Introduction
Tragedies are part and parcel of life experience, in such situations emotions are high and hopelessness and depressions become the order of the day. The quality of a good manager is determined by how well he utilizes such opportunities to record spectacular performance. Well it is a conventional maxim that a successful person is one who sees opportunity in every difficulty.
The tragedy that befell the Marshall University’s football team on 14th November 1970 and the appointment of the new football coach Jack Lengyel represents a scenario when managers can be faced with difficulties in their bid to achieve the objectives of the organization. (Blake & McKee, 1993, p.75)
At times when desperate situations call for disparate decisions it is highly expected that managers will utilize such moments to make strategic decisions. In an organizational set up there are three different types of roles, group roles, organizational roles, and interpersonal roles. Success is only achieved with optimal combination of these roles. When one is ignored there can never be meaningful performance. The transformation of the Marshall University’s football team after the plane crash to subsequent successes was not a single man’s effort but involved a joint group and organizational synergy. (Excerpt from methodology, 2004, p.10)
It can only be argued that all took place under the leadership of the new coach Mr. Jack Lengyel. This typical portrays the leadership personality that every manager should exhibit at every work place. This is the requirement of this paper. In this case we look at Lengyel’s interpersonal and leadership ability that led to his subsequent success. This is discussed as follows. (James, 2001, p.385)
Interpersonal roles
Lengyel is enthusiastic and hardworking. The ability to begin a work especially at this situation requires extraordinary momentum. He began organizing the team when most players who were reliable had perished in the crash. Despite all these Lengyel sees nothing other than success. This is a quality that is rarely identical with most modern day managers. In the true situation like now when most companies are hard hit by the economic global crisis and you have been a pointed as the new chief executive officer, pressures and public expectation will derive most people to poor performance. (Tsui, 2004, p.135)
The truth of the matter is that managers should be able to survive external as well as internal pressures. Lengyel’s ability to with stand pressure from within and out side the university by the fans and management made him to succeed. This clearly shows the courage he gathered. He is such a courageous and determined manager. He approached his job with I can do attitude. (Kaplan-Leiserson, 2005, p.14)
Group and organizational processes
The transformation began on a high note when the president of the university Donald Dedmon travelled to Wooster Ohio to meet Jack Lengyel who was by then a father, a teacher and a coach. The president takes the initiative after he had been confronted by one of the foot ball players Nate Ruffin who had not gone to the game due an injury. With his courage and inspiration he manages to convince the University’s president and the board of directors to finally accept that everything is possible. The football team was changed from thundering Herd to young thundering herd. (Brown, 2005, p.33)
This was the culmination of flurry of activities in the University’s football department. After successfully winning the attention of the coach Dedmon trusts Jack Lengyel with the overall responsibility of bringing back the lost football dream into the university. The coach begins by forming different groups and teams which eventually manage to bring the football glory back to the organization. (Kaplan-Leiserson, 2005, p.14).
Recommendation
Transformation takes place bit by bit and at times may take longer than expected. The organization in question should commit itself in terms of resources and management in order to achieve the desired objectives. In this we see how Lengeyel manages to consult with the board of directors and begin to ask important questions about the way forward. Just like any other manager he sets course of actions that involves formation of teams, groups, technical bench, and the board of directors to oversee the general performance of the club. All these were meant to improve and instill inspiration and motivation on the team. Remember that some of the team members had lost interest and trying to persuade them was like playing music to a goat.
Some of the members of the group formed to oversee the transformation process included seniors mainly from the university’s football team and external bodies who included technical football experts from local football association. The teams included some of the experienced players who could confidently encourage and counsel their team mates. The responsibility of the board of directors was to give moral, physical as well as financial support to the team. A combination of these factors together with Lengyel’s interpersonal and outstanding personality contributed to their first win after the tragedy befell them when they beat Xavier University 15-13 in their home opener. This followed their second consecutive win a against a foot ball giant known as Bowling Green States University Falcons.
As time matured reaching 1984 the University’s Thundering Herd was on a winning trend capturing Division 1-AA national championships and recording five straight bowl games.
This is a big lesson that can be learned from this experience. With hard work and determination even mountains can be moved. The situation that this manager exposed himself and the manner in which he tackles these challenges and problems clearly leaves a lot to be desired by the modern day managers. That how ever hard circumstances may prove to be, still there is some hope. Most managers in the contemporary management would be come disillusioned. How ever this was only possible with the support he received from the environment that included the board of directors, professional teams, the university’s president and the groups.
What comes out clearly is that in transformation unity with a purpose is critical. Through the unity between the members of football fraternity, professional teams and groups which were formed immediately after the tragedy contributed to subsequent success. We can therefore deduce that teams are very instrumental since members possess different talents and experience that when combined can provide a solution to a problem. One can argue beyond reasonable doubt that this is what might have led to success. The presence of groups within the department and the prevailing organizational structure that allowed flexibility is also appreciated. Groups are important in that they create synergies and provide frameworks for holding workshops, conferences, and consultations. These processes act as avenues from where individuals can acquire relevant skills of tackling complicated issues and exchange valuable information on specific areas requiring specialization. This is a big challenge to every manager and anybody who may think that a tragedy is long life impairment. In my opinion it would be great if every body would emulate the characters of Jack Lengyel who was appointed the team’s coach after the plane crash that led to the disappearance of the whole team including the technical bench and supporters.
This manager struggles to bring the football glory back after a long period of grief, anger, pain, and somber.
References
Blake, R.R. & Mckee, R.K. (1993).The leadership of corporate change. The journal of leadership studies, 1(1), 71-89. Web.
Brown, J. Eager, R. & Lawrence, P. (2005). BP refines leadership. Training and Development, 59 (3), 32-41. Web.
Excerpt from methodology (2004). “Do you need an executive coach” Harvard management update, 9, 1-12. Web.
James. et al. (2001) The transformational-transaction leadership model in practice. Leadership and organization development journal, 22(8), 383-394. Web.
Kaplan-Leiserson, E. (2005). Integrated leadership a new model from experts in human performance improvement training and development, 59(7), 12-13. Web.
Tsui, et al. (2004) Organization and management in the midst of societal transformation. Organization science, 15(2), 133-144. Web.