identified three factors that affect
leadership. These are called Antecedents
• Situational Characteristics.
• Leader Characteristics
• Group Member Characteristics
Next, Chellandurai recognises 3 types of leader
behaviour that would be guided by the
antecedents
• Required Behaviour
• Actual Behaviour
• Preferred Behaviour
All 3 behaviours must coincide exactly (be
congruent) before effective leadership can
take place.
Have you met the objectives?
Are you able to:
• Identify the characteristics of leaders.
• Understand the importance of effective
leadership.
• Describe emergent and prescribed leaders.
• Understand trait, social learning and
interactionist perspectives on leadership.
• Explain the theories of leadership.