Sport psych- Leadership*

Question 1

Define leadership in sport

Answer 1

an individual having enough influence over the behaviour of others to motivate them to follow the individual’s own set goals

Question 2

what can effective leadership affect?

Answer 2

can affect performance of individuals and teams in all sports

Question 3

What can a good leader do?

Answer 3

A good leader can motivate others and can give focus or direction to attaining goals e.g success and enjoyment in sport

Question 4

Example of leader positions in sport

Answer 4

-captain
-manager
-director
-coach
-physio
-team psychologist

Question 5

what is leadership important in?

Answer 5

influencing behaviour in sport

Question 6

what did sport psychologist Barrow (1977) see leadership as?

Answer 6

• saw leadership as ‘the behavioural process influencing individuals and groups towards a set goal’

Question 7

what does leadership involve and what does is affect?

Answer 7

-leadership involves personal relationships and affects the motivation of individuals and groups

Question 8

what are the qualities that an effective leader has/ qualities of leadership?

Answer 8

-good communication skills
-high motivation
-enthusiasm
-having a clear goal/ vision that needs to be achieved
-empathy
-being good at the sport/ comprehensive knowledge
-charisma -> certain presence and great powers of persuasion

Question 9

How can someone have leadership qualities?

Answer 9

-some qualities may be learned
-some may be seen as innate

Question 10

what are emergent leaders?

Answer 10

-come from within the group because they are skilful or been selected by the team

Question 11

what are prescribed leaders?

Answer 11

-Prescribed leaders are appointed to a team from an external source

Question 12

what are there in both methods of becoming a leader?

Answer 12

There are both advantages and disadvantages in both methods of becoming a leader (emergent and prescribed)

Question 13

Advantages of emergent leaders

Answer 13

-can win over the ‘hearts and minds’ of team mates as they are recognised as being one of their own- rather than being seen as unknown and a potentially threatening ‘outsider’

Question 14

Disadvantage of an emergent leader

Answer 14

-may lack objectivity
-may have own friendships within the group that may colour their judgment
|> e.g a for a captain or manager making team selection decisions

Question 15

Advantage of prescribed leaders

Answer 15

-more objective
-could bring a ‘fresh pair of eyes’ to a team or individuals-> may result in more creative strategies being implemented
-may carry more authority or power that has been given to them by others

Question 16

Disadvantage of prescribed leaders

Answer 16

-might be that they are not aware or do not share:
-team culture
-ways of working or friendship groups
|> this may delay effective decision making

Question 17

what are the 3 styles of leadership?

Answer 17

1. autocratic-> task orientated, more dictatorial in style, make most of the decisions, tend to have commanding and directing approaches, show little interest in individuals making up the group
2. Democratic- person oriented, value views of other group members, share decisions
3. Laissez- faire- may very few decisions, give little feedback, individual group members do as they wish

Question 18

Describe autocratic style of leadership

Answer 18

-when the leader makes most of the decisions
-concentrates on the job to be done or is more concerned with the end product-> such as performance or winning, or has a clear pre- determined goal

Question 19

When is autocratic style of leadership used?

Answer 19

-when discipline and control are needed
-or when hostile groups are involved
-used when there is a lack of time
-for the early (cognitive stage) of learning
-novice performers, team players, males prefer an autocratic style from their leader
-this style is best when situation is dangerous or when task is clear and unambiguous
-also if leaders personality is autocratic or authoritarian

Question 20

Describe democratic style of leadership

Answer 20

-this is where the leader is more concerned with interpersonal relations and is more person/ social orientated in their approach
-leader invites contributions and shares the decision making

Question 21

Explain the use of democratic leadership style

Answer 21

-when group members wish or are able to participate in decision- making
-suits more advanced performers who have the knowledge to contribute or motivate group members
-a social/ friendly match suits this style, or when a attacks demands greater interpersonal communication, and is the leader and group members are well known to each other
-research-> females more likely to prefer this approach
-suitable if task/ situation is not dangerous
-suited for small teams or individual sports people
-suitable if leaders personality lends itself to a democratic or social approach
-when more time available

Question 22

Describe laissez- faire style

Answer 22

-when leader has no direct influence on group members
- or leader takes a back seat, less groups members make their own decisions

Question 23

Explanation of the Laissez- faire style of leadership

Answer 23

-suitable for high level performers and elite athletes
-helps to develop creativity for team members or individuals
-leader has full trust in all members capabilities
-suitable if task involves individual decision making
|> or is leader is creating an assessment situation/ assessing group members
-style may also be adopted if leader is incompetent or unable to employ any other style of leadership

Question 24

why should coaches not rely on the autocratic approach?

Answer 24

may result is hostility and may deter athletes from taking on any personal responsibility in situations where their coach is not present

Question 25

what may be the result of the democratic approach?

