Case Study: The Army Crew Team MGT 701 Organizational Management August 10, 2014 Suzanne Obiorah University of Saint Mary Case Study: The Army Crew Team The Facts Colonel Stas Preczewski (aka Coach P), the coach of the Army Crew team is completely frustrated that his Junior Varsity (JV) crew boat continually beat the Varsity (V) crew boat during practice and in some races. The Varsity boat was made up of the eight members who scored the highest in a battery of objective tests measuring speed, strength, and coordination. The fact that the Junior Varsity boat frequently beat the V boat was a phenomenon that the coach has not witnessed in nine years and was increasingly puzzling to him. Problem Identification Historically, the Varsity boat has almost always been faster than the JV boat, because it was traditionally made up of the best eight rowers on the Army Crew Team. Upon further review of this case, we see how a physically strong team are unable to perform due to a lack of group cohesiveness, trust and team unity.
psychological dimensions (according to a report sponsored by the US Olympic committee), Coach P.’s selection criteria were based almost exclusively on individual attributes rather than any consideration for the overall team performance. The physical ability of the Varsity boat’s crew is clearly superior to the Junior Varsity boat’s crew. This is evidenced by the following: (1) the various results of the physical dimension tests (i.e. erg scores, weight lifting strengths and rowing techniques); (2) the excellent performance of the Varsity boat’s crew against the Junior Varsity boat’s crew when they first competed against each other in Atlanta; and (3) the series of races in which various groupings of pair, four or six back on Hudson River. During that particular test, the Junior Varsity boat’s crew only managed to beat the Varsity boat when all eight rowed at the same time.
It made no sense to send him all the way back, so they simply assigned him to a combat unit headed for Hawaii and future action in the Pacific. “While in Hawaii, during the spring of 1943, his age was discovered, but he managed to talk his way out of discharge. He was re-assigned to drive a truck at the base depot for the next eighteen months.”(Pace Pg.2) As time passed, Lucas became more and more frustrated, clearly seeing the end of the war in sight. The now sixteen year old Marine, went AWOL from this base as well and “on January 9, 1945, he climbed aboard a shuttle boat that was taking Marines returning from liberty back to their ships in the harbor. He boarded the USS Deuel, a troop ship, and became a stowaway.”(Pace
In the story A Pearl in the Storm, Tori Murden McClure faced numerous obstacles throughout her journey rowing across the Atlantic Ocean. Without previous experiences, and the motivation she received from her friends and family, Tori might have not been able to accomplish her goal. During our lifetime, everyone faces obstacles. Whether the situation is learning to ride a bike, or determining what you want to major in, we all face challenging scenarios every day. A Pearl in the Storm was chosen because as incoming freshmen, we will be facing many obstacles, not only throughout college, but for the rest of our lives.
So his best chance at making it to state is by going up to 145. Throughout the book he tries to beat Al who wrestles 145, in challenge matches. He is never able to beat him. But one day Al gets in trouble at school and gets suspended from wrestling for awhile. So Ben gets to wrestle and has a winning record and really thinks he is going to make it to state.
First year coach Paul Wulff has to be beside himself implementing his system with on-the-field players he did not recruit. The Seattle Seahawks managed to beat the St. Louis Rams 37-13 but have lost 5 other games. Buffalo 34-10, San Francisco 33-30, the New York Giants 44-6, Green Bay 27-17 and Tampa Bay 20-10 have beaten them. They have been out scored 171 to 110. In total, Washington's three flagship teams this season have a current combined record of 2-18 and have been out scored 800 to 327.
The Army Crew Team In the case, Coach P. is presented with an ongoing problem with his Varsity rowing team at West Point. Compared to the Junior Varsity Team, members rank higher in strength, endurance, and technique. However, when the Varsity is put head to head with the JV team, they are losing more than two-thirds of the time. This situation has put Coach P. in a stressful state of trying to figure out why the results were happening. By doing several experiments and bringing in a professional on team building skills, Coach P. came to the conclusion that the Varsity rowing team was struggling in working as a single unit and teamwork, which is very important towards rowing in perfect synchronization.
At Warren I am a member of F.B.L.A. and have been elected Captain of my lacrosse team two years in a row by my fellow teammates. My role as a captain has easily been the hardest test of leadership I have ever endured. I am completely responsible for the behavior and motivation of over thirty teenage boys for two hours every night on top of school work. Since high school, it has become more difficult for me to get involved in the community.
After his sisters get married, they go to live outside of Nova Scotia. Little time later, his father is sick and thus, the narrator (15 years old at that time) and his uncle have to work hard to prepare the boat for the “next season”. Therefore, he decides to drop off school but his father, who wished to be educated and to go to university rather than being a fisherman, doesn’t let him to do so even if the mother doesn’t agree with him. During summer, because his uncle has to leave “Jenny Lynn”, the boat, the narrator decides to work with his father for good, who becomes increasingly sick. On November twenty first, the father is killed because of the waves of the grey Atlantic which were too high at that period of time.
The basic atmosphere in the varsity crew was that, the members were critical of each other rather than focusing on the main goal of the race, winning. The JV team members gave feedback to the team addressing the entire team rather than pointing out the individuals of their mistakes like the varsity team did. This gave them a momentum to win each and every time they were on the race. Early when the teams were selected and they came back to Hudson River, the Varsity team started becoming unhappy over the fact that they couldn’t beat the JV team by a bigger margin. This implies that the team was filled with negative energy even though they won they did not discuss about the positive features of the team.