Case Study Analysis Paper 2: a Tale of Two Coaches

This is an introduction to the Skills Inventory introduced in Chapter 3 of the textbook “Leadership: Theory and Practice” by Peter Northouse, a tool by which one can measure leadership strengths in three major skill areas, Technical, Human & Conceptual (Northouse, 2016). An additional introduction is made to the Leadership Behavior Questionnaire, which measures the type of leadership behavior style one is most likely to practice, the task style or the degree to which you define the roles of others, or the relationship style -the degree to which you attempt to make others feel at ease (2016). Upon taking these two assessments, the responses when combined will indicate my personal leadership philosophy. When analyzed in conjunction with Katz’ Three-Skill Approach, the outcome should be in alignment with the experiential and educational leadership background I possess thus far (Katz, 1955).

Another reason why Coach K would be a better fit for the head coach position is that he is a better transformational leader. Charisma, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration are tools the theory describes as necessary to influence others. What makes Coach K one of a kind is that he combines all these to achieve a performance that is beyond expectations. His philosophy of ”sharing with one another and caring for one another” and his principle about close and personal communication earn admiration, trust, and respect from his players while his vision about the team being a family gives players a clear and appealing motivation to work hard for each other. By not making too many rules, he also stimulates individual creativity and by providing individualized consideration, he is able to satisfy the personal needs of his players. As a transformational leader, Coach K is able to create trust which is the foundation of a good coach-player relationship.

Joe Ehrmann explains the two types of coaches as one a transactional coach whose focus is solely on winning and meeting their personal needs. The second type of coach is transformational coaches that use their platform to teach the Xs and Os, but also teach the Ys of life. They help young people grow into responsible adults; they leave a lasting legacy.

Coach K clearly shows all the traits of agreeableness, which is the extent to which a person is generous, kind, appreciative, sympathetic, forgiving, and trusting. Also both coaches can be said to be conscientiousness, as they are efficient, organized, reliable, responsible, and thorough in their pursuit of excellence. Coach Knight clearly displays neuroticism and his unstable, self-pitying, touchy, anxious, tense, and worrisome attitude comes clearly through as displayed through rants and berating of his players. I can also agree that both coaches are open to experience, as their coaching skills although one hundred and eighty degrees apart, do show signs of introspective, imaginative, insightful, and originality, and both have a wide range of interests outside of basketball.

Effective leaders opt to implement a specific type of leadership style as a result of their personalities and job experiences, and apply it to their organizational structure. However, that particular type of leadership style a leader utilizes may not apply to every job situation (Peak et al., 2010). In order to be an effective leader, an individual must acquire the three basic leadership skills and they are as follows: (1) human relations; (2) conceptual skills; and (3) technical skills (Haberfeld, 2013). Additionally, a skillful leader must also be proficient in motivating, communicating, and problem solving (Hess & Orthmann, 2012).

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In comparison to Knight, Watts feels that Dennis Rodman and Mike Tyson are in similar categories. “Mike Tyson bites off an opponent’s ear…and we call him a “manic-depressive”. “Dennis Rodman acts like Dennis Rodman and we call him “a nut” (Watts 1). These comparisons may have similar references in a way, but we need to look at Bobby Knight with the positives that he has brought to the game of college basketball. Sure he may be the “King of the rude and crude” as said in the comical comment by Watts (Watts 1). Or maybe he will continue to create off court problems. But before anyone wants to look to oust a coaching icon, people should look to the positives. Although Watts and other various critics feel Bobby Knight should be released of his duties in college

Coach K has been a leader stemming from his days at West Point where his was the basketball coach, he instills his values into each one of his players, values such as commitment, toughness, pride, love, honesty, integrity, friendship and collective responsibility, all values that make up an effect leader. Coach Krzyzewski has been coaching for nearly three decades, he has high expectations for himself and for his player, and he states to all recruits “I’m going to give you my best. I’m going to give you 100 percent. In return, I expect you to graduate. You’ll be coming to Duke for more than basketball. If you don’t understand that, then don’t come to Duke. I want you to be passionate about basketball, but I also want you to obtain a great education” (Krzyzewski, 2000). An effective leader does not simply lead their colleagues, they inspire them to go forth and do great things. Those leaders also enquire a great sense of preparation and that could be the difference between thriving and dying, “we knew without preparation, we had a good chance of losing that game” (Krzyzewski, 2008). In a leadership position the relationship between everyone involved is detrimental to how the overall moral is. The ways that leaders handle those relationships greatly effect the path of success. Coach Krzyzewski instills a lot of trust in his players, treating them with a great respect and infuses a family like atmosphere in his locker-room, “family makes individuals part of

Pat Summitt and Mike Krzyzewski are legendary coaches icons that will always be remembered for their lifetime achievements and winning the championships in a unique style. It’s tranquil to say that they are great coaches but what enhanced their ability to be even better was their capability to showcase transformational leadership and emotional intelligence. These two individuals have set a new standard for what the coaches should instill in their personal values to allow them to be consistent in the efforts to inspire a vison, challenge the process, encourage the heart, enable others to act, and model the way.

They do not search for the traits or characteristics that define leadership, but seek to identify the behaviors that will have a positive impact on the performance and satisfaction of the followers. This theory focuses on how a leaders behave. I think Coach K was a democratic leader. Democratic leaders allow the team to provide input before making a decision. The degree of the input can vary from each leader. The way a leader behaves clearly impacts their leadership. Coach K was not about just telling you do to something. He said, “A leader cannot just tell people what to do and then expect them to perform well” (101). This quote pretty much sums up the behavioral theory. They do not just want you to tell them what to do, but show them how it is done. Coach K was phenomenal at getting things done; getting the behaviors out of his players that would make them be successful. All of his players wanted to be there. They were not promised things to make them perform better. Coach K told them he would give his all as long as they returned the favor and worked hard.

Basketball teams need a coach that believes in them. The team needs a coach that will work hard to help them achieve the goal of winning. They need a coach that communicates and shows interest in each of the players. On the other hand, they need a coach that can be directive, but also supportive. In the case study this week, Shirley was quite the opposite. Conflicting enough, by all appearances she did not have a total grasp of the concept of leadership in coaching basketball. Factors that could cause the lack of leadership could be confidence or even lack of knowledge (Cohen, 2000). In this paper, Shirley’s leadership style and behavior will be discussed, along with looking at situational factors and other leadership styles that

It’s weaknesses are: 1) the extensiveness of the Skills Approach seem to expand further than the boundaries of leadership, 2) it can not explain in specifics how skills lead to the effective performance of a leader, 3) although it claims not be a trait approach model, a huge component of it does in fact include individual attributes, 4) it may need to be proven in generalized organizations and populations because findings were constructed using only military personnel in the armed services. (Northouse, 2010).

“Leadership is more ability than job. Moreover, it is all about determination, ability to solve problems, set direction for followers, gather them for common purpose and motivating people to achieve tasks. Furthermore, it is a charisma and the ability to reacting at the right time for a particular competitive situation” (L.Mullins, 2010, P372).

The skills style approach fits Mr. Krzyzewski perfectly. He was given the necessary tools needed to become a great leader. Coach Krzyzewski merged his leadership skills with his performance and team building. He did not abuse his power. He told his team what he expected of them and the consequences would be if they broke the

Although, one organization can have both leadership styles at one time, but there is a phenomenon difference between the traits and attributes of both leadership styles. Both styles are critically evaluated in respect to their strengths and