How do team dynamics, roles and the social context affect performance?
The social factors that impact on performance, including their features such as team dynamics, cooperation, roles and responsibilities, relationships and etiquette, and the positive and negative effects each can have on performance.
An SQA Higher Physical Education answer on the social factors impacting on performance, covering their main features (team dynamics, cooperation, roles and responsibilities, relationships and etiquette) and the positive and negative effects each can have on a performer or team.
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What this dot point is asking
The SQA wants you to explain what the social factor is, identify its main features, and explain how each can have a positive and a negative impact on performance. Social questions reward an understanding of how individuals working together (or failing to) shape a team's performance.
The answer
What social factors are
At Higher the examinable features are team dynamics, cooperation and communication, roles and responsibilities, relationships, and etiquette and environmental considerations. You must be able to describe each and explain its impact.
Team dynamics and cooperation
Roles and responsibilities
Relationships and etiquette
Examples in context
A hockey team in a tight match shows the social features interacting. Clear roles mean the sweeper covers behind the defence while the forwards press, so the structure holds. Good team dynamics and communication, calling for the ball, warning of an opponent's run, keep the unit organised and let players cover each other's mistakes. Positive relationships mean a defensive error is met with encouragement rather than blame, so heads stay up. If, instead, two players who do not get on stop communicating, the press becomes disorganised, the sweeper is left exposed and the team concedes. The same eleven players perform very differently depending on the social factors, which is why the SQA treats them as examinable in their own right.
Try this
Q1. Name two features of the social factor. [2 marks]
- Cue. Choose from team dynamics, cooperation and communication, roles and responsibilities, relationships, or etiquette.
Q2. Explain one positive and one negative impact a social factor can have on team performance. [4 marks]
- Cue. Positive: clear roles keep the team organised. Negative: poor relationships cause blame and a loss of shape.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of SQA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
SQA Higher 20214 marksExplain how social factors can have a positive and a negative impact on performance.Show worked answer →
A -mark explain question rewarding one developed positive and one developed negative point.
Positive: strong team dynamics and good cooperation mean players support each other, communicate and trust their roles, so the team keeps possession and defends as a unit.
Negative: poor relationships or a player not accepting their role lead to confusion, missed cover and blame, so the team breaks down under pressure. The discriminator is explaining the effect on the team's performance, not just naming the factor.
SQA Higher 20196 marksDescribe two social factors and explain how each affected the performance of your team.Show worked answer →
A -mark describe-and-explain question, roughly half description and half explanation. Choose two distinct features.
Describe team dynamics (how members interact, trust and work together) and roles and responsibilities (each member's defined job in the team).
Then explain the impact in a named activity: clear roles in basketball meant the point guard organised play while the centre held the key, so the offence flowed; weak team dynamics after a disagreement meant players stopped communicating and the defence lost its shape. Marks come from the developed link to team performance.
Related dot points
- Cooperation, communication and team dynamics as features of the social factor: how members work towards a shared goal, the role of communication, and the approaches used to develop cohesion such as team-building, set plays and shared goals.
An SQA Higher Physical Education answer on cooperation, communication and team dynamics as social factors, covering how members work towards a shared goal, the role of communication, and the approaches used to build team cohesion.
- Roles and responsibilities, relationships and etiquette as features of the social factor: how defined roles keep a team organised, how relationships affect morale and conflict, and the place of etiquette and environmental considerations in performance.
An SQA Higher Physical Education answer on roles and responsibilities, relationships and etiquette as social factors, covering how defined roles keep a team organised, how relationships affect morale, and the place of etiquette and the environment in performance.
- Methods of collecting information about the factors impacting on performance, including the difference between qualitative and quantitative methods, examples such as observation schedules, video analysis, standardised tests, questionnaires and match analysis, and why a performer uses more than one method.
An SQA Higher Physical Education answer on the methods of collecting information about the factors impacting on performance, covering qualitative and quantitative methods, examples such as observation schedules, video analysis and standardised tests, and why more than one method is used.
- Approaches to developing performance, including how a performer selects approaches that match the factor and the stage of learning, principles such as progression and specificity, and examples of approaches for the physical, mental, emotional and social factors.
An SQA Higher Physical Education answer on the approaches to developing performance, covering how to select approaches that match the factor and stage of learning, principles such as progression and specificity, and examples for each of the four factors.
- Tactics and composition as an area of the physical factor: how tactics outwit an opponent in games and how composition structures a performance activity, the strengths and weaknesses they target, and how good and poor tactics affect performance.
An SQA Higher Physical Education answer on tactics and composition as a physical factor, covering how tactics outwit an opponent in games, how composition structures a performance activity, and how good and poor tactics or composition affect performance.
Sources & how we know this
- SQA Higher Physical Education Course Specification — SQA (2019)