L20 - Group & Team Dynamics

• What is a Group/Team?

  • Group: A collection of individuals who have relations to one another that make them interdependent to some significant degree - importance of awareness, continuity 
  • Team: A group of people who must interact w/ each other to achieve a shared objective 
  • Difference = team come together (shared objective)
• What is a Group/Team?

  • Team: A group of people who must interact w/ each other to achieve a shared objective 
  • eg like a basketball team 
  • Interacting to complete a shared objective - to achieve that 
  • Shared objective = purpose 
  • Subset of a group, particular type of group interacting to achieve shared objective 
  • Difference = team come together (shared objective)
• What is a Group/Team?

  • Group: A collection of individuals who have relations to one another that make them interdependent to some significant degree - importance of awareness, continuity 
  • Relations to one another: reflects fact that it is 2 or more people, who are aware of each other & interacting with each other in some way 
  • Dependent on each other interaction going on within that group of people
  • Interdependent: what distinguishes a group just from a collection of people 
  • A collection of people who become a group bc/ are dependent on each other
• What is a Group/Team?

  • Group:
  • eg collection of individuals training for swimming, may not be aware of each other but collection of swimmers in the same club, train together, aware of each other, their together = group
  • Can have group of people exercising together in group exercise class
  • Team:
  • Can have individual sports that also have a team element (eg swim relay)
  • Individual performances coming together to make team performance
  • In other games work together more
• Key Characteristics of a Team 

  • Collective sense of identity - we rather than I
  • Common goals & objectives 
  • Distinctive roles - all members have & know their roles 
  • Structured modes of communication & patterns of interaction 
  • Norms - rules around acceptable behaviour 
  • Reciprocate interpersonal attraction 
  • Group of individuals that make them a team
• Key Characteristics of a Team 

  • Collective sense of identity - ‘we’ rather than ‘I’
  • A collective sense of identity - WE 
  • (eg we are training to win championships)
  • Sense of identity shared with the team 
  • Identify as part of the group (& belong to that particular group)
  • Common goals & objectives 
• Key Characteristics of a Team 

  • Distinctive roles - all members have & know their roles 
  • Each team member has a role - all members know their role
  • All members know their role (attacker/depender)
  • Individual role in respect to achieving team goal
  • Structured modes of communication & patterns of interaction 
  •  Know how to communicate & interact with each other
• Key Characteristics of a Team 

  • Norms - rules around acceptable behaviour 
  • There will be team rules that you all decide on (create them as a team at beginning of season)
  • Reciprocate interpersonal attraction 
  • All individuals like one another (like the people in the team with you)
  • Enjoyment of being together
• Key Characteristics of a Team

  • To become an effective team there must be:
  • Group roles that are understood & accepted 
  • Group norms 
• Key Characteristics of a Team

  • To become an effective team there must be:
  • Group roles that are understood & accepted 
  • Know your roles, accept your role in the team, happy to perform it & capable to perform it
  • Know have to be capable & feel capable - why happy to accept
  • Group norms 
  • Characteristics - the group norms
  • Create patterns of expected behaviours & level of performance
• Understanding Group Performance 

  • How do we maximise group/team performance?
  • Will a group of the best individuals → best team 
  • Group performance: need to consider group process (teamwork) as well as individual ability
  • Team cohesion - teamwork & team spirit 
  • Leadership 
• Understanding Group Performance 

  • How do we maximise group/team performance?
  • Will a group of the best individuals → best team 
  • Team of best skilled individuals don't necessarily make the best team 
  • Not just a case of most skilled/capable players for team performance
  • More importantly, have to understand group processes...
  • To ensure group of people working together to be a team & therefore achieve team objective/goals
• Understanding Group Performance 

  • Group performance: need to consider group process (teamwork) as well as individual ability
  • Team cohesion - teamwork & team spirit 
  • Leadership 
  • To get the team to perform well (read in reading!!!)
  • Leadership not covered in lecture - READ TEXTBOOK
  • For group/team performance to get maximum got to know how team works & coordinates together 
  • In order to perform well not about individual ability
• Understanding Group Performance 

  • How do we ensure this group of people will work together & achieve the team objective
  • Most skilled individuals may not make the best team…
  • How do they coordinate together? Not always about individual ability 
  • How do the group processes go?
• Understanding Group Performance 

  • How do we maximise group/team performance?
  • Will a group of the best individuals → best team
  • Examples: Most skilled individuals may not make the best team…
  • eg team of stars doesn't mean successful team (2006 USA basketball team)
  • eg teams not full of stars, but went on to excel eg Taranaki beat Canterbury even though Canterbury stacked with all blacks 
  • Idea of team being sum of their parts, not just about individual performances, is about ability to come together an lead team to performance outcome
• Steiner’s (1972) Model of Group Performance 

