okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering
Monday, August 04, 2008
Team cohesiveness and relay results
I came across an academic study that looks at how relay teams (in 4 x 400 meter races) perform and how the make up of the team affects how well the teams perform.
Here is a quote from the conclusion:
These results suggest that greater disparity in team member quality increases NCAA relay team times, which suggests the existence of negative peer effects. These negative peer effects can arise because of free-riding or shirking, but could also arise from other non-monetary reasons such as jealousy or mistrust. This is important for coaches to be aware of as to maximize the performance of a relay team. The results support the existing literature, as similar evidence already has also been shown in other sports such as baseball. The results are also supportive of the team cohesiveness hypothesis, which states that greater wage (quality) disparities within a team can decrease team production.