Case Analysis

Case Study Analysis

Introduction

This essay aims at analyzing the leadership skills Coach Knight and Coach K. Coach Robert Montgomery Knight had been the coach of Indiana University Basketball Team for about thirty years. He then joined the Texas Tech in March 2001 and retired on 2008. He was Great basketball achiever. He is renowned not only for his tremendous achievements in the basketball but also for his passionate leadership style. He is well known for his obsession towards hard work and will to win. His great achievement was the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991 (Benjamin, 2012).

However, Coach Mike Krzyzewski was the coach for Duke University Team and he was also the assistant of Coach Knight in Indiana University. His remarkable achievement was the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001. His approach to guide the team was the freedom. He believes that people should be given freedom to follow what their heart says. He was honored as America's Best Coach in 2001 (Duke Sports Information, 2005).

Discussion

The effective leadership is the passionate relation between the leader and followers. Effective leadership is just not about attracting the followers or making the inspirational speeches but it is about getting the positive results from followers. Both leaders Coach Knight and Coach K have been the great leaders despite the major differences in their leadership styles. The leadership style of Coach Knight was tough and based on discipline. While on the other hand, the leadership style of Coach K was based on the positive reinforcement and freedom.

Coach Knight

He was found to be old fashioned disciplinarian as well as the obedience oriented. He believes in following rules and terms rules as the key to success. He was very demanding and kept pushing his players to utilize their physical and mental skills to optimum levels. He was always found to be striving for the best to win the match. Coaching style of Knight is based on rules, values, discipline and honesty. His leadership approach was the tough love as he used to love his players but he did not show it openly.

He also believed in creating the strong bond with the players but followed the strict authoritarian approach using the harsh and shouting language and forced the players to follow him by intimidation. His approach was based on clearly defining the expectations to the followers to get the best performance with 100% ...