The Army Crew Team Case Study

The Army Crew Team
SUMMARY
The Varsity team that consisted of the top 8 members with excellent strength and condition, rowing technique, and psychological dimension is going to attend the national championship race. However, its performance has been worsening and kept frequently losing the sub team (JV). At few days ahead of the Nationals, Coach P. held a meeting with them and noticed their teamwork have had a big problem more serious than what he expected. Now on, he has to make a decision to rearrange a new team or other ways to solve this difficulty.
ANALYSIS
In this case, boat could be interpreted as a machine. On the other hand, the team is the operator who runs this machine. There are eight rowers in a boat to run a whole process (including responsibility arrangement of who in charge of strength, speed, balance, order etc.) within a boat placement. However, the crew teamwork is just like a production line, not a job shop. It means it is not just do your own task and finish the work by yourself. As a part of a team, or I would say in a production line, the performance is always decided by the whole team instead of few outperformance people. Back to this case, the result of less than the sum of its part is because Varsity team doesn’t coordinate with each team member well. Each of them has very good rowing techniques and outstanding skills but when we put them together, the synergy might be zero or even negative so as to drag the performance of a team down. Based on my analysis of 5Rs and S-­‐‑T-­‐‑S worksheet in Exhibit 1 and Exhibit 2, one the attributions of JV’s victory is because JV believes all of their team members in each part and has a good team chemistry and harmony to improve the technique gap worse than Varsity team. Another one is JV always discusses about their flaws, if there is any correction needed, they would make global comments about details that every member needs to practice instead of critiquing each other individually.
On the other side, as a manger in a manufacturing department, we may always select best operators that doing their own work and make a high proficient output in a job shop. However, the Coach P. is like a manager who in charge of a production line. To illustrate, he has to complementary each member with its strength and advantage to improve the productivity of a whole team. It differs from the NTA room since NTA is more like a job shop that different groups take their responsibilities in metal and glass specifications respectively. To examine
the problems existed in Varsity team, I make some recommends for Coach P. for the coming National Championship Race.
RECOMMENDATIONs
1. D on’t S witch I ndividual M embers o r S witch t he B oats.
As far as I am concerned, it is too risky to replace the whole team or individual members in a short time ahead of the Nationals. JV team may not want to be switched and it might get worsened than its original team. Furthermore, Varsity team has clear and documented physical advantages over JV team. In this critical timing, Coach P. should link the Varsity team and build their confidence and teamwork spirit.
2. L eading V arsity t o a b etter t eamwork
To enhance Varsity’s performance, I would like to propose a solution for them. At first, Coach P. should reconcile the conflict between each team member by creating some physical activities such as wrestling, dodge balls and paintball games to splash their emotions out. Secondly, let them stay calm and discuss the conflict in the team again to come up with any ideas to improve the team performance. This time, Coach P. should hold this meeting go smoothly via adequate intervention. Try some truly touching words from heart to build a common goal as a team. Sometimes people are embarrassed to express out their true feeling and cause a misunderstanding between them. Thirdly, do more team exercises like mountain climbing, basketball games, and team building games to connect everyone as one unit. Let them know what brings them here and what the power of 1+1>2. Lastly, hold a meeting again to talk about why JV team always won? Are there any good advantages we can learn from JV? This stage is very important, Coach P. should build a team spirit for Varsity. To set a common goal and value of Varsity team, to build trust between each other, to retrieve their confidence of being excellent team workers. In consequence, practice more times with a better teamwork spirit.
3. C reate a b etter t eam s tructure
There is no team leader in Varsity who can reconcile each team member when conflict comes out. I suggest Coach P. that assigning a best reconciler to be the team leader to help them coordinate with others. On top of that, build a team structure for each seat of boat based on their specialties in strength, balance, or
solid techniques and so on. A sound team structure would let them know their responsibilities are and make teamwork much stronger.
Exhibit 1: 5Rs A nalysis
5Rs Varsity JV T eam
Rules: Selected t he t op 8 m embers w ith t he
best t echnical s kills a nd c onditioning
among t he 16 r owers.
The r est s ub-­‐skilled 8 m embers.
Relationships: No o ne w as c lassified a s a l eader w hile
several w ere l abeled a s t eam d isrupters.
Virtually n o t eam d isrupters.
Responsibilities: Each m ember h as s trong r owing s kill
but c annot c oordinate w ith t he o thers;
Some o f t hem c omplained a bout t here
are s ome r otten a pples i n t he b arrel. Each m ember h as t he s ame f aith a nd idea o f b eing a u nit o f a t eam. A s t he slogan t hey m entioned: w e w ill s ucceed together, w e w ill f ail t ogether.
Resources: Don’t e ven t alk w ith e ach o ther t o
review w hy t hey f ailed. Always t alk, d iscuss t ogether t o enhance t eam c hemistry a nd s hare ideas w ith o thers.
Rewards: Take W ining o ver J V t eam a s g ranted. Take e very v ictory a s c redits f or
everyone i n t he t eam.
Exhibit 2: A NALYSIS O F S OCIO-­‐TECHNICAL S YSTEMS
INPUTS ACTUAL / E XPECTED
BEHAVIOR
OUTPUTS / O UTCOMES
Human:
Competition b etween J V t eam a nd the t op 8 m embers i n V arsity t eam with s trongest t echnical s kills a nd strength.
Activities:
M ake c ompetitions b etween V arsity a nd
JV t eam. H owever, J V b eat V arsity.
Production a nd P roductivity:
No p ositive e ffect c reated f or
Varsity t eam, t he p roductivity i s
getting w orse.
Technological:
Selected b y C oach P w ith t he individual t est a nd t eam t est s uch a s strength a nd c ondition, r owing technique, p sychological d imension, and p rogram o rganization. Interactions:
Team i nteractions h ave b een
disharmony s ince t hey l ose t he
competition w ith J V t eam.
Satisfactions:
People i n t he t eam a re n ot
satisfied w ith e ach o ther.
Critique s ome t eam d isrupters.
Organizational:
There i s n o s pecific l eader i n t he team t o o rder a nd b alance t he teamwork. Sentiments:
Varsity f eels s o d epressed a bout t his
result a nd g ets t heir t eamwork w orse.
Started t o c riticize o ther t eam m embers
in t he m eeting.
Learning a nd D evelopment:
Learning c urve h as b een
dropped. T he p erformance o f
Varsity t eam h as w orsened.
Social/Cultural:
Everyone t ake t hemselves a s t he b est and d oesn’t t alk w ith e ach o ther t hat much. I a m t he o ne w ho i s c arrying the b oat. Morale:
The m orale i s m urky i n f ew
days a head o f o fficial
competition w ith o ther s chools.。