Basketball Team example essay topic

Introduction Does religion, spirituality, business, and personal lives have areas of overlap in the way one develops their social and inner personality? Do people have more then one mask or are they all the same mask expressing themselves in different ways? These are the questions that came to mind when reading the foreword, written by Senator Bill Bradley, of the autobiography "Sacred Hoops' by Phil Jackson. I soon learned that we all have many masks that are worn at different times but the inner personality can be a single unit. Many of us lose site of what it is we are truly thinking of.

Phil Jackson describes this in his book as oneness with the moment. That is focusing your full attention on what's happening right this moment. This sparked my interest greatly. I mean we can all benefit from a little focus, right? So, I began reading the book. To my astonishment, I found the book to be very interesting and read most of it in a single sitting.

Using the principles of Zen Buddhism and the ideals of the Lakota Sioux warrior, Phil Jackson teaches his players how to work hard even when the spotlight is on someone else. The book continues on subjects like religion, spirituality, and unity among the team and with ones self. These were all new concepts for me. Though I embraced the ideas, I was skeptical of the practice. It was not until I read the book that I realized that the practice of these concepts could be as easy and much more unstructured then I previously had thought. Dynamic Thoughts of Sacred Hoops In this section of the report I will attempt to incorporate some of the leanings taught throughout the semester.

This section is broken into sub-categories to ease the reading. I make every attempt to touch basis subjects of interest and subjects that relate directly with the book. I will go into further detail on non-book-related topics in the coming sections Competition Someone once said "if you can not state something better then the originator, it is best not to change it at all'. This quote stands true of this book.

Phil Jackson states "winning at any cost doesn't interest me'. This statement says something very deep about Jackson's concept of basketball and life in general. I believe that he views competition as a necessary evil. He states that victory is sweet but it does not make the next game any easier. He realizes that winning is the ultimate goal but it is the journey of winning that is important in order to continue winning.

A team does not get to the championships by fighting to win every game at any cost. This is something that is best suited for the battlefield, not the everyday lives of teammates or citizens. Competition in the world of basketball is a lot like the corporate world, if you don't win, someone else will. The key to winning the marketshare (and marketshare is the number of seats filled at each game) is a quality product that customers can come to rely on. That means that the team must be consistent and continue to improve its product. Inherently, like any product, it is the people manufacturing the product that take pride in their work who instill quality into the product.

So, what is the Chicago Bull's product, you ask? It is the team itself and its actions on the court, which determine if the quality and pride of workmanship is there in ordered to satisfy the customer, spectators. Cooperation The Webster online dictionary describes the word cooperation as the action of cooperating, a common effort or association of persons for common benefit. To me cooperation describes the effort of individuals to better serve the goal of the whole. This means to express and sometimes suppress ones thoughts and feelings conservatively in order to support the common goal of the whole. I may have a grasp of what I think it means to me, Phil was taught many of these same lessons in greater detail through New York's Red Holz man.

In Jackson's book he describes what he learned of cooperation from Red as "the power of "we' is stronger then the power of "me'. I can't agree more. I feel that the entire concept of cooperation is geared toward the group as one. Phil writes that when the group cooperates, it moves as a single unit, all members know what the other member's next move is going to be.

Furthermore, as he explains, "the most effective way to forge a winning team is to call on the players need to connect to something larger than themselves'. That something the players need to connect to is the team itself and that requires cooperation. Just as I wrote earlier it takes cooperation on Michael Jordan's' behalf in order to share the spotlight with his teammates. And it also takes cooperation except the praising of your good deeds from your teammates. Conflict Jackson explains how conflict between the team and Michael Jordan would inevitably destroy the team if something did not change. Change happened.

Phil had a conversation with Michael and asked him to "share the spotlight with his teammates'. This seemed to work. In theoretical terms, the rest of the team was struggling for recognition and was simply awestruck by Michael's abilities. Whether a team is an executive task team or a basketball team, it is important that the team have external support and recognition. I believe that this is very important in all aspects of life. Some would say that conflict is a necessary element of teamwork.

Phil seems to agree with this and deals with this in a spiritual sense. Phil also saw conflict when he finally found out that a key player, Spencer Haywood, had nerve damage. This conflict would soon emulate into the team's morale and eventually disrupt the team's overall performance. As he learned over the years he discovered to approach these problems with compassion and affection. This can only do well for the player and the overall health of the team. He would encourage members to recognize their teammate's pain and embrace him with open arms.

