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A pilot study of the relationship between competitive athletic participation and transformational leadership ability: A communication perspective

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Identifier	Thesis 1690
Author	Hadden, Jacqueline C.S.
Title	A pilot study of the relationship between competitive athletic participation and transformational leadership ability: A communication perspective
Publisher	Central Connecticut State University
Date	2003
Resource Type	Master's Thesis
Notes	Leadership effectiveness can affect the success or failure of an organization. The way a leader (CEO, manager, supervisor etc.) communicates to employees can affect the degree to which employees will willingly follow and respect the leader, be motivated to boost their productivity, and be satisfied in the organization. Because of this, those who possess effective leadership skills have become attractive to employers who seek quality employees to boost their organization. In order to find these employees, recruiters often read into an employee's prior experience and/or activities that may have required leadership skills. Among these activities are competitive athletic participation and military service. An employee with extensive athletic experience, achievement, or has held leadership roles, can be perceived as also possessing the leadership skills and other favorable attributes, such as interpersonal communication skills, that would make him or her a good employee or manager. These abilities have become especially important in the workplace, since organizations are using work-teams more and more—necessitating effective leadership and communication abilities. Corporate recruiters may be attracted by the idea that the athletic environment seems to incorporate and develop many leadership attributes that are also valued in an organizational or corporate setting. According to Howard (1998), the package of attributes that many former athletes bring with them—perseverance, clutch performances under pressure, organizational skills, and intelligence—"is what many employers would give their eyeteeth for" (p.3). These candidates are also attractive because companies are starting to realize that leadership competence cannot only be limited to a few key employees. "In an unpredictable economy, companies that have a network of leaders throughout the organization are the ones most likely to thrive" (Gale, 2002, p.82). The attributes that conceptualize leadership vary in the leadership literature depending on the researcher's perspective. Leadership can be "...defined in terms of trait, behavioral, influence, interaction patterns, role relationships, and occupation of an administrative position" (Yukl, 1998, P.2). However, according to Chelladurai and Saleh (1980), some significant elements have come to form the nucleus of the notion, leadership. "Leadership is a behavioral process... is interpersonal in nature... and is aimed at influencing and motivating members toward group or organizational goals" (p.160). In other words, the basis of leadership seems to be that it is a behavioral process aimed toward influencing group members to work toward the group's common goal. For example, according to Dobosz and Beaty (1999), leadership is the "capacity to guide others in the achievement of a common goal. Decisiveness, determination, interpersonal and organizational aptitude, loyalty, self-efficacy, and self-discipline are considered some of the attributes of effective leaders" (p.1). Ultimately, the emphasis seems to be on what the leader does. Some of the activities found in the literature regarding the role of leader are: clearly communicating expectations and setting goals, problem solving and decision-making, training, instruction, task delegation, and performance feedback. As well as interpersonal type behaviors such as support and motivation, inspiring followers, listening and attending to follower's needs for achievement and growth, ethical and moral conduct that puts the needs of followers ahead of personal needs, commitment and self-discipline. It is important to recognize and understand all these activities that research indicates an effective leader does, are heavily embedded in communication. In order to be an excellent leader one must be an excellent communicator. Behavioral leadership attributes are recognized in sport's leadership (i.e. Barron, Ewing & Waddell, 2000; Chelladurai and Saleh, 1980; Dobosz & Beaty, 1999; Howard, 1998; Krzyzewski, 2000; Robinson, 1996; Sellers, 1998), military leadership (i.e. Angulo, 2001 ;. Donnithorne, 1993; Doty & Gerdes, 2000; Keller, 2001) and organizational leadership and leadership theory (i.e. Bass, 1996; Bass & Steidlmeier, 1999; Foels, Driskell, Mullen & Salas, 2000; Sergiovanni, Metzcus & Burden, 1969; Tracey & Hinkin, 1998; Vroom, 2000; Yukl, 1998). Based on the above attributes, leadership has been simplified into two broad categories—task oriented behaviors and relationship or people oriented behaviors, which are both necessary for effective leadership (i.e. Barron et al, 2000; Chelladurai and Saleh, 1980; Dobosz, 1999; House, 1971; Recardo, 2000; Sherman, Fuller &Speed, 2000; Shields & Gardner, 1997; Yukl, 1998). Sports leadership literature supports the notion that athletics provides an environment that can develop and enhance leadership abilities in participants (i.e. Barron et al, 2000; Brearly, 2000; Dobosz, 1999; Ryan, 1989; Ungerleider, 1997). "World-class athletes reach the top by managing their talent rigorously and mastering specific techniques, an approach that pays off in business too" (Sellers, 1988, p.152). For example, attributes such as self-discipline, work ethic, persistence, and a drive to succeed, along with organizational skills are necessary to achieve in athletics, as well as in the work place (Sellers, 1988). Since parallels are evident between leadership in organizations and leadership in sports, and since recruiters can be attracted to an employee with athletic activities that indicate leadership ability, it was of interest to see if this attraction to, and perception of, athletes has validity. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study will be to see if athletes or former athletes possess more characteristics of effective leaders or hold more leadership positions within the organization, than those employees that did not participate in athletics. A second objective of this study is to explore whether the level of athletic competition (i.e. played in high school, college, professional, internationally, etc.) affects one's ability to be an effective leader. Finally, this study will investigate whether experience as an athletic team leader, such as a captain, has a positive impact on one's leadership ability.
Subject	Leadership Athletics
Department	Department of Communication
Advisor	Fischbach, Robert M.
Type	Text
Digital Format	application/pdf
Language	eng
OCLC number	713733950
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