Group dynamics

Question 1

What is a group?

Answer 1

• two or more people who:
• interact with eachother (communicate)
• share a common goal (same aim)
• have mutual awareness (influence and depend on eachother)
• have a collective identity (specific kit)

Question 2

What is Tuckman’s model?

Answer 2

• suggests that there are 4 stages that groups go through in order to begin working together effectively
• forming
• storming
• norming
• performing
• time it takes depends on experience of players and size of group

Question 3

What happens during Forming?

Answer 3

• group members initially get together
• roles and responsibilities unclear
• members decide if they fit in with the team
• members start working together

Question 4

What happens during Storming?

Answer 4

• relationship strained
• competition for roles and positions
• boundries are pushed - authority challenged
• goal is unclear or questioned
• potential conflict stage
• needs to be resolved quickly

Question 5

What happens during Norming?

Answer 5

• conflicts are resolved
• goal is clarified
• greater commitment to achieving goal
• authority figure respected
• group cohesion develops

Question 6

What happens during Performing?

Answer 6

• players interact effectively
• full commitment to achieving team goals
• individual roles and responsibilities understood

Question 7

What is task cohesion?

Answer 7

• group members work in unity to meet common aim
• may not socialise away from the team and may not share views
• come together in sporting situations
• important in interactive sports where teammates must work together and rely on eachother and their coordination to achieve
• other require each player to have a different role
• Eg/ football or volleyball

Question 8

What is social cohesion?

Answer 8

• group members get along and feel attached to others
• communicate and support eachother inside and out of sporting situations
• more important in coactive sports where you perform individually but your effort contributes to the whole team performance
• every team member working hard at the same thing
• Eg/ swimming team or rowing team

Question 9

What are the impacts of cohesion?

Answer 9

• strong task cohesion is most important to performance
• good task cohesion can help social cohesion
• social cohesion impacts positively on performance

Question 10

What are the 4 factors that affect task and social cohesion?

Carron’s antecedents

Answer 10

• personal level of motivation shown, acceptance of roles, similar age, gender or ability, fitness
• environmental size of group, time available
• leadership leadership style, relationship between group and leader
• team stability of group, common experiences, common will to win

Question 11

What is Steiner’s model of group performance?

Answer 11

• result of group effort could be based on an equation that sums up the influences on cohesion
  Actual productivity = potential productivity - losses due to faulty processes

Question 12

What is actual productivity?

Answer 12

• teams level of acheivement on a specific task
• Eg/ netball team reach semifinals in cup competition

Question 13

What is potential productivity?

Answer 13

• teams best possible level of achievement when it is cohesive
• Eg/ netball team could have won

Question 14

What are losses due to faulty processes?

Answer 14

• things that go wrong including coordination and motivation problems
• these losses reduce the levels of cohesion and lower actual productivity

Question 15

What are the problems that affect productivity?

Answer 15

• social loafing
• coordination problems (team members not communicating)
• lack of understanding of role in the team
• lack of understanding of strategies set by coach
• Ringlemann effect
• motivational losses

Question 16

What are the strategies to overcome coordination losses?

Answer 16

• set team and individual targets
• work on specific strategies
• cosch could utilise team talks
• coach ensures everyone understans their role
• use video analysis to highlight coordination errors
• improve communication skills between players
• include group cohesion

Question 17

What is the Ringlemann effect?

Answer 17

• as the number of people in the group increases, the level of performance of each individual in the group decreases
• due to reduction in motivation rather than loss of coordination

Question 18

What is social loafing?

Answer 18

• when a performer lowers the level of effort they contribute to the team
• happens when they believe they are not valued and input is not noticed
• ## eventually give up if coach does not praise you for good performance

Question 19

What are the factors that may cause performers to loaf?

Answer 19

• no clear role within the group
• low self efficacy/ confidence
• teammates are not trying so they also put less effort in
• coach is a poor leader
• high levels of anxiety
• injured
• experiencing social inhibition

Question 20

What are the strategies to enhance team performance?

Answer 20

• highlight individual performances
• give specific roles and responsibilities within the team
• develop social cohesion
• rewarding cohesive behaviour
• raising individual confidence levels
• encourage group identity (set kit)
• select players who work well together
• emphasise team goal
• punish social loafing
• select players who are less likely to social loaf
• train with audience present
• train with audience present