A level PE Psychology - basketball motivation

Sports Coaching

A LEVEL PE

GCSE PE

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Motivation of Basketball Team Project

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“To what extent is the motivation of a professional basketball player ot team affected by salary?”

ref: Sam Golding

Part One: Introduction

Part Two: Review of Literature

Part Three: Discussion and Conclusion

Part Four: Appraisal

Part Five: Appendix

Part Six: Bibliography

Introduction

This study will be an investigation into the motivational role of money on the performance of professional basketball teams and players. My interpretation of motivation is the willingness of a person to perform an action; this can be affected by both intrinsic (Competitiveness) and extrinsic (trophies, prize money etc.) factors.

I have chosen this topic to follow for three main reasons. Firstly, because I have partaken in the playing of basketball on a recreational and competitive level for many years, which leads me to inquire into what motivates professional basketball players to perform to a high standard on a regular basis. Secondly, I have enjoyed viewing and following NBA basketball for as long as I have been playing, so I am interested into by what means a basketball player gets motivated to succeed on when they play s o frequently. Thirdly, motivation features in the skill acquisition module of A/S Physical education, also salary of performers has been discussed in the Socio-cultural section.

The topic of motivation is involved in all levels of sport, from school to professional levels. This is recognised in two forms, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation comes from within the performer e.g. reaching personal goals, self-competitiveness etc. Extrinsic motivation comes from external factors to the performer e.g. money, trophies, team talks from coach, expectation from fans and supporters etc. As motivation covers all sports in one of these two forms, I am going to concentrate on the extrinsic factors of motivation on professional basketball players.

The purpose of this study is to develop an understanding of the role of money in the extrinsic motivation of NBA basketball players. It will also briefly explore other forms and aspects of motivation which affect them.

Review Of Literature

Information has been gathered from textbooks, Internet and newspaper articles, I have attempted contact with many journalists and some NBA players. Each of these will be discussed in turn during the course of this literature review.

To aid my investigation I decided to find a definition of motivation, in order clarify the task I had set myself. In the article ‘What is motivation’ by Karlene Sugarman, she states that “motivation is the psychological force that pushes and drives you to work hard.” (K. Sugarman 1999). Motivation can be described as the “why of behaviour”(Gross 1992). Motivation is found in two forms, which are heavily inter-linked as stated in Paul Bernhardt’s article in perspectives magazine, “…researchers talk about two types of motivation, extrinsic and intrinsic. Extrinsic motivation is based on concrete or overt rewards. Intrinsic motivation is based on internal rewards.”(P. Bernhardt 1996). He went on to say “Intrinsic motivation comes from within. …. When someone asks ‘Why did you do that?’ you answer, ‘because I like it.’ That is clearly intrinsic motivation. If pressed you could probably come up with more specific reasons:..…. the satisfaction of having a well placed shot……

…Extrinsic motivations are rewards that come from outside our self. Obviously, money is an extrinsic motive. For some, fame or power might be the main motives.” It is not as clear-cut as this, with the two separate categories. The line between the two is somewhat blurred, as a form of motivation which is categorised extrinsic, may give some form of internal gratification. This is stated in the article in ‘Perspectives magazine’ “Somehow, the person must find intrinsic value in the external reward…Money does have unique qualities because it can be converted to so many other services and wares which might satisfy intrinsic motivations.”(P. Bernhardt 1996).

Although NBA basketball is not covered to a great degree In the media, I was able to obtain two articles from the ‘Daily Express’ covering the NBA. The first of which displays an argument against the view that money is the main motivational source for professional basketball players. The article explains about a basketball player who recently signed a multimillion-dollar contract, but instead of splashing out on luxuries for himself he plans to build a hospital. “Now he has signed a contract with his architect and builder, not for some grand Mansion for himself but a $14million, 300bed hospital in Kinshasa in his home town in the Congo…has already bought land for the land for the hospital, and with or without an NBA title, will be back in Kinshasa in September for the ground breaking.” (D. Purgavie, 2001). The Second, talks about British basketball player who turned down a deal for $12million with the winners of the NBA from the previous season, in order to repay his gratitude to his current club. “I owe the Magic a great debt of gratitude and I am repaying that debt. To leave the team would have been poor on my part. You can’t be a man of principle some of the time.” (J. Amaechi, 2001). Both articles show signs of very different motivational factors to the value of money.

