26.4: Conclusion

Many of our sport experiences occur in group contexts. In interdependent sports, we must learn to engage in effective teamwork behaviors to maximize group productivity. Group dynamics are also salient in individual sports, where members interact, train, and compete with teammates, and/or collectively contribute to an overall group achievement. In this chapter, we explored various factors and components that pertain to group member attributes, structures, processes, and states, and also described strategies for developing effective teams. Clearly, groups are complex. It is this complexity that makes it challenging for any leaders to effectively guide their team to success. However, this complexity is also what makes sport participation experiences much richer and more meaningful. Overall, groups are prevalent and influential, and thus considering the nature of groups is fundamental for researchers and practitioners alike for better understanding and enhancing people’s sport experiences.

Box 26.4. Awareness of the Group as a Component of Team Development

Discussions of team development tend to focus on the tactics that enhance the team. Just as we need to equip leaders with the tools to develop groups, we nevertheless need to foster awareness of the team. Awareness can help group leaders identify the most ideal approaches to enhance their group: If a coach wanted to use the most relevant team development tactic, how might they know which to use? Another reason to develop awareness is that leaders who are aware of what is “going on” among members tend to act in their group’s best interest. As an example, outside of sport, school teachers who are more aware of the network of student relationships are more likely to create classrooms where peers accept one another, compared to teachers who poorly recognize peer relationships (Gest et al., 2014).

We adapted five example items from a tool developed by Bruner et al. (2020) that can help assess group development interventions and foster awareness among members. Specifically, athletes would respond by indicating the extent to which they disagree or agree with comments like:

• Role Clarity: “Team members clearly understand their role on the team.”
• Conformity to Norms: “Team members conform to the team’s established group norms (e.g., if the team prioritizes promptness, members try their hardest to be on time).”
• Cooperation: “Team members work together as a group rather than as individuals.”
• Sacrifices: “Individual team members make sacrifices to benefit the whole team (e.g., team members make sacrifices such as picking up water bottles, ensuring that the dressing room is clean, or listening to others’ warm-up music to benefit the team).”
• Communication: “All teammates interact and communicate freely with one another (e.g., the team uses lots of drills that encourage communication).” (Bruner et al., 2020, p. 69)

These items could readily be used to increase awareness of how members perceive their group. If you lead a group, consider implementing items like these to assess aspects of the group that you value. For example, you can consider including items that assess the group environment in weekly training/coaching journals – if athletes are already monitoring their training volume, why not also track perceptions of the group? To prompt willingness to disclose, coaches might also consider anonymous ways to report on the group environment or enlist an independent individual (i.e., consultant) to manage the data.

Box 26.5. Among the Key Concepts from this Chapter Here are Several Main Takeways from Each Section:

Member Attributes. Each group is composed of members with unique combinations of characteristics like age, gender, ethnicity, personality, and personal values. The nature of this composition can shape how members interact with one another.

Structure. Structural components include the roles and norms within the group. These can underlie member interactions because they help members anticipate actions that are expected within their group.

Process. Group processes refer to the things that members actually do when working together toward group and individual goals. Members must maintain effective teamwork processes (e.g., planning, coordination, communication) to maximize productivity.

Emergent States. Team members hold several important perceptions regarding the team and teammates. Group cohesion is a key emergent state that can impact individual and team outcomes, although there are several others that sport researchers examine (e.g., social identity, interdependence, collective efficacy).

Developing Teams. It is crucial for leaders and members to deliberately implement various team development techniques to enhance the group’s functioning.