A lifetime in high-performance motor sport: loss and gain from team cohesion

Purpose
Cohesion is universally sought in sport teams and brings many benefits. However, cohesion is a complex, multidimensional, dynamic process that also brings costs, or disadvantages, to individuals and teams themselves. These costs occur across team type and level. There is a significant gap in understanding which costs are the most significant and the outcomes that the costs have.

Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative study explored the potential costs and gains of high team cohesion in a particular case of a member of a motorsport high-performance team: a retired rally co-driver who had a 16-year professional career with one driver for over ten years. Over seven hours of life history data were collected over a year. A holistic content analysis and a holistic form analysis were conducted.

Findings
The most significant costs experienced were Sacrifice along with Pressure to Perform and Pressure to Conform, to “Do what the Team tells you!” A key influencing factor was what was identified as a new narrative type, a Team Performance Narrative. For the participant, the gains outweighed the costs. He maintained narrative coherence due to a career of consistent success, family who were willing to accept his sacrifice, and stable social support particularly from his long-term driver. However, success is limited, so sacrifice is risky.

Research limitations/implications
Future research should examine the downsides of sacrifice behaviour as a cost of high team cohesion; and explore costs and gains of high cohesion for individuals in less successful teams.

Practical implications
Teams should continue to focus on developing both social and task cohesion while being aware of the potential costs. Team performance pressures should be monitored and sacrifice for the team should be minimised.

Originality/value
This study is original in adding to the under-researched areas of motor sport and in examining the downsides of high cohesion in elite team performance. It adds new findings on the Team Performance Narrative, which is relevant to researchers and practitioners. It underlines that some group processes, such as conformity and sacrifice, should be reconsidered as not always a good thing but can have damaging outcomes, especially for athletes themselves.