ICT at the Team Level

A641.5.3.RB

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 US Dream Team basketball men’s team did so poorly in 2000 and 2004?

The United States (US) is known to field stellar teams for the Olympics in both women’s soccer and men’s basketball. Much of this can be attributed to the quality of talent and excellent coaching each sport possesses. So how has the US women’s soccer team achieved the success they have had on recent years while the US men’s basketball team have struggled to live up to standard established by the infamous “Dream Team” of the 1990’s? This topic will be explored as it relates to the Intentional Change Theory (ICT) at the team level.

Group development for any team is crucial. Team dynamics and the way it establishes its identity is in large part how it leaders shape the learning/training environment. Moreover, through the course of a team’s life, many experiences and events reveal the certain team patterns; this is especially true as it relates to the ICT. According to Akrivou and Boyatzis (2006), “Although each iteration is characterized by a similar cycle of discovery, over time, there is a shift to distinct patterns in a way which makes group development appear unique for each group” (p. 697). The five discoveries involved include: 

1. Emergence of shared ideal, vision, or dream
2. Exploration of norms, paradoxes, challenges, and gaps
3. The group’s learning agenda
4. Group experimentation and practice
5. Resonant Relationships (Akrivou & Boyatzis, 2006, p. 699-701)

When viewed through this context, the US women’s national soccer team has enjoyed global success by winning four gold medals and one silver in recent Olympic games and set records for winning streaks and goals scored (Ussoccer.com, 2016). While the popularity of US women’s soccer team has grown significantly over the past decades, many of the players do not demand the same main-stream attention as other sports. This factor may contribute to the US women’s soccer team’s unity and shared vision for success. For example, many players were developed and nurtured through soccer programs and leagues that feed into the US soccer national team, which has led to its premier status (Litterer, 2011). This process has provided the conditions for players and coaches to develop and experience the five discoveries as noted above.

While the men’s basketball Dream Team of 2000 and 2004 may have been filled with talent, factors of individualism and lack of developmental time may have prevented it from living up to expectations. The US men’s national/Olympic mainly consist of superstars in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Thus, they typically are the center of their team’s attention and have numerous sponsorships. As such, many of these superstars expect to carry their teams on their back and learn to value individual performance. The 2004 Olympic team, According to Brad Raun (2012), “This team had talent, but it was severely lacking in guard play.  Iverson (2.5 assists per game) and Marbury (3.4 apg) were score-first point guards that did little to get teammates involved” (par. 5). Furthermore, the assembled for the 2004 games had less than a month to prepare and work with each other. According to Carmelo Anthony "In '04, we had two weeks to put that team together, go to Greece and play and try to win a gold medal," he continues, "We had a weird group of guys on that team, guys that didn't know each other, guys that were young and coming into the league, and it didn't work" (as cited in Bontemps, 2016, par. 5). It becomes clear that even with a team full of talent, without the group development through ICT, any team may fail to achieve its goal.

Reference

Akrivou, K., Boyatzis, B., & McLeod, P. (2006) "The evolving group: towards a prescriptive theory of intentional group development", Journal of Management Development, Vol. 25 Issue: 7, pp.689-706, https://doi.org/10.1108/02621710610678490

Bontemps, T. (2016, July 21). Born from the fires of 2004 failures, Team USA Basketball now built to last. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved from http://www.chicagotribune.com/

Litterer, D. (2011, August 17). Women’s Soccer History in the USA: An Overview. Retrieved from http://homepages.sover.net/~spectrum/womensoverview.html

Raun, B. (2012, June 24). From Dream Team to Nightmare: Ranking the USA Basketball Teams. Bleacher Report. Retrieved from http://bleacherreport.com/

Women’s National Team. (2016, August 05). A History of the U.S. WNT at the Olympic Games. Retrieved from http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2016/08/05/19/54/160805-wnt-a-history-of-the-usa-at-the-olympic-games