Making of a team: role of it’s leader. Shane Warne’s Rajasthan Royals

Abstract

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine a team sport and draw implications for organizational functioning. The case focuses on Rajasthan Royals which is a cricket team of the Indian Premier League. By using the sports context the case encourages critical thought on concepts like team formation, team leadership, team effectiveness and managing diversity in team.Design/methodology/approach– The case study contains a descriptive account of building of a team and how leadership in team aided the process. The account is based on secondary sources of data reflecting multiple perspectives of the coach, players, and critics along with the reflective account of the leader.Findings– The concept of “shared leadership”, various roles of a leader, importance of productive team culture, motivation, coaching, handling diversity and team effectiveness have been illustrated.Research limitations/implications– The issues dealt in the case are similar to what the competing teams in organisations face today. The case helps draw insight into team formation and the role of a leader in forming a strong team.Practical implications– The case is designed to represent the challenges one can meet while building a team and in playing the role of a team leader. Through this case the perspective of “leadership as a process” is presented as against the oft accepted understanding of “leadership as a person”. It also posits strategies that can be adopted to inculcate team identity, team commitment and lays the foundation of a productive work culture where teams can flourish. In doing so it gives an opportunity to critically understand and apply these concepts within an organisational scenario.Social implications– It gives an example of a passionate leader who built a winning team and also empowered the individual team members.Originality/value– The case study draws its strength from a sport and provides insight into the team building issues pertinent in organisations today. The case can be used in the classroom (to discuss topics like team building and leadership) as well as in training managers.