PRACTICAL 1

LEADERSHIP SCALE FOR SPORTS (LSS)

True leadership requires the potential to guide and influence followers, as well as act
purposefully. In sports, leadership calls for the abilities to carry the team forward towards
collective goals. It involves the ability to help the players to give their best performance along
with their personal and collective growth. Sports is a field that requires an efficient leader in
order to guide a team and its members, make decisions for the team success and represent the
team. They ensure flawless communication within the team. Competent and capable leaders
are the face of successful teams and they are able to use their power constructively to attain
team goals. Among other qualities that affect their performance, leadership qualities of the
coach who leads the team is perhaps the most crucial factor, the lack of which has direct
implications on the discipline, communication as well as individual and team performance
quality of the players. An important term that is associated with coach leadership is coaching
efficacy, which has been defined as the extent to which coaches believe that they have the
capacity to influence the learning and performance of their athletes and consists of four
dimensions: motivation, game strategy, technique, and character building (Feltz et al., 1999).
Northouse (2010) describes leadership as “a process whereby an individual influences
a group of individuals to achieve a common goal”. According to Gary Yukl (2006),
leadership is “the process of influencing others to understand and agree about what needs to
be done and how to do it, and the process of facilitating individual and collective efforts to
accomplish shared objectives”. These definitions suggest that leadership is not a result, but a
process. The ability to assert an influence on others is the mark of a good leader. Leadership
is viewed more as a transactional event that occurs within the context of a group and is aimed
at attaining collective goals.
The early theories of leadership pointed out that a leader is born with certain
characteristics that make them a good leader. For instance, Carlyle, in 1847 explained in his
“Great Man theory” that, only those who were born with the potential were able to become
heroes. Several other theories in the trait approach claimed the same. Later research focused
on the behavioural qualities of leaders and were of the opinion that leadership qualities could
be learned by anyone. They argued that leaders are made, not born. In reaction to these two
approaches, a different approach was put forward which emphasized the importance of
situational factors rather than leadership characteristics (Perrow,1970). The interactional
approach to leadership was proposed by general and industrial psychologists, considering
leadership to be a product of both personality characteristics and situational factors, instead of
focusing on either one.
MULTIDIMENSIONAL MODEL OF LEADERSHIP
Chelladurai (1978,1990,2007) developed an interactional model of explaining leadership in
sports and physical activity. Like the other theories of the interactional approach, it says that
leadership efficiency varies according to the personal and situational factors. The
multidimensional approach says that the performance and personal satisfaction of an athlete
is determined by three aspects of leader behaviour: the actual, required and preferred
behaviour. These behaviours are a result of the leader, the situation and the members, so they
are called antecedents. Required leader behaviour refers to the behaviours that are ought to be
shown by coaches, according to the norms. Preferred leader behaviour is the members’
preference of coach behaviour and Actual leader behaviour simply means the behaviours that
the coach exhibits in situations.
The Leadership Scale for Sports (LSS) was developed by Chelladurai and Saleh, and consists
of 40 questions that assess five dimensions of behaviour of coaches, namely- training and
instruction, autocratic behaviour, democratic behaviour, social support and positive feedback.
Internal consistency ranged from .45 to .93 and the test-retest reliability ranged from .71
to .82. The relative stability of the factor structure across the different samples confirmed the
factorial validity of the scale. The interpretation of the factors established the content validity
of the scale. The dimensions are classified as training and instruction, Coach’s decision-
making styles, and coach’s motivational tendencies. The scale helps to provide an
understanding about the coach’s behaviour, their decision-making style as well as
motivational tendencies. It also tells the researcher about the athlete’s perception of the
coach. The scale can be used to analyse the effectiveness of coaching behaviour and is a
valuable instrument for various researches and studies.
RECENT STUDY
Khalaj, Khabiri and Sajjadi (2011) conducted research to understand how the leadership
styles of coaches were related to the satisfaction of players. The sample included 157
participants from the National Women’s skate championships during the year 2009. Three
questionnaires were administered to collect data which included demographic properties,
Leadership Scale for Sports-LSS (Chelladurai& Saleh,1980), and the Athlete Satisfaction
Questionnaire- ASQ (Reimer &Chelladurai,1998). The research findings concluded that there
exists a positive relationship between training and instruction, social support, positive
feedback and autocratic leadership with all dimensions of athletic satisfaction.
ADVANTAGES
1. Leadership scale for sport scale (LSS) is highly sports specific, so it would be helpful
in providing effective feedback to the coaches.

