Decision Styles and Coaching Effectiveness in University Soccer

1
Decision Styles and Coaching Effectiveness in
University
Soccer

• By Sandy Gordon (1988)
• Presented By Melissa Peebles and Erin Smith

2
Background Information

• Decision making is one of the constant recurring
  demands of coaches working at any level of
  competition(Gordon, 1988).
• Decision style can be regarded only as a habit
  acquired through past experiences similar to our
  characteristic ways of learning from and relating
  to others (Gordon, 1988)

3
Background Information Cont

• Focus of this paper was Vroom and Yettons (1973)
  Contingency model of participative decision
  making. This was devised to help business
  managers increase effectiveness in diagnosing
  decision problems and deciding when to increase
  participation by subordinates.
• The contingency model is formulated on the belief
  that the effectiveness of any decision is
  contingent on the product of two components
• 1. Quality of the decision
• 2. Acceptance by subordinates

4
Background Information Cont

• Seven situational variables that influence the
  overall effectiveness of decisions
• 1. Quality 5. Prior probability
• 2. Information 6. Goal congruence
• 3. Structure 7. Conflict
• 4. Acceptance

5
Background Information Cont

• Chelladurai and Haggerty (1978) developed the
  Normative Model of Decision Styles in Coaching.
  It acknowledged that decision making is separate
  from other sets of coaching behavior.
• Three types of decision styles in coaching team
  sports
• 1. Autocratic
• 2. Participative
• 3. Delegative

6
Background Information Cont

• Chelladurai (1981) developed specific decision
  attributes or questions which were designed to
  decide when to increase or decrease athlete
  participation and the decisions that need to be
  made. They are
• 1. Time restrictions
• 2. Quality requirement
• 3. Amount of information
• 4. Complex Problem
• 5. Acceptance
• 6. Power
• 7. Interpersonal Relations

7
Research Questions

• 1. What is the validity, applicability, and
  utility of Chelladurai and Haggertys (1978)
  Normative Model of Decision Styles in Coaching?
• 2. Are decision styles related to coaching
  effectiveness?

8
Methodology

• Participants all were coaches and athletes who
  participated in the 1982- 83 CIAU soccer season.
• 161 male athletes which were all starting players
• 30 CIAU head coaches
• 14 teams

9
Methodology Cont

• Decision Style Questionnaire
• - completed by coaches and athletes
• - comprised of 15 different soccer cases or
  situations
• Coaching Effectiveness Questionnaire
• - completed only by the athlete
• - athletes were quizzed on 37 items which were
  based on 7 discrete dimensions of satisfaction
  which were
• 1. Personal performance 4. Coach social skills
• 2. Team performance 5. Team involvement
• 3. Coach expertise 6. Role clarity
• 7. Role acceptance
• - scored on a 5 point likert scale

10
Methodology Cont

• The congruence of the two questionnaires was
  compared using MIDAS, a computer program

11
Results

• Decision Styles
• - Coaches preferred to use both autocratic and
  consultative decision styles rather than
  participative and delegative
• - Athletes preferred coaches to chose
  autocratic and consultative rather than
  participative and delegative. The consultative
  decision style was the favorite of the athletes.
  Athletes stated that they would prefer more
  opportunities for consultation with the coaches.
• - The decision style preferences for both the
  athletes and coaches only supported 33 of
  Chelladurai and Haggertys model (1978).

12
Results Cont

• Decision Styles and Coaching Effectiveness
• - Satisfaction is enhanced when the congruence
  is high between the athlete and the coaches
  decision making style, while discrepant scores
  adversely affected satisfaction

13
Implications

• Only male athletes were used in the study
• Soccer was the sole sport that was studied
• Only CIAU soccer players and coaches were chosen,
  perhaps various levels should be used in order to
  validate the results
• A variety of coaches need to be studied such as
  those with different levels of experience and
  coaching styles
• Future research needs to take more of a realistic
  approach.

14
Conclusion

• Todays research has helped coaches in making
  optimum decisions and recognizing its importance.
  Satisfaction occurs when there is congruence
  among the athletes and the coaches decision
  making styles, especially if they choose
  autocratic or participative decision making.