A641.5.3.RB - ICT at the Team Level

Using the concepts within ICT focused on the team level, reflect on why the Olympic US Women’s Soccer team won so often and the United States’ men’s basketball Dream Team did so poorly in 2000 and 2004?

Intentional Change Theory (ICT) provides valuable insight into the ability for both individuals and teams to meet their potential and support success through an understanding of the power of intentional change. Whether team development is happening within an organization or on a sports team, in order to maintain sustained and desired change, the team needs to develop and maintain a shared vision, team identity, and multiple levels of resonant leadership (Boyatzis, 2010). Intentional change on a team level can only be sustainable and effective if the members within that team find balance and cohesion between their shared visions and motivators. Without these shared foundations, sustainable intentional change becomes difficult, if not impossible.

As mentioned in the prompt, the 2000 and 2004 Olympic US Women’s soccer team was very successful whereas the men’s basketball team was not. One standout reason why that might be is that the soccer team had been in the performing stage of development far longer than the men’s basketball team. These women had played together in many arenas beyond the Olympics and had already formed those resonant relationships with one another. As the first professional women’s soccer team, they also had an emergent awareness of shared hope that continued to motivate them to achieve more and reach their ideal purpose. Just like champion athletes develop and use an image of themselves performing at their peak in preparation for competition, there is power in focusing on a desired end" (R. Boyatzis & Kohlrieser, 2017). The US Women's team knew what they came to the world stage for, and they weren't leaving without it.

The United States Men’s Basketball team (known as the Dream team) struggled in the Olympics in both 2000 and 2004. The 2004 team lost to Puerto Rico in one of the biggest upsets in Olympic basketball history and will forever be marked as the one that brought home bronze instead of gold (Maisonet, 2017). One difference in the success of the teams may lie in how the teams were developed. According to Mark Cuban (2004), the 2004 Olympic team consisted of various all-stars and resembled nothing close to a unified or cohesive team. In fact, many of the players were accustomed to being opponents during their regular NBA season. "The stark reality of Team USA was that throwing a random assortment of basketball players with a "name" head coach into a situation they were wholly unprepared for didn't work" (Maisonet, 2017). Viewing this issue in the light of ICT, the coaches assembled teams of individuals who were had very highly skilled but were not provided the knowledge to adapt their skills on an international level. Another reason the men's team may have done so poorly was their negative outlook. The men's basketball team were riddled with personality and power struggles, causing much tension throughout the team. The balance between positive and negative emotions also play a significant role in the success and ability to change because positive attractors pull team members toward their shared purpose or vision, allowing them to experience hope as a group and focus on the possibilities, while negative attractors add balance by encouraging team members to reflect and explore alternative ways of taking action (Akrivou, Boyatzis, McLeod, 2006).

Resources:
Akrivou, K., Boyatzis, R. E., & Mcleod, P. L. (2006). The evolving group: Towards a prescriptive theory of intentional group development. Journal of Mgmt Development Journal of Management Development, 25(7), 689-706.

Boyatzis, R. (2010). Coaching Teams for Sustained, Desired Change. In The Coaching Kaleidoscope: Insights from the inside (pp. 168-181). Palgrave Macmillan.

Boyatzis, R., & Kohlrieser, G. (2017, February 21). The Five Stages of Intentional Change Theory – Key Step Media. Key Step Media. https://www.keystepmedia.com/intentional-change-theory/

Cuban, M. (2004). What’s wrong with team USA basketball? Retrieved from http://blogmaverick.com/2004/08/15/whats-wrong-with-team-usa-basketball/

Maisonet, E. (2017, October 3). The Miseducation of the 2004 U.S. Men’s Olympic Basketball Team. Bleacher Report. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2731575-the-miseducation-of-the-2004-us-mens-olympic-basketball-team