Early Development and Leadership

Building the Next Generation of Leaders

Susan E. Murphy, Rebecca Reichard, Susan E. Murphy, Rebecca Reichard

• Editorial: Routledge
• Año: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781136735493
• Edición: 1
• Categoría: Psychologie
• Categoría: Angewandte Psychologie

Today we often look to our leaders in business, government, or the social sector, to make effective decisions in a complex world. Whether they are asked what steps to take to improve competitiveness in a global economy or to make tough ethical choices, well-trained leaders are critical to organizational effectiveness. Although we know much about leadership development for individuals after they take their first job, we know relatively little about their earlier experiences that contributed to their interest in leadership or subsequent effectiveness as leaders. This volume brings together researchers who explore leadership at different points before individuals enter the workforce and asks important questions surrounding definitions of leadership behavior, necessary leader skills and age-related leader tasks, factors contributing to development of leader identity, and ways to improve the process of leader development. With contributions from well-known leadership researchers such as Robert Sternberg, Howard Gardner, Bruce Avolio, and Susan Komives, the volume shows research evidence for factors such as early childhood and youth experiences on leadership development, which have implications for the way we understand and train leadership in today's organizations.

Section II

Developing Leadership Skills and Leadership Identity

5

Participation in Sport and Leader Development

Packianathan Chelladurai

One of the significant features of American society is the enormity of the youth sport programs, both in number of participants and the extent of parent involvement in the activity. The excitement of sport is also evidenced in high schools and colleges. Concomitantly, there are many claims of great benefits of sport participation. What do we know about those benefits? How could participation in sport contribute to leadership development? In this chapter, I outline the physical, psychological, cognitive, and other benefits of participation in sports. Following this, I discuss how participation in different kinds of sport might develop different skills necessary for effective leadership. Next, I discuss the distinction between two bases for participation in sport: pursuit of pleasure and pursuit of excellence. Finally, I identify the factors that facilitate the pursuit of excellence and how those factors would contribute to leadership development.

Benefits of Sport

Some research studies have shown the beneficial effects of physical activity and sport on the physical, psychological, and cognitive functioning of youth. There is evidence to suggest that regular participation in sport and physical activity leads to a longer and better quality of life and reduces risk of diabetes, blood pressure, obesity, and a variety of diseases (Bailey, 2006). In contrast, inactivity is significantly associated with death, disability, and reduced quality of life. Research also tells us that the interest and proficiency in sport and physical activity cultivated at a young age is reflected in active lifestyle in later life. A troublesome finding is that inactivity during early years follows individuals into their adult life and is associated with ill health (Bailey). To the extent that physical well-being is a significant factor influencing productivity at work in general, we might extrapolate to suggest that leaders can become more efficient and effective if they engage in (or have engaged in) sport and physical activity. Moreover, such continued involvement in sport and physical activity is a function of early experiences in that respect.

Although the foregoing focuses on the development of physical attributes through sport, sport participation has also been shown to enhance the psychological well-being of young people (Bailey, 2006). Such well-being is said to be a function of self-esteem that emanates from the sense of physical competence. Research has also shown a positive association between sports participation and emotional and behavioral well-being and perceived competence (Donaldson & Ronan, 2006). Participation in physical activity has also been shown to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. Insofar as psychological and emotional well-being is a prerequisite in any walk of life, leadership effectiveness would also be enhanced through participation in sport and physical activity.