This reminded me of Phil's early years at college. In college, before injuring his pitching arm, he had once played baseball. He thought that it was going to be the end to a long-standing dream of playing for the majors. Though he ended up going a different route, he does not regret the turn of events in his life. It is obvious that we as humans will always have conflict. We may have negative conflict, as is the case when wars happen and we may have a positive conflict.

A positive conflict is what was happening with the team. Michael came to Phil and asked him to help motivate the team upon his return from retirement. Michael was viewed as a hero through many eyes. This was the problem. The other teammates viewed Jordan as a master of basketball. They found it difficult to work with a person with such a high knowledge base of the game.

It reminded a scientist having trouble relating to average educated people. The same social knowledge base is not there. The team had found itself set in a "norm' or routine. It had been going at the same pace for so long with the same members that new resolutions are viewed as disturbing and sometimes wrong 3.

It is only when the team excepts and embraces variance, it will succeed at changing. Goal Obviously for any team to succeed it is essential to have a clear and definable goal. This is redefined in Aranda and Aranda's book entitled Teams. They define the importance of a goal as a need to clarify goals in order to sustain a sense of effort and accomplishment. This need is further described in Jackson's book, however, he explains the journey is as important a goal as the goal itself. One can not obtain a goal without first having a strategy and a commitment to that goal.

Furthermore, it is important to set markers to obtaining that goal, once the team has successfully overcome one boundary it is necessary to realize this and celebrate it, then move on to the next barrier. Jackson touches basis on this in his book. He encourages his players to take a time out to consider the past, present and future short-term goals in between playing. He calls this "the safe spot'. It is where the players can escape the brutality and anxiety of playing basketball and focus on a non-threatening safe environment in order to prepare themselves for the next short-term goal.

"We generally agree that goals in business and in government and in our personal lives should be bounded by moral standards and legal constraints'. This author continues to explain that individual and the group will continue to make moral progress if the leader establishes goals and sets standards prior to action. Power Phil Jackson suggests that too much power and control will only bolster the leader's ego and suppress the individuality of the group's members. It is within the entire group as a unit where power and control should emulate from, not the top down. This is stands true of many aspects of our daily lives.

When a marriage is on the rocks and must overcome a barrier, it is the relationship as a unit that will find a way to pay the bills or discipline the children. The concept of power to me is a highly regarded idea. It suggests that an individual person will have the power in any given situation. For example, the role of the United States President, this role has long been described as the most powerful role in the modern world. However important or powerful we may think this role is, it is not the individual role, which has the power. It is suggested that the power emulates from this countries citizens.

Furthermore, Jackson's friend John Paxson, found a Chinese fable in a Harvard Business Review, which described that inherent power and strength is found in the "spokes of the wheel and not necessarily the wheel itself'. The fable goes on to explain that "a wheel is made not only of spokes but also of the space between the spokes. Sturdy spokes poorly placed make a weak wheel'. Ironically, 90% (approx.) of the records found under the search words "power' and "leadership' through Britannica Online, refer to the topic of politics and government. It goes without saying that instilling power and authority can be a very ominous decision, however, it is a necessary evil that can make or break a team, especially in the National Basketball Association. Leadership Consistency, this is the word that is repeated time and time again throughout the book Teamwork by Larson and LaFa sto when referring to the topic of leadership.

It is without a doubt a very important aspect to leadership and Jackson demonstrates this throughout his career. He first began to develop his leadership skills early on in life. He began institutionalizing his thoughts and theories that he had learned from various religious leaders with smaller, foreign basketball teams and incorporating them with his personal life. Eventually he would could to discover that he could develop an entire team strategy based on his strong and deep rooted religious beliefs. He would soon develop these skills into a finely tuned mastery of leadership and come to lead the famous Chicago Bulls to the championships on more then one occasion. This all stems from his strong belief in compassion that was taught to him through the concepts and theories of Zen.

He soon realized that it is not what you believe to be true that will lead to victory but the action or pursuit of that victory. "Actions define leadership and decisions are the precursors to action'. This quote can be in reference to both professional and personal life. Unfortunately, how goals are obtained is not without action, it is in the very plan to victory that will allow the victory to be acted upon. With leadership comes the definition of roles and responsibilities. These roles and responsibilities must be defined every time a new member is introduced to the team.

