Remember the Titans
Organization: T.C. Williams High School Football Team (Alexandria Virginia 1971) * Organizational Environment: Consisted of the school board, the coaches, the team and the community. * Org. Structure: Due to desegregation, the structural norm of an all-white high school, coaching staff and football team, soon changed when a new head coach was appointed. * Org. Culture: In the beginning, everyone was out for their own self interests. The school board was trying to sabotage Coach Boone. Both coaches were out to make a name for themselves (Boone: Up and Coming/Yoast: Hall of Fame). The team members had their own initiatives (to get their desired positions). While white members of the community were waiting for failure, the black members longed for a figurehead. The coaches, team, and the community struggled to understand and except one another.The mentality was “This is how we do things around here”, but that was all about to change. * Org. Climate: At first everyone lacked motivation to put forth the effort of trying to work together. For example: Boone took offense & Yoast took defense. The team captains weren’t showing any leadership and the community members were extremely divided. Racism and football was the backdrop for the clash of leadership styles and personal perspectives that each man had to learn and understand from each other because they all shared one common goal, to become a winning team. * Team Building: At camp when Coach Boone exercised his power and authority by claiming his small span of control “This is a dictatorship, I am the law”, he begins clarifying team roles and objectives, while monitoring operations and performance levels. The interactionist perspective comes into play here when the team is forced to come to terms with their differences by riding, bunking, eating and training together. After