Groups and Goal Setting: Cohesion, Goals, and Performance in Sports | Summaries Sport Studies

CHAPTER 15 – Groups and goal setting

Exam style questions - text book pages 169 - 170

1) a) What is meant by cohesion in the context of teams? 4 marks

Answer:

•Individuals in a team must have common goals.

•Players in a team must interact effectively.

•Players in a team must communicate effectively.

•Motives for playing must be similar within a team.

•Similarity of interests or outlook ensures cohesion.

•Social cohesion encourages cohesion within the game.

b) Explain what is meant by social loafing by using examples from sport. 3 marks

Answer:

•Loss of motivation: for example, an individual does not try very hard in a game of netball.

•Lack of individuality: for example, an individual player is ‘lost’ within a team or does not get recognition.

•Lack of perceived external evaluation: for example, a player does not feel that he or she is being judged and therefore is not

accountable for lack of effort.

c) What advice would you give a coach of a team to ensure maximum productivity? 5 marks

Answer:

•Encourage cohesion.

•By social mixing or sharing of experiences.

•Give individuals encouragement as well as the team.

•Give praise or reinforce success or give incentives or rewards.

•Attribute failure to controllable factors.

•Attribute success to internal factors.

•Encourage peer support.

•Develop coordination through training, for example, small-sided games.

•Develop a person-oriented leadership approach (democratic leadership).

2) Elite performers sometimes train on their own and sometimes as part of a group. How would you distinguish between a

group and a collection of individuals. 3 marks

Answer:

•A group is a collection of individuals who work together to achieve a common goal. For example a hockey team who train and play

together in the hope of winning the league.

•Elite performers, such Mo Farah, have training partners, all of which will have their own individual goals.

3) a) Explain the Ringlemann effect, and its related term, social loafing. 4 marks

Answer:

•The Ringlemann effect refers to the fact that average individual performances decrease with increasing group size.

•Social loafing occurs when Individuals appear to reduce and hide their effort when in a group, amongst the effort of other group

members.

b) How can social loafing be reduced? 3 marks

Answer:

Note there are a number of options:

•Measure: if people know they are being monitored, they will conform.

•Peer Pressure: if most of the group aren’t of similar disposition, then this should help as he or she will probably be ostracized.

•Feedback: it is possible that the loafer is unaware of their behaviour.

•Provide feedback, focusing on observations, the impact, and what actions will be taken to remedy the situation.

101Answers

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Partial preview of the text

Download Groups and Goal Setting: Cohesion, Goals, and Performance in Sports and more Summaries Sport Studies in PDF only on Docsity!

CHAPTER 15 – Groups and goal setting

Exam style questions - text book pages 169 - 170

a) What is meant by cohesion in the context of teams? 4 marks Answer :

Individuals in a team must have common goals.
Players in a team must interact effectively.
Players in a team must communicate effectively.
Motives for playing must be similar within a team.
Similarity of interests or outlook ensures cohesion.
Social cohesion encourages cohesion within the game. b) Explain what is meant by social loafing by using examples from sport. 3 marks Answer :
Loss of motivation: for example, an individual does not try very hard in a game of netball.
Lack of individuality: for example, an individual player is ‘lost’ within a team or does not get recognition.
Lack of perceived external evaluation: for example, a player does not feel that he or she is being judged and therefore is not accountable for lack of effort. c) What advice would you give a coach of a team to ensure maximum productivity? 5 marks Answer :
Encourage cohesion.
By social mixing or sharing of experiences.
Give individuals encouragement as well as the team.
Give praise or reinforce success or give incentives or rewards.
Attribute failure to controllable factors.
Attribute success to internal factors.
Encourage peer support.
Develop coordination through training, for example, small-sided games.
Develop a person-oriented leadership approach (democratic leadership).
1. Elite performers sometimes train on their own and sometimes as part of a group. How would you distinguish between a group and a collection of individuals. 3 marks Answer :
A group is a collection of individuals who work together to achieve a common goal. For example a hockey team who train and play together in the hope of winning the league.
Elite performers, such Mo Farah, have training partners, all of which will have their own individual goals.
1. a) Explain the Ringlemann effect, and its related term, social loafing. 4 marks Answer :
The Ringlemann effect refers to the fact that average individual performances decrease with increasing group size.
Social loafing occurs when Individuals appear to reduce and hide their effort when in a group, amongst the effort of other group members. b) How can social loafing be reduced? 3 marks Answer : Note there are a number of options:
Measure: if people know they are being monitored, they will conform.
Peer Pressure: if most of the group aren’t of similar disposition, then this should help as he or she will probably be ostracized.
Feedback: it is possible that the loafer is unaware of their behaviour.
Provide feedback, focusing on observations, the impact, and what actions will be taken to remedy the situation.

Answers 101

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Describe Carron’s conceptual model of cohesion. 4 marks Answer : The model identifies four kinds of factors which contribute to team cohesion, these are:

Environmental – these are factors which bind members together to a team such as contracts, age, and eligibility.
Personal – these feature characteristics of the team members that are deemed to be important and include motives for taking part.
Leadership – these are factors which are about the behaviour of leaders and coaches. Coaches should use all leadership behaviours to influence different individuals.
Team factors – these are factors relating to the group, including identity, targets, member ability and role, creation of short-term and long-term goals and rewarding individual and group efforts - all characteristics of the group, norms and stability factors.
Carron differentiated between task cohesion, such as the commitment to team goals and performance objectives and.
Social cohesion which covers friendship and affiliation.
1. a) Explain Steiner’s model of group performance: Actual productivity = potential productivity – losses due to faulty processes 6 marks Answer :
Actual productivity is a team’s level of achievement on a specific task. For example, a rugby team reaching the semi-final of a cup competition.
Potential productivity is the best possible level of achievement of a cohesive team for this rugby team to win the cup competition.
Losses due to faulty processes are coordination and motivation problems the team faces, which reduce the level of cohesion and as a result lower the level of achievement. b) What factors stop a team ever performing to its true potential? 6 marks Answer :
Coordination problems.
Lack of understanding of member’s roles in the team, for example, team fails to communicate set plays from a free kick.
Lack of understanding of tactics or strategies set by the coach.
The Ringlemann effect.
Motivational losses as team members withdraw effort.
Social loafing.