Driving and sustaining culture change in professional sport performance teams: A grounded theory

Objectives As part of the recent upsurge of work on management and organizational factors in elite sports teams, researchers have focused on the team management-led creation and regulation of high performing cultures. The purpose of this study was to therefore add to a recently developed model of culture change best practice in Olympic sports teams, as led and perceived by incoming performance directors, and conceptualize culture change best practice in professional sports teams, as led and perceived by incoming team managers. Design and method A pragmatic research philosophy and corresponding grounded theory methodology were used to generate a practically-meaningful model of this culture change process from the perspective of UK-based professional team managers. Results Perceived best practice in team manager-led culture change was found to involve a finite phase of initial evaluation, planning, and impact adjoined to the enduring management of a holistic, integrated, and dynamic social system. With the former process acting as the catalyst for successful change, this model revealed that optimal change was felt to primarily rely on the constant acquisition, negotiation, and alignment of internal and external stakeholder perceptions. Conclusions Based on the model's principles, the optimization of professional team culture is defined by a manager's initial actions and never definitively achieved but rather constantly constructed and re-constructed in complex social and power dynamics. Beyond providing a conceptual backdrop for continued research in this area, the model is also a tool on which the practice of professional team managers and their supporting sport psychologists can be based

The sport coach

Chapter Objectives After completing this chapter you should be able to: 1. Understand some of the core differences between coaching requirements in participation and performance domains. 2. Discuss diverse models of sports coaching and how these differ in terms of their emphasis, strengths, and limitations. 3. Describe a range of key factors which impact on the coaching process and how these can be integrated through a focus on professional judgment and decision making. 4. Describe some crucial skills that can help coaches to understand and manage the complex and dynamic environments in which they work and best lead performers

Illuminating and applying “The Dark Side”: Insights from elite team leaders

In contrast to socially desirable behaviors, recent work has suggested that effective elite team leadership also relies on socially undesirable behaviors. Accordingly, this study aimed to further explore the authenticity of dark side leadership behaviors, what they look like, and how they may be best used. Via interviews with 15 leaders, behaviors associated with Machiavellianism/mischievousness, skepticism, social dominance, and performance-focused ruthlessness were found. Moreover, these behaviors were enabled by leaders’ sociopolitical awareness and engineering as well as their adaptive expertise. Findings promote practitioner sensitivity to dark side leadership and, for leader effectiveness, sociopolitical and temporal features of its application

The P7 approach to the Olympic challenge: Sharing a practical framework for mission preparation and execution

The Olympic Games represent the biggest and third biggest sporting occasions in the world (Summer and Winter respectively). As such, dealing with the various challenges and optimizing performance at this event has been an important dual focus for team leaders, coaches, performers, and their supporting sport psychologists. In this paper, we share an organizational approach to planning and preparation that, in our experience, provides an effective setup for athletes, coaches, and support teams alike. Specifically, this presented framework enables the focused tasking of support staff and resources to address both individual and specific challenges. To illuminate the route via which this approach delivers its impact, underpinning mechanisms, advantages, and other considerations are also presented

Media Communication, Consumption and Use: The Changing Role of the Designer

Consumers are changing the way in which they create, experience and consume media. User Generated Content (UGC) marks a shift in the way in which ordinary people are now able to contribute to the creation of media. They have become active citizens in what is now a two way conversation. The advent of UGC has created new challenges for communication designers who now need to take on the role of a facilitator in this process. The challenge for communication design is not only to identify appropriate methods for communication, but to understand how best to facilitate connections between users such that they create structures that they can inhabit. This paper explores the changing role of design in UGC rich media communication and presents a Decision Making Framework (DMF) that engages designers in the consideration of the user in the development process. In-depth interviews with leading industry proponents ensure currency of the insights gained. Keywords: Design Process, User Generated Content, Communication Design, Fraimwork</p

Generators and relations for the unitary group of a skew hermitian form over a local ring

Let $(S,*)$ be an involutive local ring and let $U(2m,S)$ be the unitary group associated to a nondegenerate skew hermitian form defined on a free $S$-module of rank $2m$. A presentation of $U(2m,S)$ is given in terms of Bruhat generators and their relations. This presentation is used to construct an explicit Weil representation of the symplectic group $Sp(2m,R)$ when $S=R$ is commutative and $*$ is the identity. When $S$ is commutative but $*$ is arbitrary with fixed ring $R$, an elementary proof that the special unitary group $SU(2m,S)$ is generated by unitary transvections is given. This is used to prove that the reduction homomorphisms $SU(2m,S)\to SU(2m,\tilde{S})$ and $U(2m,S)\to U(2m,\tilde{S})$ are surjective for any factor ring $\tilde{S}$ of $S$. The corresponding results for the symplectic group $Sp(2m,R)$ are obtained as corollaries when $*$ is the identity

Take a walk on the wild side: Exploring, identifying, and developing consultancy expertise with elite performance team leaders

Objectives: Stemming from sport psychology’s recent shift to examine the effective management of elite sports team organizations, the extensive, significant, and complex challenges faced by those with responsibility for team performance have been emphasized. Recognizing that most work in this budding area has been theoretical in nature, our contribution to this special issue consequently identifies and critically evaluates some implications for excellence in practitioners who support leaders of elite sport performance teams. Method: Narrative review and commentary. Results and Conclusions: To survive and succeed, leaders of elite teams must: (a) negotiate complex and contested socio-political dynamics both within and outside their performance department; (b) make impactful and consistent real-time decisions; and (c) continually reinforce and protect their programme. To provide an optimally impactful and valued service, sport psychologists must therefore be able to advise on a broad and politically-astute leadership style and, most critically for consultancy excellence: (a) work within a professional judgment and decision making model; (b) facilitate the leader’s adaptive expertise and nested decision making; and (c) operate a proactive, forthright, and straight approach to ethical considerations. Based on these implications, we conclude by providing suggestions for the training and development of applied consultants

Mental skills training in sprinting

The Science of Sport: Sprinting examines the scientific principles that underpin the preparation and performance of athletics at all levels, from grassroots to Olympic competition. Drawing on the expertise of some of the world's leading coaches and sport science professionals, the book presents a detailed analysis of the latest evidence and explores the ways in which science has influenced, and subsequently improved, the sport of sprinting. By providing an overview of the principles of sport science and how these are applied in practice, the book is essential reading for students and academics, coaches and performers, physiotherapists, club doctors and professional support staff