leadership Flashcards
lecture 9
what is the definiton of leadership?
“the process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal” (Northouse, 2001, p. 3).
why are there problems defining leadership?
- 1000s of different definitions not one unifying definition
- Having influence vs power
- Good and Bad leadership
- Does it matter?? Yes But…..
- Perspective of the focal theory
what are the two types of leaders?
- Prescribed Leaders – appointed by an outside organising body
· Chosen to be there by an external group
· (e.g. Emma Hayes – Chelsea appointed Manager) - Emergent Leaders – come from the group itself (emerge and take charge) either because of skill / ability or if they are nominated by the group
· Stand out from the group- position of influence over the rest of the group
· People around them are drawn to them
· (e.g. Katie McCabe – Rep of Ireland captain)
Emergent leaders are in a better position than the prescribed leaders: have more of a say.
what is the basic leadership model?
explains where leadership is in terms of performance
Leadership behaviour affects psychological outcomes of athletes, which, in turn, affects the behaviour and performance demonstrated by athletes.
what are the components of the leadership model?
- leadership: what you do as a leader
- psychologial outcomes: impact of leader behaviours on athlete psychology (commitment, confidence, motivation, satisfaction, team cohesion)
- behaviour/performance: impact of the athletes psychology on their behaviour (time spent doing extra training, effort invested in training,, performance during competitions, sacrifices made for sport)
what is an autocratic leadership style?
Task Orientated
* Dictates
○ Don’t care about opinion/input from athletes
* Inflexible approach to group
* Task needs to be completed
○ as quickly & effectively as possible
○ Advice, ideas or comments not welcome
* Cool & impersonal
○ Don’t try to get to know athletes
* Group members tends to stop / slow down if leader is absent
○ Never had input, don’t know what to say
○ Groups fall apart as they don’t know what to do
○ Aggressive towards each other when things go wrong
* Effective when quick decisions need to be made
○ E.g.: volleyball timeouts- need one voice.
what is a democratic leadership style?
Social or Person Orientated
* Make decisions after consultation process with group
○ Final decision rests on coach but will take groups advice
○ Actively encourage involvement of group
* Adopt more informal relaxed approach to leadership
* Leader makes final decision
○ based on information collected from group members and own thoughts/ideas
* Group members continue to work on tasks when leader is absent
○ They are used to providing their own input
○ In proactive sports
* Effective in co-active sports
what is a laissez-faire leadership style?
- ‘No leadership’ – the leaders stands aside & allow group to make its own independent decisions
○ Will intervene if they are called up on but have very little input
○ Happy to let the group decide for themselves and work independently (in their own way)
○ Group members get on with things in their own way - Leaders may help members get out of difficulties but offer no direction / involvement and group goals less likely to be achieved
- Group members tens to be aggressive towards each other when things went wrong and give up easily
what is the trait approach to studying leadership?
- The Great Man Theory
○ Great leaders are born not made
○ Leaders ‘Born Not Made’ - Successful leaders have certain personality characteristics that make it likely they will be leaders no matter what situation they are in.
○ Part of who we are, genetic makeup - However no definitive set of traits that characterise a good leader
○ We don’t know what the personality traits are.
what is the behavioural approach to studying leadership?
- Good leaders are ‘Made Not Born’
○ Anyone can be taught to be a good leader
○ Environmental/ social influence - Links with Social Learning Theory
○ Bandura- bobo doll experiment
○ Observe behaviours and repeat them
○ Observing ineffective leadership and NOT replicating their actions. - Suggests people learn to be good leaders by observing behaviours of other good leaders in a variety of situations, reproducing those behaviours in similar situations and then continuing them should they be reinforced.
what is the interactionist approach to studying leadership?
- considers other factors that could affect the effectiveness of leadership, mainly the interaction between the individual and their situation.
○ Both trait and state- how they interact with each other.
what aee relationship-centred/person-oriented leaders?
- Focused on developing relationships with the people in the group
○ Work hard to maintain communication with members- Help maintain levels of social interaction between members & themselves
○ Develop respect & trust with others - Think of basic psychological needs: relatedness
○ How are we developing these individuals as more than just athletes? - Generally more effective with experienced, highly skilled athletes
- Highly skilled athletes already highly task-orientated
- Help maintain levels of social interaction between members & themselves
what are task-centred/ task-oriented leaders?
- More concerned with meeting goals and objectives
○ Tend to create plans
○ Decide on priorities- Assign members to task
○ Get group together and give them roles
○ Ensure members stay on task with overall focus on increasing overall group activity - Tend to be more effective with less experiences, less skilled performers who need constant instruction and feedback
○ Best for new athletes when starting out to learn their role within the sport
- Assign members to task
why is it vital that coaches adjust their leadership style to suit athletes?
different athletes will prefer task-oriented or relationship-oriented leaders.
a leader who gets the right balance ebtween providing a supportive environemnt and focusing on getting the job done is the most effective leader.
its a leaders role to get to know theur performers, so they know where to concerntrtate their efforts.
what are the limitations with research into sports specific leadership?
- Despite appeal of situational theories and other interactional approaches to the study of leadership, when sport specific research emerged, the results provided minimal support to theories derived from outside sport contexts (Horn, 2002).
- Some theorists suggested main problem with attempting to transpose general theories of leadership to sports settings is the failure to consider the unique characteristics of sports teams (Chelladurai & Carron, 1978; Terry & Howe, 1984).
