The Leadership Role and Influence of Team Captaincy in Professional Rugby Union

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Author
Lowther, Mark
Date
2020Type
Thesis
Publisher
Cardiff Metropolitan University
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The aim of the study and research question was to understand the leadership
role, interpersonal style and impact of the team captain in a professional rugby union
context and evaluate the implications of the findings for the practice (and
development) of team captaincy. Loughead et al. (2006) indicated that the majority of
sport leadership research has focused on the coach but that athlete leadership within
a team was an important source of influence. Much of the literature in the team
captaincy field was based on the experiences of varsity populations and there was
scope, as Loughead et al. (2006) proposed, for future research to examine athlete
leadership at other levels of competition including professional sport.
The study was framed by an interpretivist paradigm and a qualitative
methodology. The research was based on a single, instrumental case study, the
Southern Warriors (pseudonym), a professional rugby union team classified as
competitive elite (Swann et al., 2015) who played in a top tier league. Data collection
techniques included semi structured and informal conversational interviews, overt
participant observation (over the course of a season) and archival research. Data
was analysed using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006).
The study found that the professional rugby context was distinguished by
three dimensions - commercial (gladiatorial) spectacle, demanding (and dynamic)
endeavour and collective camaraderie; that the team captain performed three key
roles - environment influencer, game shaper and stakeholder ambassador; that the
influencing style of the team captain was based on three key dimensions - personal
qualities, process skills and agile practice and finally, that the team captain impacted
three areas - team purpose, team performance and team satisfaction.
The study provided original contributions to the body of knowledge through
“real world” professional sport insights (a complex and pluralist ecosystem of
competing and sometimes contradictory organisational dynamics); by further
developing the current taxonomy of leadership roles and revising the current
definition of athlete leadership. The study also provided insights into leadership
currency and proposed a framework of key in game leadership evaluation indicators.
Practical implications of the research findings for the effective practice of team
captaincy included terms of reference for the supervisory leadership group, a team
captain job description, a team captain person specification, a team captain (i) self appraisal process and (ii) 360 appraisal process.
Recommended future avenues of inquiry included evaluation of the social
leadership role off the field, the evaluation of leadership role and style during a game
and evaluation of the selection process and development activities for team captains.
Description
PhD Thesis - School of Sport
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