On the cognitive side, some research suggests that physical activity increases the flow of blood to the brain, which in turn enhances mood and mental alertness. Although studies showing these results are fewer, they do suggest a link between physical activity and intellectual functioning (Bailey, 2006). Ratey (2008) points to scientific evidence that suggests that exercise can optimize one’s mind-set to improve alertness, attention, and motivation. The belief here is not that the intellect is enhanced but that the functioning of the given intellect is made more efficient. Here is an anecdote in support of this belief. Dr. Condoleezza Rice, former U.S. secretary of state, had to say this about exercise:

I feel better when I exercise. I think I think better when I exercise…. When I get up at 4:30 I’m like anybody. I don’t want to face the day. I think, “Oh, I have to do this, I have to do that.” And after 40 to 45 minutes of exercising, I’m ready to go. So for me, it’s not just physical, but mental, as well. (“Talking Fitness with Condoleezza Rice,” 2008)

But the caveat here is that it is the current exercise pattern that is related to cognitive functioning and not the past exercise or sport behavior. That is, one needs to be constantly exercising to reap the benefit of enhanced cognitive functioning.

On another front, sport is said to promote the dominant American values of success, competition, hard work, continual striving, deferred gratification, materialism, and external conformity (Eitzen & Sage, 2003). These values also underlie the success of good leaders. A good leader is guided and bound by the Protestant Work Ethic, which subsumes the values of “hard work, industriousness, asceticism, frugality, self discipline, delayed gratification and a sense of personal worth that results from selfsacrificing work” (Klenke, 2005, p. 55).

Sport participants are also characterized by a strict acceptance of the authority of the coaches. Conformance to leader authority and the rules and regulations set by such an authority is likely to cultivate a good follower rather than a good leader. If leaders are presumed to be good followers in the first place (Kelley, 1988), then athletics can promote leadership through cultivating good followership. From a different perspective, bureaucratic organizations would require that the officials at every level follow strictly the rules and regulations specified for each position. Thus, the tendency to follow coaches’ rules, regulations, and directions would stand in good stead when an athlete enters a bureaucratic work organization.

Larson (2000) argued that sport participation, along with other structured youth activities, allows for the youth to experience the elements of initiative defined as “the ability to be motivated from within to direct attention and effort toward a challenging goal” (p. 170). He also noted that “initiative is a core requirement for other components of positive development, such as creativity, leadership, altruism, and civic engagement” (p. 170). In Larson’s (p.172) view, initiative is a combination of (1) intrinsic motivation in the traditional sense, (2) concerted engagement in the environment (i.e., attending to the field of action including the rules, constraints, challenges, and complexity), and (3) temporal arc (i.e., engagement over time involving setbacks, reevaluations, and adjustment of strategies). In a later study, Larson and associates (Larson, Hansen, & Moneta, 2006) found that youth who participated in sports reported “significantly higher rates of initiative, emotional regulation, and teamwork experiences compared with the overall rates for [other] organized activities” (p. 855).

Simon (2004) noted that those in pursuit of excellence in sports learn to analyze and overcome weakness, to work hard to improve, to understand their own strengths and weaknesses, and to react intelligently and skillfully to situations that arise in the contest. They also become adept in their judgments, making decisions, and analyzing and assessing their performance and those of others. They also exhibit perseverance and coolness under pressure. These same traits are also relevant to leadership positions. Overall, the literature suggests that organized physical activities promote the acquisition of and practice of social, physical, and intellectual skills; the development of community spirit; sound social relationships with valued groups; establishing supportive social networks; the experience and management of challenges (Eccles, Barber, Stone, & Hunt, 2003); and enhancement of self-esteem and social competence (McHale et al., 2005), which are essential traits for good leadership. As Magyar (2001) notes, coaches of youth sports may not focus on developing leadership per se, but “they do cultivate those attributes necessary for leadership development. These attributes include hard work, dedication, awareness of self and others, working well with others, ability to lead others, effective handling of pressure situations, being responsible and trustworthy, understanding of the team’s vision, awareness of self and others, effective communication, and respect for coaches, teammates, opponents, and officials” (p. 2).

