America True Organizational Behaviour Analysis

America True is effective due to the organization's operational structure. The structure utilizes component teams to achieve the desired goal of winning America's Cup. In such a situation, improvement and innovation is the key to success. Thus, the approach of execution-as-learning, an idea characterized by strong leadership and sound communication channels, best induces an environment of learning and progression towards the goal.

By fostering such a setting, execution as learning occurs when team components are constantly learning and improving through team-based feedback. In order for execution by learning to occur, the different component teams share resources to accomplish a goal that would not be attainable by themselves. This style promotes innovation within the company as together, they are creating new and more efficient processes. The component teams in America True are: design, sailing crew, management, on-shore maintenance and administration. The design team can engineer an effective boat in theory, but does not have the skill set to physically analyze the capabilities of the boat. The sailing crew are the ones who can intuitively analyze the capabilities of the boat during trials. The management team, in particular Barnes, connects the design team and the sailor crew, thus creating a constant flow of real time information between them. Together, there is a strong horizontal and vertical flow of information and the teams effectively build on each others’ progress and remarks. The rest of the syndicate, on-shore maintenance and administration, are responsible for supporting the design team and sailor crew. Through this process, the syndicate is constantly improving to achieve its common goal.

A good communication line is essential for execution by learning to run properly. Without communication, teams can no longer build off each other’s successes resulting in a poor decision making process. . The key to execution as learning is using communication...