| Knowledge about the social structures of groups and their impact on motivation of the group members is theoretically as well as practically important. For example, this knowledge can play a crucial role for the management of groups in organisations, but also for the training of sport teams. There are numerous dynamics why groups fail to function. Group structures can be extremely dense up to the point at which groupthink occurs. Group structures can be extremely centralized or segmented and that can hamper their functioning. Groups can have a role distribution that guarantees their functioning, but on the contrary crucial roles can be absent or individual self-interested behaviour can be in conflict with the goal of the group. All these are facets why or why not groups function. The current research project studies amateur football teams over a period of times in order to gain new insights over the dynamics of groups. Studying amateur football teams offers the advantage of having a quite homogeneous populations. All group members are around the same age, all are male and the goal of the group is clearly defined. |
