Dimensions of Variability

“Dimensions of Variability” is a subtopic of Diversity.  The term Diversity is commonly associated with gender, skin color, and cultural norms.  The study of Diversity expands into diversity of thought; this is the space that “Dimensions of Variability” inhabits.  All of these are spectrums, but I will only describe the polar ends.

Individual – Collectivistic:

Individualistic cultures are oriented around the self, independent instead of identifying with a group mentality. They see each other as only loosely linked, and value personal goals above that of the group. Individualistic cultures tend to have a more diverse population, and are characterized with emphasis on personal achievements, and a rational assessment of both the beneficial and detrimental aspects of relationships with others

Collectivists usually focus on community, society, or nation. It is used and has been used as an element in many different and diverse types of government and political, economic and educational philosophies throughout history and all human societies in practice contain elements of both individualism and collectivism.

Consider play A.  He is a terrible defender and a good thrower.  He values his self-worth by how far he can throw a huck.  If he has an individualistic perspective he will continue to exclusively his hucks believing that improving what he wants to improve will ultimately benefit the team as a whole.  If he has a collectivistic perspective he will recognize that playing defense is a base requirement for helping the team be successful and will find ways to improve his defensive ability even if it takes time away from his hucking practice.

Low Context – High Context:

A high context individual is more likely to ask for assistance rather than attempt to work out a solution independently. The high context person may be frustrated by people appearing to not want to develop a relationship or continue to help them on an ongoing basis. The term "hand-holding" might be used to describe high context individuals in an unintentionally derogatory sense.

A lower context individual may be more likely to try to work things out on their own and feel there is a lack of self-service support or information, rather than ask questions and take time to develop the relationships needed to accomplish the things that need to be done.

Imagine teaching a team a zone.  You’re standing in a circle staring at some discs outlining a few scenarios.  Half of your team is like, “let’s just get out there and get some reps,” these are your low context players.  The other half is like “what if the offense is four inches to the left?” or “what if they get past the zone?” and they continue to ask questions all before running a single rep of the defense, these are your high context players.

Task – Relationship:

Task-oriented leaders focus on getting the necessary task, or series of tasks, at hand in order to achieve a goal. These leaders are typically less concerned with the idea of catering to employees, and more concerned with finding the step-by-step solution required to meet specific goals. They will often actively define the work and the roles required, put structures in place, and plan, organize, and monitor progress within the team.

Relationship-oriented leaders are focused on supporting, motivating and developing the people on their teams and the relationships within. This style of leadership encourages good teamwork and collaboration, through fostering positive relationships and good communication. Relationship-oriented leaders prioritize the welfare of everyone in the group, and will place time and effort in meeting the individual needs of everyone involved. This may involve offering incentives like bonuses, providing mediation to deal with workplace or classroom conflicts, having more casual interactions with team members to learn about their strengths and weaknesses, creating a non-competitive and transparent work environment, or just leading in a personable or encouraging manner.

Yngve knocks this one out of the park in a classic of a blogpost: http://yngfu.blogspot.com/2015/11/west-coasteast-coast.html.  He refers to his buckets as East Coast/West Coast, psychologists would call them task/relationship.

Uncertainty Avoidance:

High uncertainty avoidance individuals tend to be more emotional. They try to minimize the occurrence of unknown and unusual circumstances and to proceed with careful changes step by step by planning and by implementing rules, laws and regulations.

Low uncertainty avoidance individuals accept and feel comfortable in unstructured situations or changeable environments and try to have as few rules as possible. People in these cultures tend to be more pragmatic, they are more tolerant of change.

You want to introduce your handler sets so you set up a few people and begin walking through the movements.  Someone interrupts you to ask, “Which way are we going?” or “what is the force?” or “who is on offense?”  These are your high uncertainty avoidance players.  The other half of the team rolls their eyes at these questions and under their breath murmur, “let the demo finish then ask questions”, these are your low uncertainty avoidance players.

Vertical – Horizontal:

Horizontal collectivism stresses collective decision-making among relatively equal individuals, and is thus usually based on decentralization.

Vertical collectivism is based on hierarchical structures of power and on moral and cultural conformity, and is therefore based on centralization.

Every team has about 3 captains and maybe a coach, so the power usually sits within 4 people.  The remaining 15-24 players are the plebeians.  Consider a random plebeian.  Does he try to tell the power what to do?  Does he offer input when it isn’t asked for?  Does he regularly critique the leadership?  These are your horizontal players.  Consider another plebeian.  Does he shut up and do what he is told?  Does he only offer input when asked?  Does he wait until feedback is solicited in order to offer his critiques?  This is your vertical player.