Remeber the Titans Application Paper

Remember the Titans is a movie that reflects several areas of organizational behavior. Communication, organizational culture, teamwork, diversity, motivation and ethics all play a key role in leadership how an organization functions. Communication The first obstacle that the new head coach faces is taking over an organization where he is the replacement for a very well respected coach with a reputation for winning. In one of scenes, Coach Boone sits down with his new assistant coach, Yost, to talk about the current situation. Boone acknowledges the problems and the challenges that lay ahead but assures Coach Yost that he is committed to producing a winning team and that all decisions will reflect performance rather than race. Coach Boone shows respect to Coach Yost and displays the openness to deal with the issues. Leaders may have a tendency to avoid this confrontation only making matters worse for the long term. It is a great lesson in dealing with problems upfront and resolving the issues to minimize more potential conflicts in the future. Communication is one of the basic functions of management in any organization and its importance can hardly be overemphasized. It is a process of transmitting information, ideas, thoughts, opinions, and plans between various parts of an organization. It is not possible to have human relations without communication. However, good and effective communication is required not only for good human relations but also for good and successful business (Thomson, 2007). Organizational Culture From an organizational structure standpoint, Coach Boone realizes he cannot do everything by himself. On a football team, several coaches are required to work with each specialized part of the team just like in any business. Throughout the movie the offense, defense, and special teams must work together to achieve victory on the field. However, each sub group on the team must trust and rely on the others to perform to execute the game plan well. In one of the final scenes, Coach Boone gets input from Coach Yost to come up with a new offensive play to win the game. Sometimes in larger organizations, silos exist among the departments and there is a resistance to cooperating. It is important in any business that all departments listen to their people for new ideas to improve process that can turn into profitable results. Organizational structure is the hierarchical levels of a company; this structure provides guidelines on subordination and employee responsibilities, and affects the workplace culture. An organization's culture is an informal, collectively held grouping of ideas and values, as well as the types of workplace relationships and ways of doing things within the organization. It affects workplace culture through controlling, coordinating and motivating employees to work together to accomplish company goals and objectives. Both organizational structure and culture affect employee behavior, motivation, performance, dedication, satisfaction, cooperation, and relationships (Thornton, 2011) Teamwork and Diversity Working together as a team is crucial to any organization’s success. Two players in particular believe that at the beginning of merging the two schools, their perceptions of each other’s values make it appear almost impossible to work to together as a team. They both come to realize that they want to win as much as the other person does and eventually become the best of friends. In fact, later in the movie Gary, the white player recommends to Coach Boone that one of his white friends leave the team because of a missed blocking assignment. This is the true transformation of Gary putting the team’s goals before his personal feelings. It is one of the cornerstones of any teamwork’s success. People in any organization bring their own set of values and beliefs to the table when they accept a position in the company. It is up the company’s leadership to instill the vision and culture from the top down. The summer practice camp that they attend is similar to the socialization process that any organization has into bringing new people in. Similar to the Marine’s boot camp, the football players eat, sleep, and practice together to bond and foster a sense of teamwork for Coach Boone. Most companies achieve this socialization process through employee orientation and continuous training. By the end of the camp the players have put aside their difference and are committed to carrying out the team’s goal of winning. The biggest issue that faces the team is the racial tension between the blacks and whites. The movie is set in the early seventies when integration of school began. The socialization process of the summer practice camp helped resolved many of these issues while the players where in seclusion at camp. Upon coming back from camp and attending school, they face the true reality of the racial issues. Still to this day, diversity is a hot topic in corporations across the country. Any company has to battle the preconceived ideas about other races, religions, genders, and sexual orientation to focus on the company’s vision. The movie shows how when people put aside their differences and focus on the organization’s mission that anything is achievable. This is a timeless lesson for any organization in today’s environment. According to the textbook, one of the pervasive challenges with teams is that while diversity may