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Case #10
NASCAR'S Racing Teams
By
Pamela Jones
1. Evaluate Jeff Gordon's race team on dimensions covered in the text's discussion of characteristics of high-performance teams.
As stated in Organizational Behavior, Schermerhorn, Hunt, and Osborn (2005), "high-performance teams have strong core values that help guide their attitudes and behaviors in directions consistent with the team's purpose." Jeff Gordon and Ray Evernham bring these values to the team. Jeff with his strong family upbringing and marriage and Ray Evernham with his "strong opinions as to what it takes to consistently finish first: painstaking preparation, egoless teamwork, and thoroughly original strategizing-principles that apply to any high-performance organization."
Another characteristic of high-performance teams is the ability to emphasize collective efforts and not individual efforts. Evernham accomplished this, "I surround them with ideas about teamwork. I read every leadership book I can get my hands on. One thing that I took from my reading is the idea of a "circle of strength." When the Rainbow Warriors meet, we always put our chairs in a circle. That's a way of saying that we're stronger as a team than we are on our own." I believe this makes a big difference in the way teams perform, every single person has to believe they are needed and respected.
Jeff Gordon's website, http://www.jeffgordon.com/team/default.sps?itype=12219 &iCustom PageId=16622, comments on his high performance team, "Jeff's accumulation of an astonishing roster of victories year after year is part of an incredible team effort. From the long-distance ...