Chapters 11-12 (LeUnes): Leadership and Group Cohesion Audience Effects on Sport Psychology of Sport Sep 28-Oct 5, 2009 Class #14-17.

Chapters 11-12 (LeUnes):

Leadership and Group Cohesion Audience Effects on Sport

Psychology of Sport

Sep 28-Oct 5, 2009Class #14-17

Definition of a Leader...

One that leads or guides

One in charge or command of others

One who has influence, especially of a political nature

American Heritage Dictionary Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

What are the Common Traits of a Leader?What are the Common Traits of a Leader?

Can you find characteristics common Can you find characteristics common to the great leaders of both past and to the great leaders of both past and present?present?

Does every leader have to have Does every leader have to have certain traits?certain traits?

Leadership Traits - The Big 8

Self-confidenceTrustworthiness/IntegrityAssertivenessEmotional stabilitySense of Humor/SociabilitySelf-awareness and self-objectivityCognitive skillsEmotional Intelligence

What not to do:

Have an insensitive, abrasive, or bullying styleBe aloof or arrogantBetray personal trustHave self-centered ambitionFail to constructively face obvious problemsMicro-manageSelect poor subordinatesThink short-termDon’t adapt to your boss’s different styleOverly depend on a “sponsor” or mentor

Common Leadership TraitsCommon Leadership Traits

What do leadership studies have in What do leadership studies have in common?common?

Let’s look at a few in more detail…Let’s look at a few in more detail…

IntelligenceIntelligence

Definition:Definition:The capacity to acquire and apply The capacity to acquire and apply knowledgeknowledge

Application:Application:To make difficult decisionsTo make difficult decisions

To find information To find information

To synthesize and interpret dataTo synthesize and interpret data

Discussion:Discussion:Is it necessary to be intelligent to be a good Is it necessary to be intelligent to be a good leader?leader?

Self-Confidence

DefinitionConfidence in oneself or one’s abilities

Application:Willing to tackle difficult situations

Confident in own abilities

Discussion:Can self-confidence be a hindrance in certain situations and/or contexts?

IntegrityIntegrity

DefinitionDefinitionRigid adherence to a code or standard of Rigid adherence to a code or standard of valuesvalues

Application:Application:Being able to make the ‘right’ decision Being able to make the ‘right’ decision

Modelling ethical proprietyModelling ethical propriety

Discussion:Discussion:Can integrity hinder a leader from making Can integrity hinder a leader from making certain decisions?certain decisions?

SociabilitySociability

DefinitionDefinitionThe disposition or quality of being sociable.The disposition or quality of being sociable.

Application:Application:Being able to work with different groups Being able to work with different groups towards a common goaltowards a common goal

Being seen as a positive leader from a variety Being seen as a positive leader from a variety of groupsof groups

Discussion:Discussion:Is it possible to be an effective leader without Is it possible to be an effective leader without social skills?social skills?

Trait Theory:Trait Theory:“The Great Man Theory”“The Great Man Theory”

Focuses solely on the leaderFocuses solely on the leader

Emphasis on core traits for ‘success’Emphasis on core traits for ‘success’

Organizations should focus the Organizations should focus the selection process on these traitsselection process on these traits

Effective for individuals:Effective for individuals:Allows for growth/changeAllows for growth/change

ReflectionReflection

How about in How about in sports???sports??? John Wooden is always mentioned John Wooden is always mentioned

when talking about the best when talking about the best leaders in sports…leaders in sports…

Vince Lombardi: Vince Lombardi: ““Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing…”thing…”

Behavior Theory:Behavior Theory:

But what of the situation?But what of the situation?

What of the subordinates?What of the subordinates?

What of the culmination of different What of the culmination of different events and situations?events and situations?

Situation-Contingent Leader Influence

Contingency Trait Theories

Fiedler’s Contingency Theory- Personality traits that lead to leader effectiveness in one situation may lead to failure in another- Personality traits are linked here to the specific situation

- Examples: Doug Collins; Bobby Knight

Coach Doug Collins had Coach Doug Collins had differences with his young differences with his young

star...star...

