| Abstract: | The paper concerns the issues of team effectiveness and the satisfaction of players
with their participation in sports. However, it seeks the determinants of these variables not in
strictly athletic skills, but in psychosocial factors. It focuses on selected group processes:
group cohesion, collective efficacy and leadership as well as their connection to team
effectiveness and the athletes’ sense of enjoyment, taking into account the gender of the
respondents. Due to the practical importance of such results, these issues have been
researched as early as the 1960s. Nevertheless, the previous studies haven’t dispelled all the
doubts concerning the impact of group processes on team effectiveness and athletes’
satisfaction (i.a. Carron, 1982; Chelladurai, 1984; Hodges, Carron, 1992; Martens, Peterson,
1971; McGrath, 1962; Williams, Hacker, 1982). Furthermore, in Poland the impact of group
processes on team effectiveness and athletes’ sense of enjoyment hasn’t been studied so far.
The aim of the research was to verify the degree to which group cohesion and
collective efficacy developed in the preparatory period influence the effectiveness of teams
and satisfaction of athletes. Moreover, it was planned to ascertain whether the convergence of
preferences with the perceived leadership behavior (i.e. of the coach) is a predictor of sports
results achieved by the team and the satisfaction of the athletes with various aspects of
participation in professional sport. The attempt to find an answer to the question whether any
of the studied processes has a significantly greater influence on the effectiveness of teams and
athletes’ satisfaction was a fundamental issue. What is more, in the conducted research the
verification whether sex and gender significantly differentiates the relationships between the
analyzed variables was very important.
The theoretical part presents the previous concepts and theoretical assumptions
concerning sports teams, including group cohesion, collective efficacy and leadership.
Moreover, it discusses the results of the studies conducted to date concerning the impact of
group processes on the effectiveness of groups and athletes’ satisfaction. Another chapter of
the theoretical part is devoted to the issues of sex and gender as factors moderating intragroup
processes.
The empirical part begins with the presentation of the employed research methods. It
is especially worth noting that the study was longitudinal and the first stage took place in the
preparatory period. The subsequent study was carried out after the end of the regular season.
Chapter five of this paper presents the statistical analyses providing answers to the
research questions and verifying the assumed hypotheses. The obtained results indicated
a significant impact of group processes developed already in the preparatory period both on
the effectiveness of whole teams and the individual satisfaction of the players with the various
aspects of participating in team sports. Moreover, the study demonstrated an important role of
sex as a factor strongly influencing the analyzed dependencies. The results of this research
have been addressed in the light of previous studies and theoretical findings in the form of
a discussion in chapter six.
The results of the conducted research, apart from its theoretical conclusions, made it
possible to put forward suggestions concerning the optimization of the training process and
the preseason preparation of sports teams depending on the sex of team members. These
recommendations have been presented in the latter part of the last chapter of the paper. |