Army Crew Team University Case Study AnalysisAs a Student in the Leading Teams in Organizations course at Lipscomb University, I have to answer questions regarding the Harvard Business School case titled "The Army Crew Team." The article describes a coach's dilemma regarding an underperforming Varsity Crew team. The varsity team consistently loses to the junior varsity (JV) team, forcing its coach to consider taking drastic action four days before the national championship. The coach considers the following three options: changing the varsity and JV teams, changing individual boat members, or intervening to improve the performance of the varsity team (Snook and Polzer, 2004). The coach should swap the varsity and JV teams and allow the most cohesive team to compete as a varsity team in the national championship. Here are the questions and answers regarding the Army Crew case. Why does the varsity team lose to the JV team? The varsity team loses to the JV team for several reasons. First, the Varsity team is not a cohesive group. Varsity team members focus on themselves and not the team as a whole. This is evidence that team members are criticizing each other and not participating in team meetings together. Conversely, the JV team focuses on team processes and does not want to disappoint team members. For example, team members did not criticize each other individually during self-criticism sessions. Instead, members of the JV team made overarching comments that everyone had to put into practice. Second, the Varsity team suffered from the absence of a clear leader in the boat who motivated the team, set racing strategy, and corrected rowing technique. Third, the Varsity team suffered from the presence... middle of paper ...... The advantage of the JV team was its ability to function as a cohesive group and synchronize rowing (Snook and Polzer, 2004). Due to this and the short time before the championship, the coach should allow the JV team to compete as a varsity team. However, both teams interact well with other organizational teams and provide valuable examples for team leaders. Works cited Coutu, D. (2009). Why Teams Don't Work: An Interview with J. Richard Hickman. HBR's 10 MUST READS on teamsLencioni, P. (2002). The five dysfunctions of a team. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Snook, S. and Polzer, J. T. (2004). The army team. Manuscript submitted for publication, Business , Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, , Available from Harvard Business School. (9-403-131). Thompson, L. (2014). Building a team: a guide for managers. (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.