The Army Crew

The Army Crew Team

What should Coach P. have done earlier to resolve this problem?

• Engaged the members of the varsity team to ascertain what they felt was

contributing to their poor performance;

• Facilitated team building exercises;

• Focused on what made the JV team perform so well together;

• Assess factors other than strength and endurance that are essential to the

team concept;

• Examine psychological factors affecting teamwork in the Varsity Team.

At the end of the case, what should Coach P do on Tuesday? Why?

Discuss his findings and observations in detail with the Varsity team and provide them with “coaching” on how a team should work. He needs to stress that the individual competencies and strengths must work as a cohesive unit with others. The team needs to understand its apparent challenge.

How should he implement your recommendation?

Coach P should select a combined time comprised mainly of JV members. He should switch individual boat members. We are told that when Varsity members were “sent down” the JV team would win by even more.

How is the Army Crew team like/unlike, other organizational teams?

The fact that the success or failure of a team depends on the collaboration of its members makes the Army like other organizational teams. However, most organizational teams tend to have more diversity, comprising of individuals who bring different strengths, gifts and talents. The Army Crew however, is more homogeneous - comprised of elements all of the same kind – who ought not to adjusted to compensate for members who were out of synch. The remaining members of the team had to maintain their pace and rhythm and “hope” that the one member falls back into synch.