Group success

Group: two or more individuals interacting with each other, connected via social relationships, share a common objective, sense of group identity, share norms/values

Sociogram: a chart showing the inter-relationships/shared objectives within a group

• stars - highly popular members
• isolates - infrequently chosen individuals
• pairs - reciprocal partners
• clusters - subgroups/cliques

Group dynamics: the study of groups and the interactive processes that occur between people in a group 

Group dynamic processes:

• norms (expected behaviour)
• roles
• relationships
• group development
• the need to belong to the group
• social influences
• effects on behaviour of people within the group

Stage 1: Forming

• get to know each other
• find out about task/objective
• show respect for each other (but not working together)
• coach tells team what to do

Stage 2: Storming

• team members compete with each other -> forming alliances
• different types of leader emerge
• less experienced members will not compromise
• diificult stage -> team may fail/coach must help the team through this stage

Stage 3: Norming

• team members agree how to work together -> rules develop/acceptable behvaviour is defined
• development of trust, ability to accept criticism of new ideas
• leaders emerge and start to take responsibility for decision making -> coach becomes more of a consultant

Stage 4: Performing

• team works as a unit -> high levels of interdependence/motivation
• experienced/skilled/knowledgeable team members are able to make decisions independently
• consultation is expected, leadership is devolved but authority/direction are accepted in stress
• dissent is used in an evaluative manner to improve performance

Cohesion: the dynamic forces that cause a team to stick together

Task cohesion: found in a group that is bound together in a drive to achieve a common objective, a focus on the task, e.g. winning a cup

• Players need to be able to interact effectively/ good communication
• Understand own role/other’s role/good co-ordination
• Poor cohesion can be classed as a faulty process
• Good task cohesion can help social cohesion
• task cohesion is more important than social cohesion

Social cohesion: found in a group that is bound together by social bonds, social attractiveness and relationships 

• Social cohesion is not vital for group success
• Social cohesion can undermine performance/formation of cliques/not challenging poor performance for fear of upsetting others
• Social cohesion can aid performance by challenging the norm

Carron proposed four key antecedents to the development of cohesiveness:

• Environmental factors – size of group/time/facilities/age 
• Personal factors - ability/motivation/satisfaction/similarity of group 
• Leadership factors – style/behaviour/personality/relationship with group 
• Team factors – focus on task/motivation/stability/ability/shared experiences 

Steiner's model: 

Actual productivity = Potential productivity - Losses due to faulty group processes

Faulty group processes:

• Co-ordination losses eg poor teamwork/ poor tactics/poor communication
• Motivational losses eg loss of concentration/low self-confidence/lack of recognition

-> level of cooperation between players varies with type of activity e.g. basketball>athletics

-> sports where higher levels of cooperation are required are more likely to suffer from losses due to poor coordination

-> highly interactive sports requires coach to spend more time practising drills/set plays to get the timings and player movement patters right

The ringlemann effect: the diminishing contribution of each individual as group size increases

• motivational losses tend to occur as group size increases
• has an adverse effect on output/productivity
• e.g. tug of war -> individuals in larger groups pulled less hard than in smaller groups

Social loafing: loss of individual effort in a group due to a reduction in motivation

• some people in a group may feel that their own personal contributions have little effect so try less hard
• others may perceive that others are not trying hard so they feel justified in working less hard themselves
• individuals feel less motivated to work hard and are more likely to enage in social loafing
• social loafing is eliminated or dramatically reduced when individuals believed that their efforts and contributions were monitored or noticed

• Practice/training to ensure all understand the tactics
• Give individuals specific responsibility/set goals
• Explain specific roles within the team
• Give feedback/video analysis of performance/ reinforcement
• Develop peer support/encourage each other/encourage open discussion/an effective leader
• Vary practice to maintain motivation/train in small groups
• Improve fitness levels
• Team bonding exercises/social outings
• Avoid social cliques
• Create a group identity eg team kit
• Develop self-confidence/self-efficacy/self-esteem/ credit use of attributions
• Maintain team stability if possible/limit change