As I was unable to receive any replies from the questionnaire sent out, I am having to base much of the project on statistical data. I decided to use the data from two highly contrasting teams, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Orlando Magic. The Lakers who in the season studied dominated throughout with their highly paid squad, compared with a surprise team in the Orlando Magic who performed unexpectedly well with their team of considerably lower paid team of unknowns.

Discussion/Conclusion

The information presented in the literature review will now be discussed in order to draw conclusions on the subject.

A definition of motivation and the types of has been offered. All of the sources agreed that there are two categories of motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic feedback. Intrinsic motivation; gaining internal rewards. Extrinsic motivation is based on receiving physical or external rewards. Two of the sources (P. Bernhardt 1996) and (K. Sugarman 1999) stated that there was no clear distinction between the two types of motivation for example, a performer can gain intrinsic rewards through an external reward, or a performer may receive external gratification from an intrinsic motivational source. It is generally agreed that this crossover of ideas is essential for ultimate success in a given activity, the combination helps to achieve optimum performance (Edexcel, Advanced PE, 2000). Although when motivated completely intrinsically good performances can be produced, it is only when an incentive is given that the performer will produce their best. The same goes with extrinsic motivation. If the motivation I solely extrinsic then a good performance may occur, but if they are not enjoying the activity then the performance may not be as high as it could be. Motivation of either variety is essential when taking part in all activities, as if we were not motivated to them we would not take part in them at all.

The Cognitive dissonance theory suggests that if we do a job in which we are paid poorly, we must enjoy doing it, otherwise why would we do it? And the reverse, if we do a job in which we are receiving a high salary, then we must only do it for the money. So this could apply to basketball players, the lower paid players such as the rookies play well because they enjoy to play. Whereas highly paid players may perform to a high standard because of the money.

In two newspaper articles I found evidence to argue against the extrinsic role of money in the motivation of Professional Basketball Players. The first article by (D. Purgavie, 2001) titled “Why Mutombo Walks Tall” was about a former native of the Congo’s use of the money he acquired in a multimillion-dollar move between two teams involving a swap of four other players in exchange for him. Although this would be categorised as an extrinsic motivational factor of money, it was not greed, or the money itself that was motivating him, but more what he could do which would be worthwhile cause. He had vowed to use it to build a 300bed hospital in his home town of Kinshasa in the Congo. From this act although it is an extrinsic motivation, he receives an intrinsic reward from the act. To prove the effect of this motivation, his team the Philadelphia 76ers finished top of the Atlantic division and Eastern Conference with the joint second total wins of the regular season, and Mutombo himself was named defensive player of the year. The end of the article, in which this story was found, finished “Nobody seems to have told him he is supposed to be greedy and arrogant and hang around in strip clubs.” (D. Purgavie, 2001), suggesting that he is an exception, and that the stereotypical Pro-Basketball player would be what is described.

The Second of the articles by (M. Ogden, 2001) titled “Megabucks Can’t Sway Amaechi”. This article was about a British player in the NBA who turned down the opportunity to move to the Playoff Winners the LA Lakers which involved an upgrade of salary from $385,000 to in excess of $2million a year. This vast increase in salary could not persuade him into moving due to his sense of loyalty to his current team, so he accepted a £465,000 one year deal from his current club instead. This showed that he had good intrinsic motivation, as he did not feel that he required that sum of money to perform, his main source of motivation was his loyalty. These articles both show evidence of intrinsic motivation, or at least received internal gratification from their external rewards.

As I did not receive replies to my questionnaires I was forced to base the main bulk of the investigation on statistics. I began by Comparing the Salaries and performances of two very different teams. 1. LA Lakers and 2. Orlando Magic.

A Huge difference is visible between the salary and season performances of both teams (displayed in tables 1, 2 and 4). LA with a vastly larger overall Salary, and a just below $13million difference between the salaries of the highest paid player of the respective teams. This initially shows a trend in the role that these external incentives play on the motivation to succeed. But when you consider the differences in the salary and expectation on either team, the picture becomes less clear. Where the Lakers with their big name, big price-tag players had an expectancy to succeed. Whereas, Orlando with their relatively low paid unknowns, by far exceeded all expectations.

Orlando the previous season had failed to qualify for the playoffs in many years, and subsequently went on to lose their most well known and talented player in the following summer. So, in this following season they had no more big name talents, and were not even expected to get close to qualifying for the playoffs. This shows the amount of intrinsic motivation collectively held by the team.

The Lakes, However finally managed to reach their full potential in this season, after 2 years of under achieving, the extrinsic pressures placed upon them by their price tags were increasing. So here their motivation through their combined intrinsic motivations and extrinsic motivations of salary came through to help them to succeed.

