Lesson 14 Team cohesion, Part 3
CREATING AN EFFECTIVE TEAM CLIMATE
Social support
Proximity
Distinctiveness
Fairness
Similarity
Coach should constantly assess team cohesion
Techniques for building an effective team climate through social support
1) Listening support- Listening without giving advice or being judgmental.
2) Emotional support- Providing caring and comfort.
3) Emotional-Challenge support- Challenging the other person to evaluate their attitudes,
values, feelings, and behavior.
4) Reality Confirmation support- Providing support or confirmation of the other person’s
thinking, position, or point of view.
5) Task appreciation support- Acknowledging the other person’s efforts and expressing
appreciation for their hard work.
6) Task challenge support- Challenging the other person’s thought process to encourage or
motivate the other person to greater creativity, excitement, involvement, or achievement.
7) Personal assistance support- Support to assist the other person to complete a task or resolve
a personal issue.
Source: Foundations of sport and exercise psychology. 6TH ed.
“Birds of a feather flock together and create a more distinct entity when they do. People too form a better unit if they are alike, and an effective leader develops oneness within a set by encouraging likeness among members. To do this, they recruit persons who will interact well because of similar purpose, background, training, experience or temperament…. Persons whose beliefs do not fit together will have a hard time forming a strong group.”
Source: Foundations of sport and exercise psychology. 2ND ed.
Differences in ethnicity, race, socioeconomic background, personality, and ability do not seem to matter. But, a shared vision and commitment does.
Source: Foundations of sport and exercise psychology. 2ND ed.
Team Climate Questionnaire
Read each statement and indicate how often it occurs, using the numbers on the following scale:
1 = Never occurs 2 = Sometimes occurs 3 = Usually occurs 4 = Always occurs
________ 1. I can make many of the decisions that affect he way I play.
________ 2. I can count on the coach to keep things I say confidential.
________ 3. Members of the coaching staff pitch in to help each other out.
________ 4. I have enough time to do the things the coach asks me to learn and perform.
________ 5. I can count on my coach to help me when I need it.
Source: Foundations of sport and exercise psychology. 6TH ed.
Research findings related to cohesion and performance
1) Positive relationships are found between cohesion and performance for interactive tasks.
* Such as a basketball team or offensive line play in football.
2) No relationship or negative relationships are found between cohesion and performance for coactive tasks.
* Such as a bowling team or members of a track team involved in different events.
3) Positive relationships are found in general between task cohesion and performance, rather than social cohesion and performance.
4) Performance appears to have a stronger effect on cohesion than cohesion has on performance.
5) The relation between cohesion and performance appears to be circular in nature, with performance success leading to increased cohesion, which leads to increased performance.
Source: Foundations of sport and exercise psychology. 2ND ed.
Potential barriers to group cohesion
1) A clash of personalities within the group.
2) A conflict of task and social roles among group members.
3) A breakdown in communication among group members or between the group leader and
members.
4) One or more members struggling for power.
5) Frequent turnover of group members.
6) Disagreement on group goals and objectives.
* What will be the vision for the group.
Source: Foundations of sport and exercise psychology. 6TH ed.
REFERENCES
Weinberg, R. and Gould, D. (1995). Foundations of sport and exercise psychology. 2ND ed. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Weinberg, R. and Gould, D. (2015). Foundations of sport and exercise psychology. 6TH ed. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.