Sources of Organizational Stress in Elite Sports Performers

By D. Fletcher, S. Hanton. 2003

211 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This study extends recent research investigating organizational stress in elite sport. Fourteen international performers (7 men and 7 women) from a wide range of sports were interviewed with regard to potential sources of organizational stress. Consistent with Woodman and Hardy’s (2001a) theoretical framework of organizational stress in sport, four main categories were examined: environmental issues, personal issues, leadership issues, and team issues. The main environmental issues that emerged were selection, finances, training environment, accommodation, travel, and competition environment. The main personal issues were nutrition, injury, and goals and expectations. The main leadership issues were coaches and coaching styles. The main team issues were team atmosphere, support network, roles, and communication. The findings are discussed in relation to previous research and in terms of their implications for sport organizations and personnel working with elite performers.

Subfields: Developmental and Educational Psychology, Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/69ae6a6d37e0ba85fa9028d4a1ac3f8be7960fef

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Developmental and Educational Psychology

1. D. Fletcher
2. Mustafa Sarkar
3. A. Nicholls
4. Andrew R. Levy
5. Peter Olusoga
6. Joanne Butt
7. I. Maynard
8. K. Hays

In Orthopedics and Sports Medicine

1. Mustafa Sarkar
2. D. Fletcher
3. A. Nicholls
4. Yusuke Tabei
5. K. Goodger
6. M. Frey
7. Remco Polman
8. Joanne Butt

In Social Psychology

1. D. Fletcher
2. Mustafa Sarkar
3. A. Nicholls
4. Peter Olusoga
5. Joanne Butt
6. I. Maynard
7. K. Hays
8. Remco Polman

Citations in the corpus

• Psychological resilience in sport performers: a review of stressors and protective factors (2014, background): “Subsequently, scholars began to systematically investigate the organisational stressors encountered by athletic performers (see, e.g. Fletcher & Hanton, 2003; Fletcher, Hanton, Mellalieu, & Neil, 2012; Hanton et al., 2005; Kristiansen & Roberts, 2010; Woodman & Hardy, 2001).”
• College Coaches’ Experiences with Stress—“Problem Solvers” Have Problems, Too (2007, background): “…1989; Pierce & Stratton, 1981; Scanlan & Lewthwaite, 1984; Scanlan, Stein, & Ravizza, 1991), collegiate wrestlers (Gould & Weinberg, 1985), varsity athletes from a variety of sports (Baker, Cote, & Hawes, 2000), and elite international athletes (Fletcher & Hanton, 2003; Woodman & Hardy, 2001).”
• The Relationship between Organizational Stressors and Athlete Burnout in Soccer Players (2012, methodology): “…Woodman and Hardy (2001) generated a theoretical framework that stimulated studies exploring the demands encountered by elite sport performers (Fletcher & Hanton, 2003; Hanton, Fletcher, & Coughlan, 2005; Kristiansen, Halvari, & Roberts, in press; Kristiansen & Roberts, 2010;…”
• Psychological resilience in sport: A review of the literature and implications for research and practice (2015, unknown): “…minimal performance failures, other obstacles exist, such as injuries (Podlog & Eklund, 2006), strained relationships (Mellalieu, Shearer, & Shearer, 2013), organisational demands (Fletcher & Hanton, 2003), abuse (Stirling & Kerr, 2008), and mental health concerns (Papathomas & Lavallee, 2012).”
• Shared and coordinated cognition in competitive and dynamic task environments: An information‐processing perspective for team sports (2006, background): “…decisions (Ericsson, 2003) Coaches can also enhance team members’ ability to form adequate expectations and to anticipate what will happen next in a game by clearly defining team members’ roles Fletcher and Hanton (2003) suggested that individual and team goals should be discussed openly…”
• Stress in Elite Sports Coaching: Identifying Stressors (2009, background): “Coaches were purposefully selected (Patton, 2002) from a variety of sports to ensure that a wide range of sporting organizations was represented (Fletcher & Hanton, 2003).”
• Organisational Stressors, Coping, and Coping Effectiveness: A Longitudinal Study with an Elite Coach (2009, background): “Emerging research based on athletic populations [8] has adopted Carron’s [9] model of group cohesion in which to identify four higher-order categories of organisational stressors (i.”
• A grounded theory of psychological resilience in Olympic champions (2012, background): “…sport psychology researchers have investigated and identified the numerous demands e or stressors e encountered by Olympic athletes (see, e.g., Fletcher & Hanton, 2003; Gould, Jackson, & Finch, 1993; Scanlan, Stein, & Ravizza, 1991), including those associated with competitive performance…”
• Sources of strain among elite UK track athletes (2008, background): “…have focused only on major sources of perceived stress (e.g., Scanlan et al., 1991), and other studies have considered specific types of sources of stress such as competition-induced stress (James & Collins, 1997) or organizational stress (e.g., Woodman & Hardy, 2001; Fletcher & Hanton, 2003).”
• Critical Comments About Body Shape and Weight: Disordered Eating of Female Athletes and Sport Participants (2008, background): “…exposed to body shape and weight pressures (Hausenblas & Carron, 1999; Kerr, Berman, & De Souza, 2006; Leung, Geller, & Katzman, 1996), and the importance placed on diet as well as body image is a significant source of stress for athletes (Fletcher & Hanton, 2003; Kerr, Berman, & De Souza, 2006).”