Leadership in sport

• Characteristics of effective leaders

  • Good motivation skills
  • Enthusiasm
  • Empathy
  • Charisma
  • Clear goal or vision of what needs to be achieved
  • Being good at the sport
• Emergent leader

  • Becomes a leader through their hard work and determination.
  • People who look up to and respect them help them to become a leader.
  • They may be skillful in their sport and become a leader to show others how well they can do and inspire teamates.
• Prescribed leader

  • Someone appointed by people of a higher authority.

  Eg - England manager was appointed by the football association.
• Leadership styles

  • Autocratic
  • Democratic
  • Laissez faire
• Autocratic leadership

  Task orientated, makes all the decisions and is very direct in their approach.

  • Used when discipline or control are needed
  • Used with hostile groups or if there is a lack of time
  • Used if the situation is dangerous.
  • Preferred by novices and males
• Democratic Leadership

  Person orientated, considers team members ideas and feelings shows interest in others.

  • Used with small teams or individuals
  • Used if the situation is not dangerous
  • Used when a group members want to be involved in decision making
  • Preferred by advanced performers and females
• Laissez faire Leadership

  Provides little support or input and lets team members do as they wish

  • Used with high level performers or elite athletes
  • Used to develop creativity in members
  • Used when leader has full trust in members capabilities
  • Used if the leader is incompetent.
  • Used when group is being assessed
• Theories of leadership

  • Trait theory
  • Social learning theory
  • Interactionist theory
• Trait theory of leadership

  Leaders are born with their leadership qualities. These traits are stable, and enduring and can be generalised across different situations.
• Social learning theory of leadership

  • Leadership characteristics can be learned from others.
  • Behaviour of others is watched and copied - vicarious learning
• Interactionist theory of leadership

  • An individual may have certain in born traits, such as assertiveness but they are not evident unless a situation (state) demands the leadership behaviour.
• Trait theory of leadership evaluation

  • Popular belief that "great leaders are born not made" leaders have characteristics that make them effective
  • People in sports tend to be specific in their leadership skills, which works against the generalised trait approach.
• Social Learning theory of leadership evaluation

  • High status models are more likely to be copied .
  • This theory shows the importance of the social environments for adopting leadership qualities unlike the trait approach which does not take the environment into account
• Interactionist theory of leadership evaluation

  • This theory accounts for the fact that people may not be leaders in everyday life but show leadership qualities in sporting situations
• Vicarious reinforcement

  This happens when one person observes that a reward is given to another person for certain behaviours and learns to imitate the same behaviour
• Chelladurai 's multi-dimensional model of sports leadership

  multi-dimensional

  A) Situational Characteristics

  B) Leader characteristics

  C) Member characteristics

  D) Required behaviour

  E) Actual behaviour

  F) Preferred behaviour

  G) Performance and Satisfaction

  H) Antecedents

  I) Leader behaviour

  J) Consequences

  
• Chelladurai's multi-dimensional model of leadership

  • The more the elements of this model match each other, the more effective the leadership is likely to be
  • If the leadership qualities are what the group want and expect, then they are more likely to follow the leader
  • If the leadership style matches the situation, leadership is likely to be more effective
• Situational characteristics

  Environmental conditions eg activity (football , rock climbing ), number of people in the group, time constraints, strength of opposition.
• Leader characteristics

  The personality/skill/experience of the leader. The leader may have a preferred style of leadership.
• Member Characteristics

  What is the group like? Skill level /attitudes/ experience/ age/ personalities.
• Required behaviour

  What style of leadership is needed for this task? The situation and member characteristics dictates the appropriate style of leadership
• Actual behaviour

  What does the leader actually choose to do? The behaviour the leader displays as a result of the situation and the characteristics of members and leader.
• Preferred behaviour

  What leadership style does the group prefer? Member characteristics (and the situation) dictate the appropriate style of leadership.
• Performance and satisfaction

  The overall performance of the members and leader and the level of satisfaction.