Group dynamics in sports: an overview and recommendations on diagnostic and intervention.

Kleinert, J., Ohlert, J., Carron, B., Eys, M., Feltz, D., Harwood, C., & Sulprizio, M. (2012). Group dynamics in sports: an overview and recommendations on diagnostic and intervention. Sport Psychologist, 26(3), 412.

by Rachel Webb

This particular article is unique in nature because it uprooting all the different aspects that we think of when discussing group dynamics, but haven’t quite studied enough to be able to manipulate one aspect and affect the behavior of many. In Group Dynamics in Sports: An Overview and Recommendations on Diagnostic and Intervention, research is brought together to be reviewed by a board of individuals in the attempt to create a more collective ground work to move forward from. Within this consensus conference experts present first a rationale and full overview for using team-focused interventions. The second aspect is in support of how sport psychologists can enhance the interpersonal skills of a team, team climate, and the coach athlete relationship. Third, the “how” facets of sport psychologists building upon their rapport and trust with the team to accomplish the goals of the team. The final aspect is dedicated to the future of team-focused interventions and the efforts needed to bring a more theory-driven, ecologically valid treatment to the table (Kleinert, Ohlert, Carron, Eys, Feltz, Harwood, & Sulprizio, 2012).

Pulling from each of the four concentrations of this article, we can look at a couple of items that highlight the premise of each. Under the umbrella of “team” there are both youth and elite players and the task of understanding the psychosocial development needs that both groups must obtain at that level of competition to be successful. In sport it is recognized that there is an impact, both negative and positive, on interpersonal processes that occur within a team. Also determined within the literature was the most to least successful interventions, which focused on team goal setting (most), interpersonal relationships, adventure experiences, and broad development of group structure of role identification or cooperation (least). The correlations of these intervention on the team produced a small but positive effect on social cohesion and a large positive effect on performance a well as enhanced perceptions of individual satisfaction (Kleinert et al, 2012).

One of the most influential characters in the dynamic of a team is the coach. Facilitating an optimal coaching environment, grasping a coaching the coach position to cultivate this psychological development and motivational climate that will best suite the athletes is a long-term goal as a sport psychologist. The importance of educating and empowering the coaches’ knowledge base given the gaps, needs, and strengths of the team is essentially what the third aspect of this article confronts. This would be one area of focus for fostering success within a team. Different approaches for improving the quality of the coach athlete relationship are also discussed in the attempt to understand the perceptions of both the athlete and coach to underpin many group processes such as goal setting or role responsibility. For a sport psychologist, the “how” is detrimental to reaching the team or the coaching staff, so provided in this article is model of the situational components broken down that ultimately determine the procedure, approach, and trust-building tactics to maintain a relationship with the team (Kleinert et al, 2012). All four components of this article promote the importance of team-focused interventions and encourage the continued research on an area that has a direct correlational effect on both athlete and overall team performance.

On May 30, 2016

A qualitative study of performance leadership and management in elite sport

This particular study is made up of a collection of interviews with the aim to understand the best practices for leadership and management in elite sports, particularly focusing of directors of Olympic sports (Fletcher & Arnold, 2011). It has become very apparent through research and interviews alike that it is important for any organization to share the same beliefs, perceptions, and expectations of goals that they want to achieve as a unit and those aspects are necessary to reach a high level of competitiveness in sports. There are multiple theoretical approaches and perspective that are used in tandem with sport psychology such as organizational psychology where they use situational, social exchange, behavioral, style, and leader effectiveness perspective in the approach to understanding performance leadership. This article provides a brief summarization and exploration of a few key approaches used in organizational psychology that aligned with the aim to understand management as it coincides with leadership. In the leadership aspect of literature, there has been a number of styles discovered such as dictatorial, autocratic, participative, and laissez faire among numerous others discussed in the study. These styles support or hinder the ability of effective leadership skills and many of these approaches have linked a variety of these leadership skills to the effectiveness of management as well. This linkage has highlighted the similarities between leadership and management effectiveness, supporting further research in how to treat these roles in a similar approach to elicit the most success in elite sports.

The purpose of this study was to investigate performance leadership and management in elite sport, specifically looking at the best practice for not only leading but also managing elite teams prior to Olympic competitions. The most profound conclusion that can be drawn from the evidence-based information provided is that “leading and managing elite sport teams is a multifaceted phenomenon involving the development of a vision, the management of operations, the leadership of people, and the creation of culture”. These four main issues that were identified are aimed to help leaders and management to disseminate their vision, optimize the process of learning, challenge the people they are instructing, and facilitate the transformation of individuals’ attitudes and group cohesion in order to maintain the highest level of performance in their teams. Future areas of development are encouraged to expand the scope of sport psychology by incorporating the knowledge of management and organizational psychology in order to enhance the service delivery of leadership and management in elite sport organizations.

On June 13, 2016   /   Learn, Coaching, Group Dynamics