Communicating Effectively: Exploring Verbal and Nonverbal Behaviors and How They Affect Team ...

94 Pages·2015·0.43 MB·English

by  Domagoj Lausic

Florida State University Libraries
Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School
2009
Communicating Effectively: Exploring
Verbal and Nonverbal Behaviors and How
They Affect Team Coordination
Domagoj Lausic
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FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

COMMUNICATING EFFECTIVELY: EXPLORING VERBAL AND NONVERBAL
BEHAVIORS AND HOW THEY AFFECT TEAM COORDINATION

By

DOMAGOJ LAUSIC

A Dissertation submitted to the
Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Awarded:
Spring Semester, 2009
Themembersofthe CommitteeapprovetheDissertation ofDomagojLausicdefended on
January13th,2009.
___________________________________
GershonTenenbaum
ProfessorDirecting Dissertation
___________________________________
AndrewRudd
OutsideCommitteeMember
___________________________________
DavidEccles
CommitteeMember
___________________________________
AllenJeong
CommitteeMember
Approved:
______________________________________________________________________________
AkiKamata,Chair,DepartmentofEducational Psychologyand LearningSystems
TheGraduate Schoolhasverifiedandapprovedthe abovenamed committeemembers.
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Idedicatethisto myfamily:Mirjana,Mate,Hrvoje, Katarina,andAna Lausic,BrankaandErkaz
Bjelajac,whohaveoffered encouragement,love, andendlessbelief. Withoutyou,this
achievementwouldhave notbeenpossible.Thank you!
And
Inmemoryofmygrandmother,Matija Lausic,and grandfather,FabijanCukelj.
iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Likethe mostdemandingundertakingsinlife,this researchwouldhavenot takenplace
withouttheeffortofmanyindividuals. First,Iwould liketo expressmygratitude toDr.Gershon
Tenenbaumforhis guidance,support, belief, andcomprehensiveattentiontodetailandthebroad
pictureofthis project. Thank youforthe coachingadvicewhen Iwasfacinga‘setpoint.’Also,I
wouldliketothankmycommittee members:Dr.DavidEcclesandDr.AllenJeongfortheir
instrumentalinputandDr.AndrewRudd fortheinterestin thisproject.Yourcomments
tremendouslyimproved thisstudy. Iwouldalso thankDr.DinaVyortkina, aswellasmyfriends
andpeersattheCollege ofEducation.
Iwouldalsoexpressmygratitudeto coachesLisa,Dwayne,Nick, Mat,and theplayers
who,althoughanonymousinthis project,Iamindebtedtofortheir considerationduringthe long
datacollectionprocess.
Furthermore,manythankstomyfriendsandmentors attheProfessionalTennis Registry:
Helma, Louie,Julie,Peggy,Dan,Pat,andDennis,aswellasmycoachesVinceBilotta andIvica
Lazicfor the giftofsport, whichhasenriched mylife. Iwishto thankmyteacher MarijaIlic
whotaughtmeto gobeyond ordinaryandJoe Ilijicforencouragementinpursuit ofmydreams.
Lastly,mygratitudegoestofamiliesLausicandBjelajac. Withouteachandeveryoneof you
thisdissertation wouldnothavebeen completed.Iappreciate your support andguidanceonthis
journey.
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TABLEOFCONTENTS
ListofTables vii
Listof Figures viii
Abstract ix
INTRODUCTIONANDCURRENTSTATEOF RESEARCH 1
LITERATUREREVIEW
INTRODUCTION 4
COMMUNICATIONASASKILLEDBEHAVIOR 6
MAJORCONCEPTSINVERBALCOMMUNICATIONRESEARCH 7
MAJORCONCEPTSINNONVERBALCOMMUNICATIONRESEARCH 9
ABriefReviewofAppliedResearchinNonverbalCommunication 12
Nonverbalcommunicationmeasuresuse 13
Moderatorsofnonverbalcommunication 14
RELEVANCEOFCOMMUNICATIONTOTEAMSANDTEAMSPORTS 16
SharedMentalModels(SMM) 17
RELEVANCEOFVERBALANDNONVERBALCOMMUNICATIONTOTENNIS 22
CONCLUSIONS 23
PURPOSEANDHYPOTHESESOFTHEPRESENTSTUDY 25
METHOD
PARTICIPANTS 27
INSTRUMENTATION 27
PROCEDURE 29
ANALYSIS 30
RESULTS
COMMUNICATIONABILITES 32
DIFFERENCESBETWEENWINNINGANDLOSINGTEAMS 39
COMMUNICATIONWITHINCLOSEGAMES 47
VALIDATIONOFPONSINRESEARCHOFSPORTTEAMS 52
v
DISCUSSION
COMMUNICATIONABILITES 55
DIFFERENCESBETWEENWINNINGANDLOSINGTEAMS 59
COMMUNICATIONWITHINCLOSEGAMES 62
