Coach Knight: The Will to Win

Question # 1 Describe coach knights leadership style was he effective or not, why?

PART-A
Coach Knight was having autocratic leadership style and he seems to be task oriented. Following are the characteristics of his leadership style. Disciplinarian Obedience oriented High demanding Perfectionist Treating players as reboots Negative reinforcement Communication by using foul language Tight supervision (Theory X) Use of power

PART-B
Coach Knight is effective if we talk in term of team performance because IU basketball team was winning in Knights reign and after joining Texas Tech team, which was not performing well, was converted into winning team by Coach Knight. If we talk about players, they were dissatisfied by Knights method of coaching. In universities sports are considered as secondary thing, but coach knight implementing his policies which might cause dissatisfaction for students.

Question # 2
What solution/alternatives you suggest for problem(s) in the case.

Problem
Authoritarian policies of coach Knight

Alternatives
Firing coach knight from job. Request for changing policies. University should focus on implementation of proper policies. Hiring friendly coach. Removing basketball team from university.

Best Alternative
University should hire friendly coach.

Rationale
Coach Knight is highly perfectionist and he does not want to lose matches and he is so much demanding that it affects the social life of students, it makes difficult for students to concentrate both on sports and studies. Coach Knight is also reason for bad image of university which is created by different controversies.

When comparing the leadership styles of Coach Knight and Coach Krzyzewski, it can be surmised that both individuals fit into this vague definition. The common goal was to win basketball games by influencing players to play their best; how each coach practiced their leadership role is uniquely different. This authors goal is to compare these two coaches styles of leadership. Coach Krzyzewski Coach Krzyzewskis (Coach K) style of leadership detailed in the article Coach K: A Matter of the Heart (Snook, Perlow & Delacy, 2005) is an example of emergent leadership. He chose to lead his group of followers with respect, exercising social intellect, openness, agreeableness, self- monitoring and emotional IQ; in doing so, he gained mutual respect from the players, their families and his co-workers. Coach K utilized his social power by influencing his players attitudes and their willingness to perform their best in each basketball game played. Referent power was evidenced by the praise and adoration that not only the players gave to Coach K, but also the reverence of students, families and administrators of Duke University. Coach Knight Coach Knights style of leadership is an example of assigned leadership, occupying the role of the leader of Indiana Universities basketball program. He was able to get his players to follow him out of fear; and while he exceeded in his field with over 800 wins (Snook, Perlow & Delacy, 2006), he did so through coercive power. His reputation of throwing chairs, punching police officers, assaulting students, players and fans is the legacy that follows him in the sports world.

influences your leadership style. "If you believe people are fundamentally good good meaning that they're trying to do their best, they're self-motivated, they want to performthen your fundamental leadership style will be one way. It will be empowering them, getting obstacles out of the way, and setting high goals while maintaining standards. "If you believe people are fundamentally badif you believe people are constantly looking to get over and get by and won't do anything unless they're watchedthen you'll tend to lead with a very transactional management style that's built primarily around rewards and punishments. Tight supervision, a controlling type of leadership style characterized by a great deal of social distance between leaders and led."