Bobby Knight: Bobby Knight: “My way or the “My way or the highway…”highway…” Discipline is his trademark…Discipline is his trademark…

Fiedler’s Contingency Theory

Two Factors involved:Personality of the leader

Degree to which the situation gives the leader power

Two types of motivation involved:Relationship motivation

Task motivation

Fiedler’s Contingency Theory

Born or not born debate…Supporters of this theory feel leadership training programs are of little to no value

They can only enhance power and influence that the leader already possesses

Path-Goal Theory

Situation Specific Leader InfluenceThis theory is concerned with the

situations under which various

leader behaviors are most

effective

Effective leadership is a function of learned behaviors that are situation specific

Path-Goal Theory

Emphasis is on the needs and goals of the athlete

Coach is viewed as more of a facilitator

Coach helps athlete to realize his or her goals

Bottom line: Guide the athlete to success

Tom Landry and Roger Staubach may be good examples of this theory...

Path-Goal Theory

Born or not born debate…Here, the view would be that individual can be taught to be a good leader

Life Cycle Theory

Emphasis in leadership behavior on the subordinates and not the leader

The type of leadership style for any specific situation depends on the maturity of the subordinate

Life Cycle Theory

Task structure behavior decreases with increased maturityRelationship behavior is low when dealing with athletes of both low and high levels of maturity but high when dealing with athletes of moderate levels

Case (1987): Sport Psychology implications

Feels young athletes who lack maturity and highly skilled and mature athletes would not respond well to high task structure

They would benefit from coaches high in relationship motivation

Moderately mature athletes need more structure

But less relationship motivation

Life Cycle Theory

Born or not born debate…Again, the view here would be that individual can be taught to be a good leader

The Ohio State/Michigan Studies

- Initiating Consideration: the extent to which a leader is approachable and shows personal concern for employees

- Initiating Structure: the degree to which a leader concentrates on group goal attainment

The idea here is that leadership behavior ca be trained

Okay, so far we can break leadership theories down like this:

Trait – Innate Behavior – Can be Trained

Universal Trait or Great Man Theory

Michigan and OSU studies

Situation - Contingent

Fiedler’s Contingency Model of Leadership

Path-Goal Theory

Life Cycle Theory

Other theories:

The Functional Model

Chelladurai’s Multidimensional Model

The Functional Model

Leadership does not rest with one person but rests on a set of behaviors by the group that gets things doneAny member of the group can perform these behaviorsThis model places greater emphasis on how an organization or task is being led rather than who has been formally assigned a leadership role

The Functional Model

A sport example of this model would be a group or committee that has been established to determine the club’s social activities for the season

Chelladurai’s Multidimensional Model

Proposed indicator of effective leadershipPerformance outcomesMember satisfaction

Interaction of three components of leadership are involved here:

Prescribed leader behaviorsEstablished norms

Preferred leader behaviorsAthletes prefer these in their coach

Actual leader behaviorsCoach’s actual behaviors

Best case scenario: Congruence

Congruence between all three types lead to optimal performance and satisfaction

Possible Problems…

All three leader behaviors are incongruent If actual is incongruent with both prescribed and preferred – outcome is that coach will be firedIf prescribed and actual are congruent but incongruent with preferred – outcome is good performance despite low satisfactionIf actual and preferred are congruent but prescribed is incongruent – outcome is a satisfied but low performance athlete or team

Playing Position and Leadership

Those playing the central positions are often the leaders

Example: In baseball from what position do you find go on to become managers? Catchers

Leadership Scale for Sport (LSS)

See handout

Group Cohesion

The strength of the bonds among group members

Interpersonal cohesiveness: Enjoyment of one another’s company

Task cohesiveness: Commitment to the group’s task

Factors Affecting Team Cohesion

Groups Size

Task

Team Tenure

Satisfaction

Groups Size: Social Loafing

A group-produced reduction in individual output on easy tasks in which contributions are pooled

Individuals in a group who are working below their potential

Ringelman’s (1880’s) experiments

Individual output declines on pooled tasks in all his experimentsFor example in a rope-tugging task

Units pulled in rope-tugging task:1 person 100 2 people 1863 people 2558 people 392

Social Loafing

Ingham et al (1974) Blind folded rope pulling

DV: Effort

IV: Thought people were behind them or not

Subjects pulled 18% harder when they thought they were alone

Latane, Williams, and Latane, Williams, and Harkins (1979)Harkins (1979)

Sat participant in a Sat participant in a group of 6 people…group of 6 people…– Blindfolded participant Blindfolded participant

and had them put on and had them put on headphonesheadphones

– Played clapping or Played clapping or shouting over shouting over headphones headphones

– I.V. thought they were I.V. thought they were making noise alone or making noise alone or with 5 otherswith 5 others

– Results: 1/3 less noise Results: 1/3 less noise when they thought when they thought others were also making others were also making noisenoise

Why does loafing happen ?