2. The five dimensions help in an in- depth understanding of the coaches’ behaviour and
helps them focus on their areas of improvement in such a way that it meets the members
‘requirements.
DISADVANTAGES
1. Since LSS is purely based on the athlete’s subjective perception of the coach, it might
be influenced by personal biases
2. The results can also vary based on culture and type of sport of the athlete.

APPLICATIONS
1. It helps the coaches to self- reflect on their training and instruction, decision style and
motivational tendencies.
2. It can be used for all types of sports.
3. It can give insight into athlete’s perception of coach and improve coach efficacy by
providing appropriate feedback to the coach.

REFERENCES
Chelladurai, P. (1990). Leadership in sports: A review. International Journal of Sport
Psychology, 21(4), 328–354
Weinberg, R. S., & Gould, D. (1995). Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology.
Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
 Gargalianos, D., Laios, A., & Theodorakis, N. (2003). Leadership and power: Two
important factors for effective coaching. International Sports Journal, 24, 150-154.
Ahmed Khan, Zakeer & Nawaz, Allah & Khan, Irfan. (2016). Leadership Theories
and Styles: A Literature Review. Journal of Resources Development and
Management. 16.
Chelladurai, P., & Saleh, S. D. (1980). Dimensions of leader behavior in sports:
Development of a leadership scale. Journal of sport psychology, 2(1).
Khalaj, G., Khabiri, M., & Sajjadi, N. (2011). The relationship between coaches’
leadership styles & player satisfaction in women skate championship. Procedia-
Social and Behavioral Sciences, 15, 3596-3601.

AIM
To assess the athlete’s perception of coach’s leadership behaviour using leadership scale for
sport (LSS).
MATERIAL REQUIRED

 Leadership scale for sport

 Writing materials
 Scoring key

PROCEDURE
The athlete is seated comfortably and rapport is established. The athlete is given the
Leadership Scale for Sports (LSS) and writing materials. Then the following instructions are
given-“ Please read each of the statement carefully and choose the option that agrees to your
perception of your coach. Take as long you feel necessary to arrive at the proper ratings for
each item. There are no right or wrong answers”. Then the athlete is asked to start answering
the questionnaire. It was ensured that the instructions were understood by the participant and
doubts regarding the items were cleared.
PRECAUTIONS

1. The experimenter should make sure that the athlete does not leave any question
unanswered.
2. The athlete should be encouraged to answer as honestly as possible.

PSYCHOLOGICAL TEST REPORT

Name: N.U
Age:20
 Gender: Male
Examiner: A.G

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

1. Informed consent of the athlete was obtained.

2. The confidentiality of the information given by the athlete was ensured.

ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

Training and instruction (item #1 to #13)

Democratic behavior (item #14 to # 22)

Autocratic behavior (item #23 to #27)

Social support (item #28 to #35)

Positive feedback (item #36 to #40)

ASSESSMENT AND FINDINGS

TOTAL SCORES: Training and Instruction 3.53, Democratic behavior 2.55, Autocratic
behavior 1.8, Social support 3.5, Positive feedback 3.6
Table 1
Showing the scores of the athlete on the LSS along with their interpretation
DIMENSIONS TRAINING DEMOCRATI AUTOCRATIC SOCIAL POSITIVE
AND C BEHAVIOR BEHAVIOR SUPPORT FEEDBACK
INSTRUCTION
SCORES 46/13=3.53 23/9=2.55 9/5=1.8 28/8=3.5 18/5=3.6

INFERENCES AND IMPLICATIONS

The LSS was conducted on a state level tennis player to assess his perception of his coach.
From the scores in Table-1, it can be observed that the athlete scored his coach high on
positive feedback which means his coach encouraged to improve his performance using
positive feedback. This score was followed by social support, both of which are motivational
tendencies of the coach. This suggests that the coach helps the athletes resolve their conflicts,
gives credit and reward the athletes for their performance. Considering the decision making
style of the coach, it can be seen that the coach adopted a more democratic style of leadership
more than an autocratic style. The coach is perceived by the participant to be more open to
athletes’ ideas, giving them opportunities to take part in decision making, taking their
opinions into consideration and so on.

OBSERVATION REPORT
The subject seemed to be curious and optimistic while taking part in the study. He was also
interested in knowing more about the topic and was seen to be very relaxed throughout the
process.

CONCLUSION
The athlete scored his coach highest on positive feedback.