The coordination of labour in sports teams

Abstract

Understanding how the actions of members of sports teams are organised and coordinated is a key challenge for sport psychology and, until recently, extant theory within sport psychology has allowed few insights into this topic. This article considers how the labour in sports teams is organised, why the organisational structure of sports teams introduces an acute need for team coordination, and why coordination in teams is difficult to achieve. It also considers the team-level social-cognitive states and processes required to achieve coordination. Implications of the conceptual framework outlined here are presented for current theory and future research on team functioning within sport psychology as well as for applied practitioners working with sports teams.

Keywords:

• communication
• division of labour
• planning
• shared knowledge
• skilled performance