Surprisingly more different players, from Orlando were in the various league leaders lists and All-NBA teams, although the total count for inclusion in the various lists was larger for LA. But for the Lakers only two separate players were responsible for these, compared to Orlando’s 4.

It could be argued that the Orlando players could still be motivated by the money, as although considerably lower than that of LA, the sums of money were still on the whole considerably high.

Five of the ten highest paid players failed to make a single league leaders list, or All-NBA team. Although three of these had ongoing injuries, the remaining two may appear to be motivated only by the money and so are letting their performance slip. Where younger players who are doing consistently better than these are getting paid considerably less.

From my investigations the following conclusions have been formed:

O Motivation is the “why we perform” an activity.

O There are two main types which are very inter-linked, Intrinsic from within, extrinsic motivation through a possible external reward.

O For optimum performance, there must be a combination of both extrinsic and intrinsic motivational forces.

O A performer should not concentrate on one either intrinsic or extrinsic factor for motivation, otherwise they either take the task too seriously or not take it seriously enough. Both leading to a decline in the quality of performance.

O Although much of the motivation for NBA players comes extrinsically, it is not always from money, it can be from what good they can do with it.

O Performance is not always reliant on the salary of the player, e.g. Ben Wallace of Orlando, appearing in the league leaders list for rebounds, yet earning under $1milion which is considerably lower than others featured in the list.

O There are many factors involved in the motivation of basketball players, other than money.

Appraisal

The Process of researching this topic was to enable me to learn more about the topic of motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic. It was also to show the effects of these forms of motivation on top sports professionals in addition to natural skill and ability. Previous to starting this project I had some knowledge of the topic of motivation, although limited, as it had been covered previously in the course.

Some of the difficulties in encountered upon gathering research for this study were:

1. There is a vast number of teams and hundreds of players in the in NBA, so it would be far too time consuming to study statistics for all of these. So only small sections were possible for comparing and contrasting which could give a limited and possibly inaccurate overview of the NBA as a whole. Also finding this statistical information and salaries of teams/players was a difficult task.

2. Basketball as whole is featured to a very little extent in the media in the UK, and when it is reported it is usually only on British league stories. The only times that newspapers print stories on the NBA is usually to report the winner of the Playoffs at the end of the season, or features on British/European players in the NBA. There is little television coverage on the NBA except for a 30minute magazine program on Saturdays on ITV. When the coverage rights were owned by Channel 4 the coverage was more extensive. Including two one-hour shows, one 30minute show and one live match per week. Although ITV does have more extensive coverage on its Digital channel, ITV2, unfortunately I am not able to view this, as I do not receive digital television.

3. I decided to send out questionnaires to John Amaechi (the only British player in the NBA) and Vlade Divac, both NBA players. I sent them questionnaires to get an inside view into what motivates them to perform in order to obtain evidence from within the group I am studying. This could not be carried out with British or European league players as they are not under the same pressures and demands of popularity and salary as NBA players. I also sent out questionnaires to various sports Journalists who deal specifically with basketball, as they have strong views about and a vast knowledge of the subject. Unfortunately, I am yet to receive a reply from any of these sources. This limited my resources to statistical evidence and knowledge of results. Answers for these questions would have been of great benefit to my study.

Therefore, this investigation has had large limitations due to the lack of and low quantity of literature and information specific to this subject. Much of the motivation information came from articles on which were general to many sports, or from the issued textbook which was not specific to the subject of the project.

Opportunities have been opened for further investigation in this topic. The topics raised in this investigation could have been broadened by investigating roles of different types of motivation on all levels e.g. Recreation, School, county/state, college, National/European and NBA levels. Another investigation that could have been made is how do performers respond to specific types of motivation e.g. Extrinsic, with the promise of money or chocolate in younger performers.

Appendix

1) Advanced PE for Edexcel:

O Intrinsic Feedback – From within the performer.

O Extrinsic Feedback – From an external reward.

2) “Motivation” article by P. Bernhardt: see attached

3) “What is Motivation?” by K. Sugarman: see attached

4) Questionnaire sent out as part of research: see attached

5) “Why Mutombo Walks Tall” by D. Purgavie – Daily Express: see attached

6) “Megabucks Can’t Sway Amaechi” by M. Ogden – Daily Express: see attached

Bibliography:

v F. Galligan, C. Maskery, J. Spence, D. Howe, T. Barry, A. Ruston, D. Crawford(2000) – Advanced PE for Edexcel

v XXL Basketball magazine (1999-2001).