an investigation of the relationship among coaches' leadership styles, group cohesion and team success: a case study of first division futsal league in mazandaran province

an investigation of coaches' leadership styles and their effects on athletes' behaviors and incentives can help improve coach-athlete relationship and adopt better decisions and planning. this study aimed at investigating the relationship between coaches’ leadership styles and group cohesion in first division futsal league of mazandaran province. the statistical population consisted of all coaches and players in first division futsal league of mazandaran province. 228 players and coaches in 19 teams of first division futsal league of mazandaran province filled out leadership in sport scale (lss) by chelladurai and saleh (1980) and group environment questionnaire (geq) by carron, widmeyer and brawley (1985) to measure group cohesion in sport teams. results showed a significant and positive relationship between the coaches' training and exercising behaviors and task cohesion. there was also a significant relationship between democratic and imperative styles and group cohesion. a comparison of coaches' leadership styles showed that coaches used democratic style more and training and exercising leadership style less. overall, findings showed a significant relationship between team cohesion and team success and the coaches of those teams who showed higher training and exercising and democratic leadership styles. the coaches are recommended to improve training and exercising leadership style, social support style and positive feedback behavior in their team.