CASE LENS ON TEAM BUILDING IN THE BACKDROP OF HOLLYWOOD MOVIE, COACH CARTER
Synopsis
This Case Lens is an attempt to help understand the concept of team building as was demonstrated by Coach Ken Carter (Coach Carter) at Richmond High School, in the Hollywood movie, Coach Carter. Based on a true story, this movie is a manifestation of how a high-performing and a highly-purposeful team can be built by gifting a wonderful future to the team members. Coach Carter, with his ‘unique’ but ‘extreme’ methods (such as making players and their parents sign contracts and locking up the school gym when the players fail to attain the required GPA as stated in the contract) transforms the undisciplined and unfocused basketball team of Richmond High School into a highly disciplined, focused and winning team. This Case Lens highlights the significance of team building and the role of coach/mentor for the same.
Prerequisite Viewing/Mandatory Viewing
The students/participants need to mandatorily watch the movie Coach Carter. Honoring all the expected IPR issues, every participant must be encouraged to buy a DVD of Coach Carter movie. The temptation of either exhibiting the movie in the classroom or the students/participants downloading the movie from any hosting sites should be desisted lest we set unwarranted precedents in violating mandatory IPRs.
Classroom Orchestration
This Case Lens (video consisting the introduction and the accompanying five questions) can be orchestrated in the classroom in the following suggested flow:
1. Asking the students/participants to view the movie 2-3 days before the classroom discussion
2. Playing/exhibiting the Case Lens video in the classroom
3. Ideally, the class should be divided into four Learning Teams and they should be asked to prepare for all the questions. After giving them about 15 minutes, the classroom discussion/analysis should be attempted. This can be executed either by asking one of the teams randomly to present their analysis or each team should be allowed to lead a discussion for each of the questions
4. Each question would take varying times (the suggested timings are given in Exhibit (TN)-I and it is highly recommended that the last 5 minutes should be spent on debriefing and synthesizing. The debriefing segment should be used to synthesize the expected learning outcomes of this Case Lens.
Case Lens Positioning and Setting
This Case Lens as a pedagogical tool can be used for either of the following;
- • MBA Programs: Organizational Behavior course – Team Building module
- • Executive Development Programs/MDPs: To sensitize the participants to the importance of team building and the role of a coach or mentor
Expected Learning Outcomes
At the end of this Case Lens discussion/analysis, each of the participants/students should be able to understand/appreciate
- • The nuances of building a high-performing team and the building blocks of transforming a highly-dysfunctional and self-inflicted team into an exemplary team
- • Coach Carter’s approach and intriguing methods to transform Richmond High School’s basketball team
- • The role of Coach/Mentor in any team’s transformation
Assignment Questions
The assignment questions, as outlined in the Case Lens video, are:
- I. What are the five important lessons that you think you can learn as regards building a high-performing and a highly-purposeful team?
- II. Was Ken Carter the right choice to have been appointed as the coach of Richmond High School’s basketball team? Why did Ken Carter accept Richmond High School’s basketball team’s coaching assignment?
- III. Initial part of the movie between 00:02:05 and 00:05:32 highlights the team that Coach Carter had to discipline and coach. What’s your analysis of the state of affairs of Richmond High School’s basketball team when Coach Carter takes over?
- IV. ..............
Preamble to the Case Lens Discussion
The purpose of this Case Lens is to help understand the importance of team building in team members’ personal and professional pursuits. Assuming that the students/participants would have watched the movie before the classroom discussion, this Case Lens poses a series of questions which enable an understanding on how a team which is highly undisciplined, lacks focus and operates on absolutely low-order selfish skirmishes is transformed into a resolutely disciplined team with a sharp focus on personal and professional goals.
There can be several questions coming out of the discussion (Annexure I for the Classroom Discussion Board) on this Case Lens. The faculty/facilitator should encourage as many questions as possible. Accordingly, Exhibit (TN)-II captures the questions (definitely not exhaustive) that were raised during the classroom discussion as well as the authors’ teaching plan discussions. The questions relate to either of the four categories – Warm-up-Connect, Individual-Connect, Research-Connect and Execution-Connect (WIRE) – which ensure holistic analysis of the movie vis-à-vis the concept of team building and learnings from the same...................
Case Lens: Classroom Discussion and Analysis
I. Discussion on the Warm-Up Question by the Faculty
What are the five important lessons that you think you can learn as regards building a high-performing and a highly-purposeful team?
Discussion on this question was orchestrated by the faculty. It was suggested that there are five prerequisites for building a high-performing and a highly purposeful team [Exhibit (TN)-III].........
The five prerequisites were then substantiated with the help of instances from the movie:
• Sense of ownership for a purpose – Coach Carter helped develop a sense of ownership among the team members for a common purpose i.e., winning basketball games for Richmond High School and growing one’s professional sporting career alongside, to have a more meaningful life
• Cohesiveness among the team members – He developed unity among the team players for both the good and the bad times. For instance, they were all united in winning basketball games but they also stood with Timo Cruz when Coach Carter gave him a tough punishment of 2,500 push-ups and 1,000 suicides (00:42:00)
• Right direction/supervision – Coach Carter makes them sign contracts and justifies the same by explaining the concept of ‘student athlete’. While previous coaches also coached the team, he made their skills in basketball a passport to a better life
• Discipline – Even if one team member flouted the rules or engaged in any unacceptable behavior, Coach Carter punished the whole team. With such strict rules and rigorous punishments, Coach Carter inculcated discipline in the team
• Involvement and support of all the stakeholders – Coach Carter involved all the stake holders – students, parents and teachers – in achieving the common purpose of winning basketball games and making a career out of it. Involving all the stakeholders enabled the players in achieving their purpose.
The faculty extended the discussion on this question by referring to the HBR article, “The New Science of Building Great Teams”, cited as additional reading at the end of this Teaching Note.
The other four questions of this Case Lens were discussed by the four Learning Teams..............
Exhibits
Exhibit (TN)-I: The Case Lens' Classroom Orchestration
Exhibit (TN)-II: Discussion Questions
Exhibit (TN)-III: Lessons in Building a High-Performing and a Highly-Purposeful Team
Exhibit (TN)-IV: Richmond High School’s Basketball Team Before Coach Carter Takes Over
Exhibit (TN)-V: Team’s Status after Coach Carter comes Onboard
Exhibit (TN)-VI: Critical Elements of Coach Carter’s Transformation Process