Answer 25

-les work being done
-but will increase the positive effects of interaction

Question 26

Should the laissez-fair approach be avoided?

Answer 26

YES
-this approach should be avoided in most situations
-although this style does encourage more creativity amongst team members, and give them more responsibility

Question 27

what did the psychologist Lewin (1939) research?

Answer 27

-looked at styles of leadership that groups prefer
-boys with a democratic leader got on much better
-they did less work than with an autocratic leader, but the work was comparable in quality

Question 28

The results of research by sport psychologists led by crust (2006) in a review of leadership in sport show the following: (4 points)

Answer 28

1. Novice athletes prefer more rewards, experts prefer more democratic and social support coaching
   2.Team performers, prefer more training and instruction, autocratic coaching+ rewards
   Individual sports people-> prefer democratic coaching and social support
2. Male athletes prefer autocratic style
   Females-> democratic
   4.Older athletes- prefer democratic coaching, social support and training and instruction
   |> athletes of all ages seem to value rewards equally

Question 29

what are the 3 theories of leadership?

Answer 29

-Trait perspective
-Social learning theory
-interactionist theory

Question 30

Trait perspective theory of leadership

Answer 30

-claims that leaders have a genetic disposition, innate characteristics that show leader qualities
|> “leaders are born not made”
-doubted that all characteristics are fully down to innate disposition
-shows that leadership traits are stable and enduring
|> and can be generalised across diff situations, makes some people leaders in whatever situation that they are in

Question 31

Argument against trait theory

Answer 31

-people in sport tend to be quite specific in their leadership skills, depending on their particular situation, which works against the more generalised approach of trait perspective

Question 32

what doe trait perspective assume?

Answer 32

-certain traits produce certain patterns of behaviour
-these patterns are consistent across different situations
-people are born with these leadership traits

Question 33

Social learning theory of leadership

Answer 33

-theory claims that leadership characteristics are learned from others
-behaviour of others is watched and copied-> vicarious learning/ reinforcement
-if you observe another (the model) showing leadership behaviour+ that person is of higher status than you->you are more likely to copy that behaviour (role model/ significant other)
-a person in sport may show leadership behaviour that has been learned from other significant people

Question 34

what does social learning theory show the importance of?

Answer 34

-shows the importance of the social environment for adopting leadership qualities
-different from the trait approach which does not take the environment into account

Question 35

Interactionist theory of leadership

Answer 35

-states that and individual may have in-born traits e.g assertiveness, but they are not evident unless a situation (state) demands the leadership behaviour
-theory accounts for that some popped are not leaders in everyday life, but can show leadership qualities sin sporting situations
-interactionist approach involves the interaction if traits (innate) and the changing environment

Question 36

what is contingency approach?

Answer 36

the success of leadership traits is determined by situational factors

Question 37

what is vicarious learning?

Answer 37

the person observes that a rewards is given to another person for certain behaviours and learns to emulate the same behaviour

Question 38

what is Fiedler’s contingency model of leadership?

Answer 38

-1967
-composed a model which looked at the way a leader interacts with the situation finds themselves in
-he used two classifications of leader- the task-orientated leader (focus on peformance) and the person-orientated leader (focus on personal relationships)
-saw that the effectiveness of these leaders depends on the favourableness of the situation, which depends on:
-relationship between the leader and the group members
-the structure of the task
-the leaders power an deposition of authority

Question 39

Conclusion of Fiedler’s model of leadership

Answer 39

-the situation is most favourable if:
-the relationship between leader and group members are warm and positive
-the task is clear and unambiguous
-leader his in a strong position of authority

-is a situation is unfavourable, the opposite applies

-according to Fiedler, task- orientated leaders are more effective in situations that are at the extremes (most favourable or least favourable)
-person- orientated leaders are most effective in situations that are moderately favourable

Question 40

what is Chelladurai’s multi-dimensional model of sports leadership?

Answer 40

-effective leaders depend on situational factors, the characteristics of the leader, and the expectations and natures of the group members

Question 41

SUMMARY of leadership

Answer 41

-leadership involves influencing people towards set goals
-leaders can fill positions of responsibility, either b y being emerging or prescribed
-main leadership styles: authoritarian, task- orientated style, the democratic, person- orientates style and laissez- faire style
-most leaders have a mix of style but tend towards one of them
-there are preferred styles amongst sports people, depends on situational and group characteristic variables
-leaders may be born or made, research points to social theory and interactionist theory being more realistic
-effective leadership depends on situational factors, characteristics of leader, expectations and nature of group members-> known as multi-dimensional model of leadership
-Fiedler’s theory states that favourableness of the situation must be considered before adopting a particular style