Leadership in sport - L6

What is leadership?

The process by which an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal

What is a prescribed leader?

A leader appointed by an outside organising body. The team doesn’t always have a say over the choice of leader

What is a challenge for prescribed leaders?

They might have to work hard to gain backing from the group and build relationships to get people on side

What is an emergent leader?

They come from within the group either because of skill or because they are nominated by the group. They are not officially appointed but emerge into the role

What is a benefit of an emergent leader?

They might get more backing from the group because they are elected through a group decision

Draw the basic leadership model

Leadership —> Psychological outcomes —> behaviour/performance

What are psychological outcomes in the basic leadership model?

The impact of the leader behaviour on athlete psychology, such as commitment, confidence, and motivation

What is the behaviour/performance in the basic leadership model?

The impact of the athlete’s psychology on their behaviours, such as extra training, effort in training, and competition performances

What are characteristics of an autocratic/task orientated leadership style?

• Dictate

• Inflexible approach to the group

• Task needs to be completed as quickly and effectively as possible

• Advice, ideas, and comments are not welcome

• Impersonal and no athlete-coach relationships

• Group members slow or stop when the leader is absent because they don’t know how to make the decision

What is a disadvantage of an autocratic leadership style?

It can lead to members being aggressive towards each other when things go wrong

When can an autocratic leadership style be good?

When quick decisions need to be made, such as a timeout

What are characteristics of democratic/social/person orientated leaders

• Make decisions after a consultation process with the group

• Actively encourage group involvement and want the group to contribute

• More informal and relaxed approach

• Leader makes the final decision based on information collected from group members and their own thoughts and ideas

What are the advantages of democratic leaders?

• Groups can still function when the leader is absent as the group can make their own decisions

• Effective in co-active sports, like football

What are characteristics of the Laissez-Faire leadership style?

• Sometimes called “no leadership”

• Leader stands aside and allows group members to make their own decisions

• Group members get on with things their own way

• Leader might help out the team in difficult situations but offer no direction or involvement and group goals are less likely to be achieved

• Leader doesn’t get involved unless they have to

What are disadvantages of the Laissez-Faire leadership style?

Group members tend to be aggressive with each other when things go wrong and they give up easily

What does the trait approach of leadership state?

Leaders are born not made

According to the trait approach, what determines if someone will be a good leader?

Good leaders will have certain characteristics that make it likely they will be leaders, no matter what situation they are in. They will be a good leader if they have all of the personality traits that make a good leader

What does the behavioural approach to leadership state?

Leaders are made not born, so anyone can be taught how to be a good leader

What does the interactionist approach to leadership state?

The interaction between the individual and their situation affect the effectiveness of leadership

What are characteristics of relationship-centred/person-orientated leaders?

• Focussed on developing relationships with the people in the group

• Work hard to maintain communication with members

• Help maintain levels of social interaction between members and themselves

• Develop respect and trust with others

When is a relationship-centred/person-orientated leader most effective?

With athletes that are experienced or highly skilled who need someone to keep pushing them and keep them motivated

What are characteristics of a task-centred/task orientated leader?

• More concerned with achieving goals or objectives

• Tend to create plans and decide on priorities

• Assign members to tasks

• Ensure members stay on task with focus on increasing overall group activity

When is a task-centred/task orientated leader most effective?

With less experienced, less skilled performers who need constant instruction and feedback

Draw Chelladurai’s multidimensional model of leadership

• Situational characteristics, leader characteristics, and member characteristics at the top

• Required behaviour, actual behaviour, and preferred behaviour in the middle

• Performance and satisfaction at the bottom

• Arrows from situational characteristics to required and preferred behaviour

• Arrows from member characteristics to preferred and required behaviour

• Arrow from leader characteristics to actual behaviour

• Arrow from required behaviour to actual behaviour

• Arrow from preferred behaviour to actual behaviour

• Double sided arrows from actual behaviour to performance and satisfaction

What is the actual behaviour?

What the leader actually does in a situation

What is the preferred behaviour?

What the group members want the leader to be like

What is the required behaviour?

What is required by the situation or task

What are examples of situational characteristics?