This is most often referred to in the "forming's tage of the team. It is expected that the leadership of the group re-state the group's goals and inspirations to the new member of the team. Teams may also go through various stories and jargon's in order to further initiate the new member. Relationship to Business As the Marketing Manager of Hewlett Packard's Printer division in San Diego once said, "Teamwork is a critical success factor in today's world of business'. As many people well know teamwork is very essential to support the fast paced actions of today's business.

Phil Jackson's book explains his thoughtful approach to nurturing a positive group dynamic, revealing a deeply soulful outlook based on Eastern and Native American thought. It is important to remember that high society business, traditionally, has harbored thoughts and concepts of a sexist, conservative, and politically controlled society. It is only recently that many of those traditions have been replaced with a more compassionate and open-minded theories. Jackson's book supports the argument that if the team (and an entire company, industry, or business is a team) cannot learn to cooperate with one another it is doomed to a horrible fate. Furthermore, if the power that is instilled among its members is not properly excepted, then the team will eventually ruin itself in a terrible downwind of disrespect of leadership and collusion amongst its members. "Power provides the authority to convince people to act in a way the moves business, or any organization toward its objectives'.

If power instills authority, then, action instills opportunity. Easier said, power is nothing without action and action is nothing without power. It takes great leadership to instill competent goals and standards within the group in order for the "sharing' of power to glue the team together as a single unit. Part of making people feel included in the group is realizing that open communication flows in two directions. That is the sharing of power can allow open communication and open communication can lead to better ideas. Management and International Entrepreneurship Applying Jackson's concepts to the major learning outcomes of the Management and International Entrepreneurship major at CSU Monterey Bay is easy.

Especially since the entire mission statement of the school has evolved around the concept of unity, compassion, diversity, and an understanding of other cultures. From day one as a freshman the students are instructed in these area and competencies. As the student excels into a higher level of education, usually at the junior level, the competencies will further change and develop to adhere to each particular major's criterion. The areas that we are taught in are in the areas of such topics as Marketing, Management, Finance, International Affairs and Finance, ethics and social responsibility and Entrepreneurship, just to mention a few.

All of these expected learning outcomes have played important roles in each of the student's lives. We are taught to make decision based on an educated and moral basis without regard to regret in the case of a wrong decision. Much like Jackson's book the program instructs its students to be aware of other people's cultures and to recognize that others have opinions also. It is important for students to take initiative in striving for their goals and believing in themselves and the journey that their goals may take them on. It is obvious that the teachings of this book and the teachings of the Zen Buddhism concepts are of utmost importance to recognize that life is not always as difficult as one may think.

Furthermore, whether the learning outcome is management skills or a discipline in ones personal life, this book has much to offer both. Conclusion As you can see I will be breaking this section into sub-categories also. I am doing this because I believe that this book has effected me in more ways then one. It has touched areas of my life that I never expected it to. Thoughts The book itself was very poorly written with reference to the subject areas.

Then again the author is not a writer. However the book did keep me very interested in the material. This book has the overall appeal of a mystery. I am very fond of mysteries and also find this book to be very in depth with reference to the topics of religion and spirituality. Before I read the book I was under the impression that it was going to be a book about basketball and that's it. The book is just the opposite of what I thought.

It simply uses basketball as a vehicle of thoughts toward life. There are many candid references and analogies that co-relate to many different aspects of life in this book that I find very useful. I found my self-reading the book at an ever faster pace then normal with exception to areas of importance. I can only hope to again read a book of this sort for credit in a class. Application to Personal Life Phil Jackson's compelling insights for motivating players and creating team unity make this book prime reading for all those with an interest in the power of a united body, mind, and soul. I am able to use many of his teachings in my personal life with reference to marriage.

It is extremely difficult to find balance in your life while trying to incorporate school, a social life, a marriage and a professional life to boot. Jackson's book offers some insight on how to do this. I have recently begun to balance my life out due to the motivation that this book has given me. I have learned to prioritize what is most important to me and to start with that and end with what was previously thought to be important. We often get sidetracked by the thought that we are getting a lot of tasks done throughout the day, when in fact we are accomplishing only many miniscule and unimportant tasks that take a lot of time.