In addition, sport participation in early years is said to promote “moral functioning” (Duda & Ntoumanis, 2005, p. 312), moral reasoning, fair play, “sportpersonship,” and personal responsibility (Bailey, 2006). However, the notion that sport promotes the desired values, moral reasoning, and fair play must be viewed with caution. Using the data from the national Youth in Transition, Rees, Howell, & Miracle (1990) found no evidence to support the belief that high school sports builds character. In a more recent review, Bredemeier and Shields (2006) note that sport might build character, but only under the right conditions. Focusing on the development of sportpersonship (i.e., behaviors that reflect the fundamental issues of fairness and respect), Shields, LaVoi, Bredemeier, and Power (2007) found that youths’ attitudes explained 10% of the variance in sportpersonship, whereas the social influences accounted for an additional 37% of the variance. Much of the social influences emanated from coaches’ and spectators’ sportpersonship behavior. In this perspective development of character has less to do with the playing of the sport and more to do with the philosophy of the organization, the quality of coaching, and the supportive and informed parental involvement (Bailey, 2006; Petitpas, Cornelius, Van Raalte, & Jones, 2005; Piko & Keresztes, 2006). Otherwise, sport participation can cultivate dominant and deviant behavior. Thirty years ago, Tutko and Bruns (1979) suggested that sport may not build character but certainly would build characters. The term character refers to positive or distinctive qualities in a person. When used in its plural form, it refers to persons of unusual or eccentric personalities such as the unconventional and whimsical athletes with unusual habits including eccentric modes of dress.

In summary, the research to date shows a strong relationship between participation in sport and physical activity and physical well-being. Some evidence suggests that sport participation facilitates a more efficient cognate functioning and a well-rounded psychological well-being. However, the association between sport participation and the development of character and ethical behavior is tenuous. The scholars in sport psychology have come to the general conclusion that any such association is facilitated or thwarted by the influences of significant others including coaches, the parents, and peers.

While the impact of external influences on the development of young participants cannot be denied, it would be useful for us to explore what sport as an activity by itself without reference to external agents can offer to the development of young people, particularly their leadership potential. In this regard it will be useful to consider first the types of sport and their impact on leadership development. Later we will consider the distinct reasons and bases for participation in sport and the concomitant experiences.

Sport Types and Leadership Development

The various forms of sports may entail or foster different attributes that may be differentially related to leadership development. It is not uncommon for management scholars to apply concepts from sport to the management context. For instance, Drucker (1995) viewed an openheart surgical team of surgeons, anesthesiologists, and nurses, and an automobile assembly team as similar to baseball teams where each team member has a fixed position. He noted that “the players play on the team; they do not play as a team” (p. 98). The football team is similar to the hospital unit that rallies around a patient who goes into shock. The players play as a team despite their fixed positions. Finally, the tennis doubles team is comparable to senior executives in a big company, where “players have a primary rather than a fixed position. They are supposed to ‘cover’ their teammates, adjusting to their teammates’ strengths and weaknesses and to the changing demands of the ‘game’” (p. 99). Drucker’s essential point is that because the dynamics of each type of team are different their success depends on how that type of team is composed and managed.

Keidel (1985) based his book Game Plans: Sports Strategies for Business on the archetypes of a baseball team, a football team, and a basketball team. The three teams differ in the performance required of each team member, the degree of interdependence among the members and their tasks, the type of coordination appropriate to each team, the characteristics of individual performers, and the rationale for recruiting and selecting members.

Conversely, sport psychologists had followed management literature in discussing the dynamics of various sports. For instance, Carron and Chelladurai (1981) followed Thompson (1967) to propose classifications of interdependence and required interactions in sport teams:

1. Independent tasks, where individuals can carry out the assigned tasks without the need for any interactions with members in the group such as most of the events in track and field and swimming.
2. Coactively dependent tasks, where individuals depend on a common but external source for initiation and completion of assigned tasks. In such tasks, the members tend to perform more or less similar tasks as in rowing-eights team where the coxswain is the external source of control or the synchronized swimming team where the music is the external source of control.
3. Reactively–proactively dependent tasks, where one member initiates and another member completes the task as in pass completion in football. That is, the first person depends on the...