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Chapter 13

Team Cohesion and Group Dynamics

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Group

The tendency for a group of individuals to share common goals and work together and remain united toward reaching those goals

Task Cohesion

The extent that group members work together and remain united in their attempt to complete a specific task

Social Cohesion

The degree of interpersonal attraction among group members

Definitions

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Definitions (con’t)

Sports Team

A collection of individuals who possess a collective identity, have common goals and objectives, share a common fate, develop structure patterns of interaction and modes of communication, exhibit personal and task interdependence, reciprocate interpersonal attraction, and consider themselves to be a group.

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Types of Group Members

The perception of group members is important in transforming a group of individuals from total strangers to individuals who interact to achieve a common goal.

Core Team Members

Group members who are essential toward meeting the group’s goals.

Lack of group success might result in changing core membership.

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Types of Group Members (con’t)

Supportive Team Members

Individuals who help the team reach its goals and function more effectively in conjunction with core members
Examples: Sport team substitutes, athletic trainers, facility managers

Temporary Team Members

Individuals who perform functions that improve group outcomes specific to certain tasks.
Examples: Team doctor, mental skills coach (i.e., sport psychologist), academic counselor

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Qualities of an Effective Team

Appropriate leadership
Suitable membership
Commitment of the team
Concern to achieve
Effective work methods
Well-organized team procedures
Critique without rancor
Positive intergroup relations
Constructive climate

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Team Climate and Team Member Satisfaction (TMS)

Team Climate

How a person perceives the conditions and interrelationships among group members

In sport, the players – not the coach – assesses team climate.
Strongly influenced by the coach’s behavior

Team Member Satisfaction (TMS)

Each player’s attitude about being a team member

Strongly influenced by team climate

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Factors That Improve Team Climate

Autonomy - the opportunity for athletes to function independent of the group leader

High emotional support from the coach

Low amount of pressure to succeed

Coach’s recognition of athlete’s efforts, improvements, and successes

High degree of trust between team and coach

Sense of fairness among team members

Team installs innovative strategies and procedures

High degree of task and social group cohesion.

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Group Roles

1. Positive Leader

Emotionally mature

Good communication skills

Strong supporter of team coach

Supports team policies

Liaison between players and coach

At times, the team captain

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Group Roles (con’t)

Positive Leader (con’t)

Helps improve team cohesion

Interprets team strategies to players

Informs coach about player feelings

Takes “team temperature”

Leads selected team meetings

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Group Roles (con’t)

Negative Leader

Antagonistic toward the coach, coach goals, and often team goals

Upset about his/her team role, rules, strategies, or goals

Attempts to rally other team members against the coach

May have a problem with authority, but does have leadership and good communication skills

If aggressive, this person may undermine coach authority, team cohesion, and player satisfaction.

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Group Roles (con’t)

Application Strategies of Negative Leader

Once acknowledged, this person warrants the coach’s immediate attention;
Must be confronted in a private, unemotional, professional manner
Coach must communicate awareness of NL activity (do not set up or embarrass the NL by pretending not to know their actions)
Determine the causes of NL behavior – what is he/she upset or angry about?
Try to address NL concerns

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Group Roles (con’t)

Application Strategies of Negative Leader (con’t)

Address and try to negotiate NL issues

However, NL behavior must stop immediately

Termination from the team is a possible outcome

Try to end the meeting on a positive note, but leaving the team remains an outcome

If needed, schedule a future meeting

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Group Roles (con’t)

3. Follower

Team member whose role is to work with other members to meet group goals

Has no need or desire to lead, take control, or take initiative

Capable of draining the group’s energy by being “needy” (a “help-seeker)

Conforms to team goals and adheres to team rules and requirements

Has the potential to add more to a team’s success

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Group Roles (con’t)

3. Application Strategies of the Follower (con’t)

Provide opportunities to take leadership roles (based on their competencies and interests)

Determine areas of interest future goals

Couple with another athlete, perhaps a PL, to produce a desirable outcome

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Group Roles (con’t)

4. Isolate

Has relatively little interaction with other team members

Not loyal to team goals; feels disconnected from coach and teammates

Often unskilled; a “fringe” player

Lacks attention from others; no close friends or relationships on team

Perhaps a negative leader waiting to happen

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Group Roles (con’t)

Application Strategies of the Isolate

Coach needs to recognize and interact with this athlete
Promote group member interaction through “behavioral coaching” (consider using positive leader)
Assign isolate specific tasks that foster player interaction

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Group Roles (con’t)

5. Scapegoat

A person made to bear the blame for others or to suffer in their place

Criticized or teased by other group members (perhaps, at times, teased or blamed by the coach)

Scapegoating may be in the form of sarcasm (also called “gallows humor”)

May be a form of displaced aggression (someone to blame for a team loss)

Usually does not contribute to the team – perhaps unmotivated, perhaps not being asked to use skills

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Group Roles (con’t)

