Groups/Cohesion - Introduction
Every team needs a Hero …
Every hero needs a Team …
November/December 08
Groups/Cohesion
“The creation of team spirit and the building of ‘the
good team’ is one of the coaches most important
jobs …”
November/December 08
Group Dynamics of Sport Performance
• A group involves 2 or more people who are interacting with one
another in such a manner that each person influences and is
influenced by the other(s)
• Carron (1980) has identified that a ‘group’ has the following
characteristics:
• A collective identity
• A sense of shared purpose
• Structured patterns of communication
• A successful team, is one that maximises all these characteristics
November/December 08
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Cohesion is the motivation that keeps group members together and inhibits
the break up of the group
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Group members may be motivated to be in the group because of the
success it brings them or because they value the relationship within the
group
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Carron’s (1982) Conceptual Model for Cohesion (p.194-diagram)
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Four major factors can affect the development of cohesion:
Environmental
•
Personal
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Team
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Leadership
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Characteristics of a Cohesive Team
• A cohesive team has:
☺ Well defined roles and group norms
☺ Common goals
☺ A positive team identity/Unity
☺ A good working relationship/positive energy
☺ Shared responsibility/Willingness to cooperate
☺ Respect/Trust
☺ Good communication
☺ Pride in membership
☺ Synergy
November/December 08
Cohesion - Group Dynamics
• An indicator of the a amount of cohesiveness is the
frequency of statements of “we” or “our” in contrast to
statements of “I”, “me” and “mine”
• The dynamic process and tendency of a group of
individuals to stay together and combine their efforts in
order to achieve a task, objective or goal
• Cohesion identifies:
• The motivation which attracts individuals to the group
• The resistance of those members to the group breaking
up
November/December 08
Cohesion
• The level of cohesiveness can depend on a number of
factors:
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The situation
Member characteristics
Levels of motivation
Leadership style
Success
• The more cohesive a group, the better the
performance ……. True or false?
November/December 08
• The level of success of a group can depend on 2
aspects:
• Task Cohesion:
• How well the group works together to complete the task
– eg, winning the match
• Social Cohesion:
• How well the group interacts and supports each other
• Task cohesion is more important to the successful
completion of a goal. Eg:
November/December 08
GROUPS
• Why is group behaviour important in Sport/PE?
• Situations where participants and spectators operate
within these groups
• The more common form of a group in sport is the TEAM
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Why is it important that a team works well together?
To achieve goal
For individual to perform to potential
Maximise expertise/specialists within group
November/December 08
Group Dynamics and Sports Performance
• By studying group dynamics, a coach can try to identify
factors which affect cohesion and take measures to
improve cohesion
• Cohesion has been defined as the extent to which
members of the group exhibit a desire to achieve
common goals and group identity
• In order to identify cohesion a coach will need to assess
interaction:
November/December 08
Carron’s diagram of assessing Interaction
Group purpose/goal
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The Ringlemann Effect
• When does this arise?
• When the average individual performance decreases as
a group size increases
• Eight people pulled only four times as hard as one, NOT
eight times as hard
• This loss of performance was due to both co-ordination
and motivational problems
• Mainly due to individuals within the group losing
motivation
November/December 08
Sporting Examples:
• Hockey team penalty corner drill continues to break
down because the timing of the players involved does
not match
• Losses in performance due to co-ordination fault
• A water polo team are not playing very well because one
particular player is not trying very hard
• Losses in performance due to motivational fault
November/December 08
Social Loafing
• Latane (1979) also studied group performance
• He also found that group performance suffered as groups got larger
– due to motivation and coordination problems
• When individuals lose motivation when in a group situation”
• It is undesirable in teams – therefore if present – should be
eliminated
• Social loafing is caused by an individual losing their identity when
placed in a group
• Individuals may feel their efforts are not being recognised – by
spectators or team mates
November/December 08
How can Social loafing (motivation) be avoided?
• Individual performance should be highlighted
• Credit given to team situations – make individuals feel
important
– “Tackle counts” - Rugby
– “Assists” – Basketball
• Feedback to individuals about performance can help to
combat social loafing
• Support from team mates – referred to as “social
support”
• “Peer pressure” will aid elimination of social loafing and
can serve to reinforce individual effort
November/December 08
How can Social loafing (co-ordination) be avoided?
• Individuals should be selected on their interactive skills
• Teachers/coaches should emphasise that good
coordination will eventually lead to better performance
• Games using small teams may help to coordinate the
actions of different sets of players within a team
November/December 08
GROUP DYNAMICS
• A group is constantly developing and changing when
Interaction takes place
• Tuckman suggests there are 4 stages of group
development:
• FORMING – development of relationship
• STORMING – conflict between group members
establishing roles
• NORMING – group gains stability and cohesion
• PERFORMING – individuals work together towards a
collective goal
November/December 08
• Eg:
• Cricket team at start of season has a new coach, captain
and several new players
• During practice/warm up matches discussions take place
as new members establish themselves
• Roles are formed – contribution to teams potential
productivity
November/December 08
Group Performance
• The best individual performers together are going to
create the best team ……. or are they?
• Steiner (1972) created a model to link the relationship
between the individuals in a group and group
performance:
• Actual productivity = Potential productivity – Losses
due to faulty process
November/December 08
• Potential Productivity – the best possible performance
of the group
• This must take into account the resources available to
the group and the abilities of the individual members
• Steiner’s model proposes that ‘process faults’ are
responsible for groups falling short of their potential:
• Co-ordination problems – amongst team members
(team strategies that depend on them will suffer)
• Motivation problems – if individuals are not motivated –
potential of team will not be realised. (Pulling in diff
directions)
November/December 08
Jan 06 Question 5 – Exam Paper
November/December 08
Jan 06 Question 5 – Mark Scheme
November/December 08
Jan 06 – Question 4
November/December 08
Jan 06 – Mark Scheme – Q4
November/December 08
• Key Revision points – GROUPS
• Groups are characterised by individuals within them interacting and
sharing common goals
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A sports team is a typical group and those within it have a:
- Collective identity
- Shared purpose
- Patterns of communication and interpersonal attraction
A team that is cohesive is one where members are motivated to
work together
• Team cohesion depends on the motives of team members
• Some may be task motivated, some may be socially motivated
November/December 08
• A team can become cohesive because of good
performance or a cohesive team can help to produce
good performance
• Group performance depends on team coordination and
motivation
• The Ringelmann effect and research by Latane shows
that losses in team performance increase as team size
increases
• Motivational losses can be due to social loafing, which is
caused by a lack of identity of individuals within a team
• Strategies should be developed to limit the effects of
poor coordination and lack of individual motivation
November/December 08