A. Group dynamics play an important role in sports. Sports and teamwork involve interaction,
working toward shared goals, adapting to environmental challenges, and the
balancing of individual and group needs.
Teams differ from groups in terms of shared, common goals. There is interdependency of members to reach
these goals.
B. Teams and organized groups develop and change over time in
somewhat predictable ways.
Linear changes: Bruce Tuckman’s (1965) theory of group
development argues that groups go through four stages
Forming : members get to know
each other, compare themselves, determine if they want to remain in the group;
Storming: stage characterized by
member resistance and conflict, challenges to the leader
Norming: Stage of solidarity and cooperation, unity
develops, and rules (norms) are followed
Performing: roles have stabilized and people band
together for success
C. Other theories either stress the cyclical nature of group
development or that development may change as a function of environmental
demands
D.
How are groups structured?
Roles: behaviors required or
expected. These may be formal roles
(often conveyed by job title) or informal roles (those that develop through
interaction over time)
Roles must be clear to the members
Roles must be accepted by the members
Roles can be in conflict with one
another. There can be competing roles
or not enough time or resources to carry out the role.
Norms are behaviors and
expectations that members are expected to follow. Teams develop many norms including norms that define their
expected productivity.
Question? In terms of group dynamics, how is a
baseball team structured. Respond in
terms of roles, norms, leadership, communication, and problem-solving.
E.
Groups have an atmosphere or climate that indicates how the
overall interpersonal relationships are perceived (e.g., from cold to
warm). This is based upon:
Social support: resources provided from one person to another to support
their well-being
Proximity or physical closeness
Team distinctiveness
Member trust, leader fairness
Similarity of individual goals
F.
Usually collections
of individuals do not work up to the level that would be expected based on the
skills of the individual members. Why?
There are drops in
member motivation or effort. This is
known as social loafing.
There are problems in
coordinating action from one member to another
Therefore, in sports
with fewer member interactions, team performance is most highly related to
individual performance skills.
The Ringelmann
Effect refers to the decreases in individual performance that occur as you
increase the number of people in the group.
G. Recommendations to reduce social
loafing.
1. Increase the focus on the individual (their unique
contributions, their identifiability).
2. Determine the situations (antecedents) in which loafing occurs