Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
www.emeraldinsight.com/1352-7592.htm
TPM
14,1/2
VIEWPOINT
102
Received September 2007
Accepted December 2007
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to outline a set of principles which enable companies and
managers to effectively handle people as a resource and allow them to turn teams into high
performance teams.
Design/methodology/approach The Alinghi sailing teams approach to establishing and
managing a high performance team was explored by means of an ethnographic case study. The
development, organization and leadership principles of the team were subjected to intense scrutiny.
This was done by interviewing the key players in the different areas (sailing crew, design team and
management) at different stages, by observation of the group at work and video analyses. To
substantiate the findings from interviews and observations, workshops with team members and
experts were organized.
Findings The Swiss Alinghi sailing team was the undisputed winner of the famous Americas Cup
in 2003 and managed to defend it successfully in July 2007 against strong competition. The
principles implemented by team founder Ernesto Bertarelli also offer a valuable model for managers.
Originality/value The study is a useful tool for companies and managers who wish to create and
manage high performance teams.
Keywords Team working, Leadership
Paper type Viewpoint
They made it at last. The Swiss Alinghi team won the 2003 Americas Cup with a 5:0
victory over the title defenders New Zealand. This was the first time ever that a
landlocked nation won the Americas Cup and the first time a team won this most
famous trophy in sailing at its first attempt. Larry Ellison, boss of rival team Oracle
BMW, expressed his admiration at the end of the competition: Alinghi is the best
sailing team I have ever seen. The crews run of success has continued almost without
interruption and made them defend the Americas Cup successfully in July 2007.
What made and makes this extraordinary achievement possible? Our research led
us to conclude that the lead crews unique handling of its human resources was the
decisive factor in securing the teams competitive edge. Part consciously and part
intuitively, team founder Ernesto Bertarelli and his crew recognized the value of
human resources as a key competitive advantage. That way, the usual financial,
technological and size issues were not the deciding factors. Jochen Schumann, athletic
director and helmsman for the Team Alinghi, gets to the point:
The Americas Cup is not an auction which is won by the highest bidder. Rather, it is about
true competition which is decided by the people and the way they work together.
Team Performance Management
Vol. 14 No. 1/2, 2008
pp. 102-108
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1352-7592
DOI 10.1108/13527590810860230
Navigating
toward team
success
103
TPM
14,1/2
104
including Bertarelli, had to put their performance to the test. The lead crew only
decided the final sailing team on the day of the first Americas Cup race based on
training results going back over two years. Ernesto Bertarelli assures:
We followed the principle of the best person for each job and that applied to me, too. It is not
your job title that gains you recognition with the other sailors, but your skills and your
performance in the team.
The unique feature of this vision is that, in addition to the measurable goal of winning
the Cup, it also contains a behavioral component. Sports director Jochen Schumann
emphasizes:
Our vision stated that we wanted to win the Cup well thats only logical but the crucial
factor for us was also How. We have inspired our team members, we have competed fairly.
We have tried to stick to our motto and not just win the trophy at any price.
To achieve this goal, the team leaders relied primarily on the skills of each individual
team member and their readiness to take responsibility for their own actions.
Bertarelli, Schumann and skipper Russel Coutts would always try to get the persons
involved in conflicts to resolve their problems and differences straight away among
themselves without any intervention by the team leaders. In a corporate environment,
we often encounter precisely the opposite behavior. Encourage your employees to solve
problems in the workplace on their own initiative so that they take on high levels of
responsibility and develop their problem-solving skills.
Maneuver 4: Solving problems instead of complaining about them
Continuous complaining is a widespread phenomenon among company employees:
The IT department just cant get the computers working properly for us. The
supplier delivered the goods too late again and the quality was poor. Every so often
you will come across an organizational unit that tackles problems from an optimistic
angle by regarding them as challenges that need to be actively addressed. Such a
culture shifts the emphasis on future opportunities and perspectives rather than
problems, errors and omissions. When you rely on human beings as a success factor,
errors and problems are inevitable. Accept that and, when problems occur, set about
remedying them together without delay. Looking for a scapegoat only holds up the
proceedings and spreads bad feeling in the team.
With the Alinghi team, we observed a similar solution-oriented approach in all areas
of work. One example illustrates its importance in a crisis situation: One day before the
semi-finals in 2003, the mast of the racing yacht broke. Nevertheless, the team did not
let this seemingly unsolvable problem deter them and worked right through the night.
Every team member got down to work and gave their all to make sure the yacht was
ready for the race in time. Dirk Kramers, Chief Designer of the Alinghi team, recalls:
What I found fascinating about the whole thing was the way that, throughout that whole
time, no-one ever tried to find out who was responsible for breaking the mast. In other teams,
Ive often found that everyone wanted to blame each other for the error. Here it was different
we didnt talk about errors, only about solutions.
Navigating
toward team
success
105
TPM
14,1/2
106
management style is and always has been: Follow up your words with deeds. Honor
your promises and behave as you expect your employees to behave.
At Alinghi, the training started every morning at 6.30 a.m. with weight-lifting in the
fitness room. Jochen Schumann was always the first there. Sewerman Curtis Blewett
stresses that:
. . . all team members knew exactly what they had to do and why. There were no pep talks by
the leaders or pseudo-motivational experiments. I only had to take one look at Russel at any
given moment to feel his ambition, intensity and concentration. That motivated me.
Navigating
toward team
success
107
TPM
14,1/2
108
These limitations notwithstanding, we are convinced that the Alinghi team and its
unconventional approach to personnel management, leadership and team culture offer
companies of all sizes and industries both inspiration and guidance for better handling
of human resources. Were all in the same boat is a saying you will certainly have
heard many times in your company. Perhaps Alinghis example will help you see this
metaphor in a new light.
References
Barney, J.B. (1991), Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage, Journal of
Management, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 99-120.
Jenewein, W. and Erk, C. (2005), Sauber Petronas 2005: achieving much with comparatively
little, case study, University of St Gallen, St Gallen.
Further reading
Bass, B.M. (1985), Leadership and Performance beyond Expectations, Free Press, New York, NY.
Bass, B.M. and Riggio, R.E. (2005), Transformational Leadership, 2nd ed., Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates, Mahwah, NJ.
Hackman, J.R. and Wageman, R. (2005), A theory of team coaching, Academy of Management
Review, Vol. 30 No. 2, pp. 269-87.
Jenewein, W., Bruch, H. and Heidbrink, M. (2005), Alinghi 2005 the freedom to act, case study,
University of St Gallen, St Gallen.
Katz, N. (2001), Sport teams as a model for workplace teams: lessons and liabilities, Academy of
Management Executive, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 56-67.
Kets de Vries, M.F.R. (2005), Leadership group coaching in action: the Zen of creating high
performance teams, Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 61-76.
Spreitzer, G.M. (1995), Psychological empowerment in the workplace: dimensions,
measurement, and validation, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 38 No. 1, pp. 1442-65.
About the authors
Wolfgang Jenewein, PhD, serves as an Executive Director of the Executive MBA Programs of the
University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. He is a senior lecturer in leadership and marketing and
advises various international companies and professional sports teams, such as the
VfB-Stuttgart, on leadership in high performance teams. Wolfgang Jenewein is the
corresponding author and can be contacted at: wolfgang.jenewein@unisg.ch
Felicitas Morhart, M.A., is research associate and doctoral candidate at the University of St.
Gallen. Her research interest centers on organizational behavior with specialization in leadership
and its application to various fields in business research.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.