PSY7650

An Investigation into the Impact of Coach Leadership and Coach-Athlete Relationship on Group Cohesion

U02a1 Topic Selection

Darius Wesber

Capella University

PSY7650 - Research Methods.

Dr. Sanna Reynolds

January 23, 2011

Topic Selection

For my topic selection I researched Leadership in Sports, and found an article on leadership entitled, “An Investigation into the Impact of Coach Leadership and Coach-Athlete Relationship on Group Cohesion.” Leadership in sports and coaching is a topic that is very interesting to me being that I am a former college athlete, and a current high school football coach, so I am often intrigued about the aspects of leadership, and the role that it plays in sports. The article that I choose researches coaching leadership and team cohesion.

An Investigation into the Impact of Coach Leadership and Coach-Athlete Relationship on Group Cohesion

Effective leadership is a concept shown to be important for successful team performance in the fields of business, education, and sport. In sport, the role of the athlete leader has been under-examined and specifically, how coaching behaviors can affect athlete leader behaviors and how various leadership models (e.g., trait, behavioral, situational) relate to the athlete leader role has never been studied.

1.1 Research Problems

The present study examined how autocratic, democratic, and collaborative coaching styles affect the athlete leader behavior preferences of athletes of different genders and sport types. Three coach scenarios reflecting the three aforementioned coaching styles were created so that athletes could imagine that they were coached by the individual presented in the scenario and then rate what type of athlete leader behaviors that they would prefer given the style of the coach that they read about. Results showed that the coach scenarios failed to have a significant impact; however, significant differences were discovered between men and women and between individual and team sport athletes on variables measuring preferred performance/task, relationship, motivation, and representation behaviors. Data were gathered on the style of athletes' current coach and this variable also produced significant differences for such behaviors as resolving conflict, providing positive reinforcement, and acting respectfully towards others. In addition, exploratory analyses showed that athletes who hold different leadership positions prefer different athlete leader behaviors.

1.2 Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study is to offer concrete evidence on how coaching style can affect athlete leader preferences and how the athlete leader role can be explained by trait, behavioral.

1.3 Significance of the Study

The present study was designed not to define the athlete leader role, but to describe effective athlete leader behaviors more closely. The study also aimed to determine if other leadership positions in society, as examined by the four main approaches to studying leadership, the trait, behavioral, situational, and transformational approaches, can provide insight into how an athlete leader can behave in a manner that is preferred by other athletes. The main goal of trait theories has been to identify particular characteristics that are typical of leaders identified as effective. A lack of support for a trait approach also exists within the sport context. For example, characteristics such as tough-mindedness, authoritarianism, willingness to ...