Army Crew Team Case Study Analysis
As a student of the Leading Teams in Organizations class at Lipscomb University, I’m required to answer questions regarding the Harvard Business School Case titled “The Army Crew Team”. The case write-up describes a coach’s dilemma regarding an underperforming Varsity Crew team. The Varsity team is consistently losing to the Junior Varsity (JV) team forcing its coach to consider taking drastic actions four days before the National championship. The coach is considering the following three options: switching the Varsity and JV teams, switching individual boat members, or intervening to improve the Varsity team’s performance (Snook & Polzer, 2004). The coach should switch the Varsity and JV teams and allow the more cohesive team to compete as the Varsity team in the National championship. The following are questions and answers regarding The Army Crew Team Case.
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Why does the Varsity Team lose to the JV Team?
The Varsity team loses to the JV team due to several reasons. First, the Varsity team is not a cohesive group. Members of the varsity team focus on themselves and not the team as a whole. This is evidence by team members being critical of one another and not sitting together in team meetings. Conversely, the JV team is focused on team processes and doesn’t want to let team members down. For example, team members did not criticize one another individually during self-critique sessions. Instead, the JV team members made global comments that everyone needed to practice. Secondly, the Varsity team suffered from not having a clear leader in the boat that motivated the team, set the racing strategy, and corrected rowing technique. Thirdly, the Varsity team suffered from the presence …
…JV team’s advantage was its ability to perform as a cohesive group and synchronize rowing (Snook & Polzer, 2004). As a result of this and the short amount of time before the championship, the coach should allow the JV team to participate as the Varsity team. However, both teams relate well to other organizational teams and provide valuable examples for team leaders.Works Cited
Coutu, D. (2009). Why teams don’t work: an interview with J. Richard Hickman. HBR’s 10 MUST READS On Teams
Lencioni, P. (2002). The five dysfunctions of a team. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Snook, S., & Polzer, J. T. (2004). The army crew team. Manuscript submitted for publication, Business , Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, , Available from Harvard Business School. (9-403-131).
Thompson, L. (2014). Making the team: A guide for managers. (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