have real potential benefits, a team deeply focuses on commonly held information. To realize their creative potential, diverse teams need to focus not on their similarities but on their differences. The key is for members of diverse teams to communicate what they uniquely know in addition to what they do not know (Judge, Robbins, 2011). Whether in the workplace or on the football field, or even amongst members of a community, effective teamwork can produce incredible results. However, working successfully as a team is not as easy as it may seem. Effective teamwork does not happen automatically; it takes a great deal of hard work and compromise (Woloch, 2008). There are a number of factors that must be in place to cohere together as a team: * Good leadership: Effective leadership is one of the most important components of good teamwork. The team’s leader should possess the skills to create and maintain a positive working environment, motivate, and inspire the team members to take a positive approach to work and be highly committed. An effective team leader will promote a high level of morale and make them feel supported and valued. * Clear communication: Communication is a vital factor of all interpersonal interaction and especially that of a team. Team members must be able to articulate their feelings, express plans and goals, share ideas, and see each other’s viewpoints. Establishing roles: It is necessary for team members to understand their role and responsibilities. The team leader can enable this by defining the purpose in a clear-cut manner in the beginning of the formation of the team. * Conflict Resolution: Conflicts will arise no matter how well a team functions together. The best way to counter conflict is to have structured methods of conflict resolution. Team members should be able to voice their concerns without fear of offending others. Instead of avoiding conflict issues, a hands-on approach that resolves them quickly is much better. Set a good example: The team leader must set a good example for good teamwork to come about. In order to keep team members positive, committed and motivated, the team leader must exhibit these qualities. The team looks to the leader for support and guidance therefore any negativity on the leader’s part can be disastrous (Woloch, 2008). Motivation Coach Boone does a good job of demonstrating motivation throughout the movie. In several scenes, Coach Boone tells his organization that he demands perfection from them and nothing less is acceptable. He communicates clearly with the staff and the players what the team’s goal is from the beginning. Everyone knows their role on their respective teams and expectations. We can see that successful companies have similar success when everyone in the organization knows how their role affects the company’s ability to serve the customer. Coach Boone uses the Equity theory of motivation in that he treats everyone on the team fairly and shows no favoritism. He asks the players to work very hard in practice, but see the results in their victories on the football field. Coach Boone also displays the Hawthorne effect in the movie. He makes an effort to know all of his players and his coaching staff. The Hawthorne effect is a motivation theory that people perform better, when they feel their leader pay attention to them. In today’s work environment, this is more of challenge because it is becoming more popular to have employees work from remote locations or home with the increased technological advances we have seen over the last twenty years in the work place (Ghillyer, 2009). Ethics. Ethical behavior is the last characteristic that can either tear apart any team or propel it to a higher level of success. Coach Yost is under the impression by several influential school board members that the championship game is going to be in favor of the all white school they are playing. They will use this as an excuse to fire Coach Boone and reinstate Coach Yost as the head coach the next school year. During the championship game, Coach Yost faces this internal struggle and dilemma as he sees many unfavorable calls by the referees. He eventually makes the right decision for the player’s chance to win the game. The important lesson is that when temptation is great to make the wrong decision, the long-term benefits of being ethical outweigh the benefits. Managers and their organizations are responding to the problem of unethical behavior in a number of ways. They are writing and distributing codes of ethics to guide employees through ethical dilemmas. They are offering seminars, workshops, and other training programs to try to improve ethical behaviors. They are providing in house advisors and creating protection mechanisms for employees who revel internal unethical practices. Today’s manager must create an ethically healthy climate for his or her employees, where they can do their work productivity with little ambiguity about what right and wrong behaviors are (Judge, Robbins, 2011). In conclusion, the movie demonstrates that leadership must be able to face multiple challenges at the same time. It is hard enough to manage a football team with structure that is in place of three different sub groups performing to win games. When combined with the challenges of diversity and ethics, it remarkable the results the team achieved. These are some valuable lessons that any organization in today’s business world could use. Â