  • Actual Productivity = Potential Productivity - Losses due to faulty process
  • Actual Productivity - What the group actually does (eg performance)
  • Potential Productivity - Group’s best possible performance given the resources relevant to the task & the demands of the task
  • Process - everything the group does while transforming its resources into a product 
  • Faulty Process - the ineffective use of available resources to meet task demands
  • Coordination Losses
  • Motivation Losses
  • Role of the coach is important

  
• Steiner’s (1972) Model of Group Performance 

  • Actual Productivity = Potential Productivity - Losses due to faulty process 

  
• Steiner’s (1972) Model of Group Performance 

  • Actual Productivity - What the group actually does (eg performance)
  • What the group actually does, what has the team achieved?
  • What is the performance outcome that the team achieves?
  • Productivity - did you meet goals/achievements?

  
• Steiner’s (1972) Model of Group Performance 

  • Potential Productivity - Group’s best possible performance given the resources relevant to the task & the demands of the task 
  • Represents what’s the groups best possible outcome given all the resources they have - players, coaches, demands of task (do we have resources in our team to meet demands of the task at this time)

  
• Steiner’s (1972) Model of Group Performance

  • Potential Productivity - Best possible performance outcome given resources & the demands of task 
  • Represents best possible outcome given all resources have to achieve outcome 
  • Who is in the team? Players fit & able to perform at their best 
  • Coaches - on task to guide team to outcome
  • Demands of task - can this group of players (& their resources) in the team meet particular demand
  • Quality of opposition - do we have skills & ability to do that 
  • Is a subjective idea - potential of team to achieve goal (people & resources) & task got to perform

  
• Steiner’s (1972) Model of Group Performance

  • Process - everything the group does while transforming its resources into a product 
  • How do we turn these people & their skills into the results 
  • e.g. have we done the training, tactics, strategies? 
  • The ability of the team individuals to come together to achieve the outcome

  
• Steiner’s (1972) Model of Group Performance

  • Process - everything the group does while transforming its resources into a product 
  • Got players, & resources 
  • Process is about how turn these people & the skill & abilities they have into the result 
  • Process = training, tactics, strategies
  • Ability of team individuals to come together with the skills/tactics to achieve the outcome 
  • How take players & help them create outcome
  • Comes around at = sign in between actual & potential productivity 
  • Can I get this team using positive process to create that actual productivity

  
• Steiner’s (1972) Model of Group Performance

  • Faulty Process - the ineffective use of available resources to meet task demands 
  • Not been able to use resources effectively to meet task demands 
  • eg not good enough tactics, good players injured…
  • Coordination losses = team not working together well 
  • Motivational losses = team members have dropped performance
  • Withdrawn there effort because the situation is too demanding 
  • eg Wallabies currently in RWC, Eddie Jones getting the blame 
  • Were these performances a problem w/ coordination or was the loss due to motivational losses, to hard

  
• Steiner’s (1972) Model of Group Performance

  • Faulty Process - ineffective use of available resources to meet task demands 
  • Have we been able to use available resources in the RIGHT WAY to be able to achieve level of actual productivity
  • Identifies that potential productivity ever going to always replicate actual productivity 
  • Bc/ things will go wrong at particular time (eg not performing at their best, 2 players not interacting well, or poor communication) - not able to achieve potential 
  • 2 reasons/kind of losses that relate to because of faulty process: coordination & motivational losses

  
• Steiner’s (1972) Model of Group Performance

  • Faulty Process - the ineffective use of available resources to meet task demands 
  • Coordination Losses: Poor timing, teamwork, or strategy 
  • Coordination bw/ team members not as good as it should be
  • Motivation Losses: when some or all team members lack effort & desire 
  • Drop performance
  • Low levels of motivation so have withdrawn their effort 
  • Too high demands, so give up, dropping effort

  
• Steiner’s (1972) Model of Group Performance

  • Role of the coach is important 
  • Increases productivity 
  • Make sure team tactics are good 
  • Get the team up to standard in training
  • Coach has role in increasing productivity but also helping w/ losses & keeping motivation up 
  • Team should be skilled & trained enough for it to affect performance 
  • Team captain also has a role on the field

  
• Steiner’s (1972) Model of Group Performance

  • Role of the coach is important
  • To increase relevant resources 
  • To increase potential productivity 
  • Ensure team tactics are good, have trained players with the skills needed to perform particular task in the team
  • Decrease faulty process losses thru coordination
  • Responsible for keeping motivation up in the team 
  • Decrease processes losses thru motivation
  • Coach has role in potential productivity & reducing losses as a result of coordination & motivation 
  • Make sure a motivated & skilled enough to not effect their performance

  
• Steiner’s (1972) Model of Group Performance

  • Role of the coach is important
  • Coach has role in potential productivity & reducing losses as a result of coordination & motivation
  • Trying to minimise those losses
  • Captain has similar role on the field - idea around leadership 
  • Why identifying good team leaders are important