Diffusion of responsibility:In a group we feel able to share responsibility and this may lead to a reduction of effort

Free-rider effect: If we feel like our contribution is not essential…still benefit from the group and give little in return (low input, high output)

Sucker effect: Willing to do your share but not more than that (esp. if others are free-riding)Since everyone is benefiting and getting credit, you don’t want to be the sucker who does all the work (and no recognition), therefore do the minimum requirement

We loaf less when…

If personal efforts are identifiableIf a task is challenging, appealing, or involving

If the task is meaningful and importantIf we think our contribution is essential

If we are working with friends vs. strangers

If the group expects to be punished for poor performance

If the group is small

If the group is cohesive

Task

Interactive vs. Coactive sports

Team Tenure

Team half-life

Team Satisfaction

Martens and Peterson (1971)

Williams and hacker (1982)

Social Facilitation

If performance can be individually evaluated, the presence of others will be arousing (improve performance on simple tasks but interfere with performance on complex tasks)

Triplett (1898)

One of first sport or social psychology experiment

We mentioned this during our talk first week of semester

Zajonc (1965)

Proposed that the mere presence of others increases arousal which in turn affects our performance

Zajonc (1969)

Cockroach study Cockroach placed in a tube with a bright light at one end of the tube…

To escape the light, the cockroach had to run down the tube and into a darkened box at the other end of the tube…

DV: Speed of escape

IV: Presence or absence of other cockroaches

Results: Cockroaches were faster to escape when other cockroaches were present

Criticisms of Zajonc

Support for this model was eroded when later studies showed that the type of audience was important e.g. home or away fans

The exact mechanism behind the social facilitation has yet to be determined but all of the following have been proposed: heightened self-awareness, self-consciousness, self-presentation concern, self-monitoring and self-attention

Michaels et al. (1982)

Secretly rated pool players in a hall as above average or below average ability…

Then a group of confederates came and stood by their table as they played

The above average players' shot accuracy improved from 71 to 80% accurate, while the below average players slipped from 36 to 25% accurate

Does the Yerkes-Dodson Law applies here?

The Home Advantage

The presence of a supportive and interactive audience

Is it real?

Why might it be?

Are their other factors involved than the court/field?

HOME ADVANTAGE

The belief that a home crowd causes an advantage for the home team

It is believed that this effect is more prominent in sports such as basketball and ice hockey where the audience are located very close to the court

The Home Advantage

Functional Assertive BehaviorSuperior performance by home team

Dysfunctional Assertive behaviorInhibited performance by away team

The Hostile Crowd

Case Study: Pacers vs. Pistons

Fight started on the Fight started on the court…court…

But then players went But then players went into the stands…into the stands…

DISTRACTION EFFECT

Barron suggested that crowds cause a distraction to the performer as a performer can only attend to a small number of cue’s while performing

He therefore suggested that simple tasks were best performed in the presence of a crowd while complex tasks will be best performed in isolation

Home Disadvantage

Critical gamesDoes it cause the home team to “choke”

Self-Presentation Effects

Can sometimes hurt a home team player’s performance

Baumeister and Steinhilber (1984, 1995)

Critical games might be a home disadvantage

Self-Presentation Effects

Cottrell questioned the fact that the mere presence of others would raise arousal levelsHe suggested that audiences can have a calming effect on performers in some circumstancesHe suggested that arousal only occurred in front of an audience when the performer perceived the audience to be assessing their performance

Self-Presentation Self-Presentation EffectsEffects Too much self-attentionToo much self-attention Case Studies: Kenny Rogers; Alex Case Studies: Kenny Rogers; Alex

RodriguezRodriguez

Basking in Reflected Glory

Everyone enjoys being associated with a winner

See next slide

J-E-T-S: JETS, JETS, JETSJ-E-T-S: JETS, JETS, JETS

Credits

Several slides in this presentation prepared by the following:

http://www.lennonportal.net/index_files/leader.ppt#257,2,What is the definition of a Leader?http://web2.uwindsor.ca/faculty/busad/facpages/reavley/ID07leadership.ppt#260http://www.business.mcmaster.ca/courses/com2ba3/2BA3%20Week%2011.ppt

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:VH460txzlnkJ:www.queens.herts.sch.uk/Pe/POWERPOINT_A-LEVEL/leadership.ppt+Chelladurai+Multidimensional+Leadership+PPT&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=5http://www.rickmansworth.herts.sch.uk/departments/PE2/staffarea_files/Resources/a2revisionpresentation.ppt