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AS / A Level Sport and Physical Education

Group Dynamics

In the context of interactive sports it is said that a champion team will defeat a team of individual champions and therefore the study of how groups operate as a unit is important

Can you think of an example of when this has happened?

2006 – Ryder Cup, Europe had one player in the top ten rankings yet won against America!

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So what is a group?

Although a group can be described as comprising three or more individuals, this is not an adequate definition.

The important factor in the formation of a group is that individuals interact. Group members should be aware and relate to each other by having a shared objective, which will bring about interaction.

“Groups are those social aggregates that involve mutual awareness and the potential for interaction” (McGrath)

What makes a good Group?

Watch the following

clips of these teams,

write down what you

think makes them so

successful?

What makes a successful group/team?

• have a strong collective identity• members have an opportunity to socialise• have members who share goals and ambitions• and share ownership of ideas• have members who are able to communicate

effectively (on the same wavelength)

• have strong cohesion (see later slides)• have members who value relationships within

the group• have a successful coach or leader (see later

slides) • who ensures that members’ contributions to the

group are valued

GROUP COHESION

According to Carron, a group will form a

“bond” if the following characteristics are in

place:

A collective identity A sense of shared purpose A clear structure for communication

The term given to describe the degree of

successful bonding or the strength of a

collective group co-operation is called

GROUP COHESION

Group cohesion: two dimensions

1. TASK COHESION

Relates to the way in which team members work

with each other to successfully complete a task.

2. SOCIAL COHESION

Involves personal relationships within the group

And relies on individuals enjoying social interaction

TASK COHESIONTo develop task cohesion the group will be

given an overall team goal which is

accepted and valued by all team members.

To achieve the long-term goal there must be

a collective affiliation to team tactics and

strategies of play.

e.g. A football team may set out to win the

league by adopting an attacking policy at

home and away matches.

Task cohesion is most important in

interactive games, e.g hockey

SOCIAL COHESION

To develop social cohesion the group leader

would create opportunities for social

development. An environment would be

created where players could interact

positively by relaxing and making friends.

e.g. A touring team often develops strong social bonds.

Social cohesion is most important in

Co-active sports, e.g track and field

TASK - Identify a successful sports team or organisation

By applying the terms of McGrath and Carron, discuss in pairs how well the team operates as a unit

Identify outstanding individuals, key pairings or sub-groups that operate in the context of the whole group

Identify an occasion when the cohesiveness of the unit had broken down and suggest reasons for this

Discuss how cohesiveness was restored

CARRON’s MODEL

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COH ESI ON

environm entalfactors

personalfactors

leadershipfactors

teamfactors

FOUR factors affect the development of cohesion

ENVIRONMENTAL• factors binding members to a team

– contracts, location, age, eligibility• avoid star system, provide opportunities for

socialising

PERSONAL• factors which members believe are important

– motives for taking part• develop ownership feelings and social groupings

within the team

LEADERSHIP• the behaviour of leaders and coaches

TEAM• factors relating to the group

– team identity, targets, member ability and role

• creation of team short and long-term goals• rewarding of individual and team efforts

SOCIO-GRAMOne way to gather information about the

dynamics of a group is to compile a

socio-gram.

In a socio-gram, each player nominates

players with whom they could best work

within a team situation

TASK - identify the following:

Who is the most popular and would possibly be captain?

Who is an exclusive group. The term given to a sub-group.

Who are reciprocal pairs. Friends who vote for each other.

Who would be a reject? Making nominations but receiving none back.

Who is an Isolate, someone who made and received no nominations.

SOCIO-GRAM

E

H

F

A

B

G

J

L

ID

C K

COHESION - BreakdownMost team sports rely on units within a

team working closely together and

individuals performing tasks that may

remain unnoticed by spectators.

The potential of the team to function as a

cohesive unit is affected when co-

ordination between team players fails

and motivation of the individual drops.

STEINER’S MODEL

Actual Potential Losses due

Productivity = Productivity – to Faulty

Process

(AP=PP-FP)

Actual productivity is the team performance at a

given time during the game. Potential productivity

Is the maximum capability of the group when

cohesiveness is strongest. Faulty processes relate

to the factors that can go wrong in team

performance, which will affect the group cohesion

and collective potential.

There are two faulty processes that bring about losses in potential productivity:

1. Co-ordination losses

These losses occur because the effectiveness of

the group as a unit cannot be sustained for the

duration of a match. Even the most carefully

planned and rehearsed strategies may fail

occasionally because of a positional error or an ill

timed move.

Any breakdown in teamwork is regarded as a

co-ordination loss and is termed the RINGLEMAN

effect.

Ringleman effect:

Ringleman stated that problems in team

co-ordination are more likely to occur as the

team numbers increase. Research was done

where a team of eight in a tug of war did not

pull eight times as hard as solo performers!!

2. MOTIVATION LOSSES

These relate to an individual who suffers a

reduction of motivation during performance

causing the player to withdraw effort and

coast through a game. This relaxation of

effort is called “social Loafing”

TASK – Analyse a game you last played for the school, Identify the following:

Situations when group cohesion facilitated good play.

Circumstances when team play broke down due to the onset of faulty processes

The faulty processes

How could a coach prevent the

Ringlemann effect and Social loafing

from occurring?