By Harsha
Gunasena
I was watching 4x100
men’s relay of 2004 Olympics, live on the television. Few days earlier 100
meters event was held. Justine Gatlin of USA came first and the legendary
Morris Green of USA came third. Shawan Crawford of USA, who was the gold
medalist of the 200m, came fourth. In the relay team of USA in addition to
these men, there was another person called Coby Miller. British team comprised
of four average persons.
Everyone thought
that the USA team would win. I was shocked to see that the British team won the
game. I was even more shocked to watch the lousy batten change of the US team.
At the end of the event a journalist interviewed the US team. They were giving
satisfactory answers about their individual performance. Finally the journalist
asked the team “Hey guys are you satisfied with the second slot?” Team was
nonplussed.
Timing of the
British team was 38.07 and that of the USA team was 38.08. Timing of the relay
is lower than the combined individual timing since there is no starting up time
other than for the runner of the first lap. Recorded timing of the both relay team
members of the 100m final and of the preliminary events are given below. Morris
Greene was the gold medalist of the 100m event of the previous Sydney Olympics
and his timing was same in 2004 as well.
USA
Shawn Crawford ( 9.89 Final) ,
Justin Gatlin (9.85 Final),
Coby Miller ( Not available)
Maurice Greene (9.87 Final)
UK
Jason Gardener (10.12 Semi
Final, Heat2)
Darren Campbell (10.35 Round1, Heat1)
Marlon Devonish ( Not available)
Mark Lewis-Francis (10.28 Semi
Final, Heat 1)
What went wrong? US team was focusing on the individual
performance and their performance was very poor in the baton change in general and
the change between Justin Gatlin and Coby Miller in particular. When questioned
by the journalist after the event the US team was focusing on their individual
performance and not paying any attention to the baton change.
To win a relay, there should be a team spirit. Team spirit
is based on trust, understanding, cooperation and coordination. There was lack
of trust among the US team members and that is why they look back prior to the
batten change to see whether the other member was running closer.
It was proved without any doubt that to win a relay, a team
with real team spirit is needed. Results can be achieved even with average
members. It is not necessary to have high performers. If there are high performers and if there is
no team spirit, the result would be poor.
The same principle can be applied to business as well. The
businesses we are running are not about rocket science. An average person can
understand the mechanism. If there is a good team, results can be achieved
easily.
I know one organization where at that time the team spirit
was at very low levels. There was no proper coordination between the sales
team, production team and the purchasing team. The ignorant Chairman of the
company wanted to increase the market share of the raw material purchases and
this was conveyed to the Purchasing Manager. His performance was monitored
based on the quantity he purchased. Incentives were given for the quantities
purchased. Quality aspect was ignored and the production was hampered. Higher
prices were paid for the raw materials and the production could not be sold at
a margin. The result was a massive loss to the company. The leader was not
capable of coordinating the operation. Focus was on the performance of the
individual and there was no focus towards the batten change. It was not
monitored at all.
Most of the organizations prefer to recruit high performers
at various levels. When one is a high performer there is a lesser possibility
for him/her to become a good team player. High performers are very often
associated with high egos. They are individualists in general not
collectivists. When one is having more achievements one’s ego strengthens more.
To become a good team player one has to control one’s ego to a considerable
extent. One has to trust the associates. One should be humble enough and willing
to be dependent on the associates. The leader of the organization has to play a
very creative roll if there are high performers in the payroll of the
organization. The responsibility of the leader is to bring all these high
performers together. If they are allowed to perform according to their wishes,
they will focus on running their lap and not on the baton change.
Performance based pay can be effectively used as a tool to
promote team work and to strengthen the baton change. Goals can be set in order
to monitor the baton change. If the baton change is not done properly,
indicators should be set to identify the lapse. Indicators can be set to
identify whose lapse it was. In order to achieve best results the
responsibility should be with both parties for the baton change.
There are limitations of the tools like performance based
pay. Developing team work is an art not a science. It is the responsibility of
the leader to promote team work. Team spirit is a feeling that the members of
that team are having. It is a sense of belonging, inter dependency and
cohesiveness. It is a strong family like feeling of love and friendship. Team
members should understand that the final goal can be achieved if and only if
they work all together.
Sri
Lankan society in general is collectivist compared to the individualistic
American or British societies. Individualism vs. collectivism is defined
by Geert Hofstede as follows. “Individualism pertains to societies in which the
ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after himself
or herself and his or her immediate family. Collectivism as its opposite
pertains to societies in which people from birth onwards are integrated into
strong, cohesive in-groups, which throughout people’s lifetime continue to
protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.” It is proved that when the income level goes
up, there is a tendency to move from individualism to collectivism. When
promoting team work the leaders of the organizations can use this cultural bias
in Sri Lanka positively.
In Sri Lankan society there are
various formal and informal groups. There is a tendency to form a group or a
clique consisting of close associates. Leaders should use this tendency to have
cliques comprising of various departments and finally comprising of the whole
organization.
Japanese management tools like
5S or Kizan are finally promoting collectivism and team work. The rituals
associated with 5S encourage the members of the whole organization to work
together for a common goal. The informal behavior promoted will encourage
greater ties among the members of the organization. This breaks the formal
relationships among the staff members which are rigid and promotes the informal
relationships which are flexible and strong. Good leaders promote team spirit
by organizing informal events where interaction within the staff members is
promoted.
What is more important is
having a team spirit. Having average individual performers with good team
spirit is superior to have high individual performers with poor team spirit as
very strongly proved by the US 4X100 relay team in 2004 Olympics. However the
best combination would be high individual performers with high team spirit.
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