  
• Steiner’s (1972) Model of Group Performance

  • Theory to it:
  • Model of group performance 
  • How team members can interact to make a good performance
  • Is an old theory 
  • Good for explaining relationships in between individual team members ability & resources, & how interact to create a good performance 

  
• Steiner’s (1972) Model of Group Performance

  • Examples:
  • Wallabies
  • Silver ferns
  • Argue were these performances lack of ability to meet expected outcome 
  • Problem with coordination? - skills 
  • OR due to motivational losses → withdraw effort

  
• Group Process & Team Performance 

  • Ringelmann Effect - Average individual performance decreases w/ increases in group size 
  • Avg individual performance in a team decrease with increase in group size 

  
• Group Process & Team Performance 

  • Ringelmann Effect - Average individual performance decreases w/ increases in group size 
  • Ringelmann (1898) - 1, 2, 3, & 8 people on a rope-pulling task 
  • Study to prove/show effect
  • Rope pulling/tug of war
  • 1 on each side then increasing people on each side (group size growing)
  • Measured individual force applied when pulling rope (in different group sizes)
  • + force generated by whole team
  • As team gets bigger would expect more force to be applied

  
• Group Process & Team Performance 

  • Ringelmann Effect - Average individual performance decreases w/ increases in group size 
  • Ringelmann (1898) - 1, 2, 3, & 8 people on a rope-pulling task 
  • Results 
  • 1 person = 100% of avg individual force
  • Baseline when by themselves
  • Think of as potential productivity in the task
  • 2 people = 93% of avg individual force
  • 3 people = 85% 
  • 8 people = 49% 
  • More people applied to the rope the less force the individual generated = decrease in individual performance/effort 
  • Illustrates Ringelmann effect

  
• Group Process & Team Performance

  • Researchers wanted to know what caused these losses:
  • Coordination or motivation problem 
  • Coordination more physiological; Motivation more psychological 
  • Another psych concept that relates to faulty losses = Ringelmann effect (remember name)

  
• What caused this effect? (discussion) - the Ringelmann effect

  • Don't think have to put in as much effort as more people in the team 
  • Individual performance not being recognised & not being held accountable - can hide
  • Perceive that don't have to work as hard bc/ other people will pick up the slack 
  • Coordination loss element - harder to coordinate with more people, have to pull at same time 
  • Some potential explanations connect to coordinated & motivational losses (not doing it bc/ someone else will & nobody will know I'm not pulling my own weight)

  
• Group Process & Team Performance 

  • Ringelmann Effect: Average individual performance decreases w/ increases in group size - Coordination or motivation losses?
  • Don't know if coordination or motivational losses are more important from Ringelmann study
  • To know where to put time & effort
  • Ingham et al. (1974) - tug of war task to assess whether ‘losses’ were due to coordination or motivation 
  • Participants blindfolded; team members ‘pretended’ to pull

  
• Group Process & Team Performance 

  • Ingham et al. (1974) - tug of war task to assess whether losses were due to coordination or motivation 
  • Participants blindfolded; team members pretended to pull
  • Tested 1 participant at a time, blindfolded participant, increased people but all other people were researchers (told not to put any effort)
  • Takes away coordination losses - so wouldn't result in reduction in performance as add more team members 
  • So what force did that person generate as 'group size' increased

  
• Group Process & Team Performance 

  • Ingham et al. (1974) - tug of war task to assess whether losses were due to coordination or motivation 
  • Participants blindfolded; team members pretended to pull
  • Results 
  • Average individual performance decreased to 85% in 3-person groups, 78% in 6-person 
  • Decrease from baseline (by them self = potential productivity)
  • Force person produced reduced as THOUGHT more team members were helping 
  • Concluded the decrease in performance caused by motivational losses (faulty processes)
  • Withdraw effort

  
• Group Process & Team Performance 

  • Ingham et al. (1974) - tug of war task to assess whether ‘losses’ were due to coordination or motivation 
  • Participants blindfolded; team members ‘pretended’ to pull
  • Faulty process conclusion 
  • Coordination links increases as group size increases
  • But Ringelmann effect is caused by motivational not coordinational losses
  • Due to motivational losses - resulted in decrease individual performance in team performance

  
• Group Process & Team Performance 

  • Ingham et al. (1974) - tug of war task to assess whether ‘losses’ were due to coordination or motivation 
  • Faulty process conclusion 
  • Coordination links increases as group size increases
  • Some coordination losses will occur as team size increases 
  • More people to have an impact on performance
  • Tricker it is to make sure everybody coordinating in the right way 
  • Could reduce in coordination bw/ attackers/defenders
  • But Ringelmann effect is caused by motivational not coordinational losses
  • Individual performance is due to thinking team mates will pick up slack