Application Strategies of the Scapegoat

The coach must stop scapegoating actions, even if it is communicated as “gallows humor,” immediately after it is detected
Investigate its source(s)
Negotiate with team/scapegoat to terminate these actions and its causes
Find this player’s purpose on the team and use it.
Develop a strategy to put the player in a successful position (e.g., model a skill at which he/she excels, become a more active substitute, give praise)

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Group Roles (con’t)

6. Clown

Team member who intentionally and often provides humor to the group

Has high need for attention from peers and the coach; humor is an effective way to receive it

May have good sport skills, but is often not using them (usually a non-starter)

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Group Roles (con’t)

Application Strategies of the Clown

Humor and laughter are fine, but the “clown’s” frequent attempt at humor distracts players from coach instruction and proper concentration

If humor is overused or used inappropriately, coach needs to counsel “clown” to stop or save clowning for practice.

Does the clown have a problem that requires seeking the coach’s or team’s constant attention?

Often, the clown needs more attention, instruction, playing time, or praise. The coach should meet these needs.

Clown may need limit-setting in which he is informed about proper and improper use of humor, and to stop clowning until practice or the game is over.

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Team/Group Cohesion

Cohesion

Group members’ feelings of interpersonal attraction and the sense of belonging to the group

Social Cohesion

The degree of interpersonal attraction among group members, the extent to which the group allows a person to reach a desired goal

Task Cohesion

The athlete’s objective appraisal of their group’s level of coordinated effort or teamwork; the degree to which the team and the individual members are compatible in reaching their respective goals.

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Importance of Task Cohesion

Athletes on high task cohesive teams, more than athletes on low task cohesive teams:

are more motivated to achieve success

readily accept more responsibility for team failure
feel greater incentive to overcome failure
explain contest outcomes more accurately (i.e., make more accurate causal attributions)

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Does Team Cohesion Affect Team Success?

Relationship between social cohesion and team success is moderate to low.

Relationship between task cohesion and team success and high and statistically significant.

Task cohesion is more important to team success than social cohesion.

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Cohesion and Team Member Satisfaction

Team member satisfaction is a perception of individual team members.

There is a high relationship between social cohesion and team member satisfaction (i.e., athletes who get along and like each other have high group member satisfaction)

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Task Cohesion and Satisfaction Level

Team success (i.e., winning) is highly related to team member satisfaction.
Task cohesion is related to group success, and group success is related to team member satisfaction.
Thus, task cohesion is indirectly related to satisfaction.

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Collective (Group) Efficacy

A sense of collective competence shared by group members when allocating, coordinating, and integrating their resources in a successful response to specific situational demands.

Comprised of four components

Shared Beliefs

Coordinative Activities

Collective Resources

Situational Specificity

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Self-Handicapping

Strategies used by persons to protect their self-esteem by providing excuses before events occur and explaining reasons for the anticipated lack of team success (players “excuse” failure and internalize success).

Influences group cohesion

Players feel, before the contest, that they are not responsible for team failure, but take responsibility for team success.

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Self-Handicapping (con’t)

Improves players’ sense of acceptance and support from other team members, and increases sharing responsibility for team failure

High SH is related to low task cohesion (degree of team harmony and effective interactions while executing sport skills during the contest).

SH ensures low to moderate expectancies; use of external attributions for failure (difficult situation, bad luck, disadvantaged)

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Social Loafing

A decrease in individual effort and performance due to the physical presence of other persons as opposed to performing the task alone.

Conditions Under Which Social Loafing Occurs

When more than one person performs the same task at the same time

When a performer is unmotivated

When a performer perceives criterion task as: (a) unimportant, (b) meaningless, (c) performed by relative strangers, (d) under non-competitive conditions, (e) and/or not satisfying or enjoyable

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Social Loafing (con’t)

Strategies to Prevent or Overcome SL

Identify performer’s efforts
Help performer form perceptions that he/she is making a unique and important contribution to the team
Task should be performed by persons who know each other (e.g., high social cohesion)
Individual should have a stake in the outcome
Individual should feel in control over their efforts and personal responsibility for the outcome

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Ways to Improve Team Cohesion

1. Acquaint players with the responsibilities of their teammates

2. Recognize each player’s special contribution to the team

3. Know the personal side of each athlete’s life, including their birthday, interests and future careers, and other personal issues

4. Communicate something positive to athletes after each game

5. Provide players with feedback that is instructive and helpful

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Ways to Improve Team Cohesion

6. Teach players how to support each other

7. Set limits in improper player behavior, and be consistent in carrying out those limits

8. Discourage and try to prevent players from quitting the team

9. Elect and work with player representatives; let these representatives (or team captains) represent the team and meet regularly with the coach

10. Develop leadership among team members

Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice 5e

Study Questions About Team Cohesion

Does group cohesion influence player team satisfaction?

2. Does group cohesion influence team performance?

3. Does higher team satisfaction translate into better team performance?

4. Will team success result in higher team member satisfaction?