• Environmental conditions

• Squad or team size

• Time constraints

• Strength of the opposition

• Socio-cultural characteristics

What are examples of leader characteristics?

• Skill

• Qualifications

• Personality

• Experience

What are examples of member characteristics?

• Age

• Gender

• Personality

• Motivation

• Competence

• Experience

How does the multidimensional model of leadership predict performance and satisfaction?

If required, actual, and preferred behaviour all match, congruence is achieved and both performance and satisfaction will be high. If the actual behaviour doesn’t match either the required or preferred behaviour, both satisfaction and performance will be low. If actual behaviour matches required behaviour but not preferred behaviour, performance will be high but satisfaction will be low. If actual behaviour matches preferred behaviour but not required behaviour, satisfaction will be high but performance will be low

What is transformational leadership?

Where leaders go beyond their own self-interests and inspire, encourage, and stimulate others to exceed minimally expected standards

How does transformational leadership enhance motivation, morale, and performance of group members?

• It connects the members’ sense of identity and self to the project and the collective identity of the organisation

• The leader becomes a role model for the members that inspires them and makes them interested

• It challenges members to take greater responsibility for their work

• It helps to understand the strengths and weaknesses of members

What are 3 research support examples for transformational leadership?

• A mediational analysis found that transformational leadership creates an environment that encourages intrinsic motivation, giving indirect improvements to performance

• Another mediational analysis identified a variable that links independent and dependent variables, and whose existence explains the relationship between the other 2 variables

• Smith et al., found that transformational leadership increases intra-team communication, so it indirectly increases group cohesion

What is transactional leadership?

Transactional leadership involves a series of exchanges (transactions) between leader and athlete. “If you do this, I’ll do this”

Draw the meta-cognitive model of vision, support and challenge

• Coach behaviours leading to vision, support, and challenge

• Vision, support, and challenge leading to attitude and motivation

• Attitude and motivation leading to athlete behaviour

According to the meta-cognitive model, how do great coaches inspire their athletes?

• Vision - creating an inspirational vision of the future

• Support - providing the necessary support to achieve the vision

• Challenge - providing the challenge to achieve the vision

How does a leader provide inspirational motivation and what is the meta-cognitive cognition as a result of this?

The leader would:

• Develop and articulate positive vision of the future

• Inspire others to achieve that vision

• Express belief in others that they can achieve this vision

This leads to the vision aspect of the model

How does a leader provide appropriate role modelling and what is the meta-cognitive cognition as a result of this?

The leader sets the example for others to follow, consistent with leader/organisation values.

This would lead to the vision aspect of the model

How does a leader provide acceptance of group goals and what is the meta-cognitive cognition as a result of this?

The leader would:

• Aim to promote cooperation among followers

• Get members to work together towards a common goal

• Develop teamwork

This would lead to the vision aspect of the model

How does a leader provide individual consideration and what is the meta-cognitive cognition as a result of this?

The leader would:

• Recognise individual differences

• Demonstrate concern for the development of followers

This would lead to the support aspect of the model

How does a leader provide contingent reward and what is the meta-cognitive cognition as a result of this?

The leader provides positive reinforcement for appropriate follower behaviour.

This would lead to the support aspect of the model

How does a leader provide intellectual stimulation and what is the meta-cognitive cognition as a result of this?

The leader would create an environment that nurtures creative and proactive innovative thinking.

This would lead to the challenge aspect of the model

How does a leader provide high performance expectations and what is the meta-cognitive cognition as a result of this?

The leader demonstrates expectation for excellence in followers.

This would lead to the challenge aspect of the model

What are 4 issues with the transformational leadership concept?

• Reliance on correlational data - cannot infer causality

• Overemphasis of the theory on leadership processes at a dyadic level - explains leaders’ influence on members but not on the whole group

• Insufficient specification of situational variables - a fundamental assumption that the underlying leadership processes and outcomes are the same in all situations

• Does not identify any situation where transformational leadership is detrimental

What is distributed leadership?

A wide range of individuals and groups are brought into leadership, not just one coach. Leadership is interactive rather than leader-based

What is a problem with distributed leadership?

There is little empirical evidence, so more research is required