VALIDATIONOFPONSINRESEARCHOFSPORTTEAMS 63
LIMITATIONSANDFUTURERESEARCH 63
APPENDICES
A:NONVERBAL AND VERBALQUESTIONNAIRE 66
B:INFORMEDCONSENT 69
C:IRBAPPROVAL 70
REFERENCES 72
BIOGRAPHICALSKETCH 83
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LISTOFTABLES
1. ClassificationofNonverbalCommunicationCategoriesby Authors 11
2. Winners’and Losers’MeanNVQScoresin CategoriesofNonverbal &Verbal Items 33
3. PONSScoresandPercentiles’Equivalent of WinningandLosingPlayers 34
4. CommunicationStatement Counts andRespectivePercentages 37
5. Z-scoresandProbabilities ofCommunicationPatternsin WinningandLosingTeams 45
6. TransitionalProbabilities and FrequenciesofCommunication Patternsfor Winningand
LosingTeams 46
7. TransitionalProbabilities and FrequenciesofCommunication PatternsofWinningTeams
inClose GamesWonandCloseGamesLost 48
8. TransitionalProbabilities and FrequenciesofCommunication PatternsofLosingTeams
inClose GamesWonandCloseGamesLost 50
vii
LISTOF FIGURES
1. Amodelproposingthe relationship betweencommunicationandcoordination required
enhancingteamperformance 21
2. Player’schannelpercentilesonProfileofNonverbal Sensitivity 35
3. X-Yplots,linearregressions, andcorrelationsbetween PONSandreportedNVQ(a)
total,(b)nonverbal,and(c)verbalcommunicationforallplayers 36
4. X-Yplot,linearregression, andcorrelationbetween PONStotalscoresandtotalverbal
communication 38
5. X-Yplot,linearregression, andcorrelationbetween reportedverbalcommunication
andtotalverbalcommunication 39
6. Averagecountsofcommunications’categoriesforplayersinwinning andlosing teams
40
7. Meanscoresofreported nonverbalcommunications ofwinningandlosing players 41
8. Meanscoresofreported verbalcommunicationsofwinning andlosingplayers 42
9. CommunicationEventDiagramfor WinningandLosingTeams 44
10. CommunicationEventDiagramfor WinningTeamsDuringCloseGames 49
11. CommunicationEventDiagramfor LosingTeams DuringClose Games 51
viii
ABSTRACT
Previousresearchrevealed thatteamcommunicationviamessageexchange effectsteam
performanceoutcomes (Fioreetal.,2001).Additionalstudiesconfirmedthattheamount of
communicationmightdistinguishbetweensuperior andinferiorteams(Mosier&Chidester,
1991;Orasanu,1990). Inorderto enhanceverbal communication,humansusenonverbalsources
ofinformationasmessagesaretransmitted. Recentresearchfoundthatnonverbal
communicationskillsare robustpredictorsofachievementin groupendeavors (Burgoon&
Bacue,2003).Thepresentstudyinvestigatedthe linkbetweentheperceivedandactual
nonverbalandverbal communicationbehaviorsofdoublestennisplayers.Inaddition,it
examinedhowverbaland nonverbalcommunicationabilitiesrelatetoperformance.
MaleNCAADivision Itennisplayerswereengagedin playingdoubles matches.The
matcheswerevideoand audiotapedsothatbetween-the-pointcommunication couldbe
captured.Followingthe matches,theplayerswereadministeredNonverbal andverbal
questionnaire(NVQ),which targetedperceivedcommunication.Recorded communications
duringmatcheswerecoded,andsubsequentlyanalyzed using DataAnalysis Tool(Jeong,2003).
Finally,participantstook ProfileofNonverbalSensitivitytest(PONS;Rosenthaletal., 1979).
Theresultsrevealedthattherewasapositiveandlowcorrelationbetween(a)perceived
verbalcommunicationand amountofverbal communication,and (b)perceivednonverbal
communicationandPONS scores. Itis possible thatperceptionofone’s communicationabilities
donotrelatewelltotheactualabilitiesinreading nonverbalcues.Results ofpreviousresearch
indicatethatstressfulsituation,suchasacompetition, cannegatively affectperceptionsabout
communication(McCloskeyetal.,1971).Theresultsfurthermoreindicate thatplayerswho
communicated morehad atendencytoscorehigheronPONStest.Itis likelythatplayerswho
aresensitivetononverbalcommunicationarepredisposed to decodingadditional informationon
whichtheyelaboratedandusedforproblem-solving.
Inaddition,thestudyexaminedthedifferencesin communicationbetweenwinningand
losingteams.Thewinningteamsexhibited moreverbalcommunicationduringmatch-playing
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