SDT, PERMA and Autonomy Supportive Behaviors

Abstract

Sport has a long tradition of applying leadership and management practices from business. Servant-Leadership (Greenleaf, 1977) is a prominent theory in business and other fields today; therefore, the study of Servant-Leadership and its potential applicability to sport appears warranted. Yet despite its increasing popularity, very few studies to date have recognized Servant-Leadership's potential application to sport. In order to address this need, this study investigated the meaning of Servant-Leadership in sport and examined the applicability of the Servant-Leadership theory to the sport setting. More specifically, this study examined the shared meanings and experiences of sport coaches who practice Servant-Leadership. The characteristics of servant-leaders, first described by Robert K. Greenleaf (1977), serve as the framework for this study. A qualitative, phenomenological research methodology with a heuristic slant was chosen for this study. This study explored the experiences of six college coaches who were identified as possessing many of the characteristics and attributes of Servant-Leadership. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were used to ascertain the participants' (coaches) experiences with the phenomenon. Six themes emerged from the interviews and the data analysis that characterized the specific practices of the servant-leader coaches interviewed for this study. These themes were: a different perspective on winning and success, empowerment of athletes through the establishment of ownership in the program, building of team cohesion and relationships among members, motivational techniques, risk-taking and innovation, and the costs of being a servant-leader coach. The data was discussed in relationship to the ten characteristics of Servant-Leadership as identified by Spears (1995), as well as additional authors who have written about the characteristics of servant-leaders. It was concluded that Servant-Leadership does have potential as a viable leadership style in the sport setting.