Development of Leadership: Cool Runnings Case

This report reflects the concept of leadership and the importance of leadership in achieving the goal. It focuses on how the team of Cool Runnings was able to make out to the Olympics and the skills applied by the leader to improve the efficiency in achieving the target. It majorly describes the role of the leader Derice Bannock and application of the styles and theories to the case.

Development of leadership 0
Development of Leadership
Cool Runnings Case
Student’s Name
11/28/2018

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Executive Summary
This report reflects the concept of leadership and the importance of leadership in achieving
the goal. It focuses on how the team of Cool Runnings was able to make out to the Olympics
and the skills applied by the leader to improve the efficiency in achieving the target. It
majorly describes the role of the leader Derice Bannock and application of the styles and
theories to the case.

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Contents
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................3
LITERATURE REVIEW...........................................................................................................3
Trait Theory of Leadership....................................................................................................4
Democratic style of leadership...............................................................................................4
Model of Leadership..............................................................................................................5
CRITICAL ANALYSIS.............................................................................................................6
Understanding the leadership style........................................................................................6
Traits of the leader.................................................................................................................7
Leadership Behaviour of Derice Bannock.............................................................................8
Essential Leadership skills of the team..................................................................................8
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................11

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INTRODUCTION
Leadership is the concept that helps to compete in the challenging business environment.
The term leadership is defined as a force that influences and persuades the followers to
integrate its efforts towards the common goal. The phenomenon of leadership is evolving
overtime because it guides and gives the direction to the followers to achieve the objective
with full efficiency. The leader receives the coercive power to influence the followers and
bring the constructive changes. The concept of management and leadership often gets
overlap but management focuses on stability while in case of leadership the followers adapt
and lead to constructive changes in operations (Antonakis and Day, 2018). In the further
paragraphs, it gives light to the application of leadership skills in the film Cool Runnings and
the ability of the leader to achieve the goal.
Cool Runnings is a Disney movie, which was released in the year 1993 by Jon Turteltaub.
This film is based on the true story of the Jamaica national bobsleigh team’s debut in
competition during the 1988 winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada. The focus of the movie
was on Derice Bannock, who aspires to make it to the Olympics, however, was not able to
make it due to the happening of the unfortunate event that leads to the loss in the race. But
because of his dedication towards his passion, he was able to form a team and made it to
the Olympics. It is observed that despite all the adversity and odds Derice Bannock was able
to achieve the goals by applying the appropriate leadership style and works with all the
integrity and honesty (CU today.info, 2018).
LITERATURE REVIEW
The term leadership is defined as the capacity to assess and prediction of a long-term plan
or policy that inspires the followers towards the accomplishment of the said strategy. These
individual creates direction for a working group of persons and motivates them to achieve
the results for the organization. It is the function of knowing yourself, having a vision that is
well transferred to the members, creating trust among the colleagues, and taking effective
action to realize your own leadership potential. The philosophy of leadership provides the
coercive power to the leader to direct the members and can take actions if any member goes
against the desired outcome. The importance of leadership has grown over years because
of the complexities in the business environment. The leader helps the team members to
coordinate their efforts towards the desired outcome and providing the team with the
unconventional strategies to apply creative solutions to the problems and overcome all the
barriers that come in the way (Bolman and Deal, 2017).

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Trait Theory of Leadership
This theory emphasizes the traits of the successful leader and believes that inheritance of
such traits helps the organization to achieve the outcome in an efficient manner. This theory
is the pleasing theory and valid for analyzing the traits of the individual which helps them to
become a leader. It serves as the yardstick to judge the performance of the leader. It defines
that a successful leader has the desire to achieve and has the self-confidence to motivate
and guide the members towards the direction of achievement. The person has the cognitive
ability to make a good decision and provides creative strategies to the problems. The leader
possesses the qualities of being flexible, creative and charismatic. The person has the
expertise in the business and performs the duty with all the honesty and integrity (Bucic,
Robinson, and Ramburuth, 2010).
This theory provides constructive information about leadership and can be applied at all the
levels and in all the types of organization. This theory helps to evaluate the position in their
organization and acts a yardstick to measure the performance of the leader. It is observed
that in the case of Cool Runnings there is the application of trait theory to judge the traits of
the leader i.e. Derice Bannock and such traits helps him to lead the team and overcome the
hurdles that come in the way of success (Changing Minds,2018).
Democratic style of leadership
This style of leadership is also known as participative leadership because this style
encourages the ideas of the team members and provides the opportunity to all the team
members to participate and provide the creative idea to all the problems. Application of such
style makes the employees more committed and motivated towards the work as they have
given the opportunity to express their idea and being rewarded for the same. Such
behavioral style involves a group of individuals in the decision-making process and the
process of communication flows two way. In such style, the feedback is used frequently to
reinforce positive behavior and the goals of the organization are shared (Business Jargons,
2018).
There are also other styles of leadership .i.e. autocratic and laissez-faire but the democratic
style of leadership is considered superior of both the other styles because in Autocratic
styles there is no involvement of all the team members and all the decisions are in control of
the leader, which creates a sense of dissatisfaction among the employees. In the case of
laissez-faire the intervention of the leader is minimum, therefore it creates a delay in decision
making and reduces the efficiency in the implementation of activities. However, the
democratic style of leadership is the most suitable to the organizations. It is observed that

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the leader of the case Cool Runnings applies the democratic style of leadership and allows
the participation of all the members of the team (Very well mind, 2018).
Model of Leadership
The model of leadership development provides the deep insight that leaders develop the
skills with practice. It states that leadership skills cannot be learned from a book the leader
must practice to develop the skills and become an emerging leader. The lejuste three
components of leadership development is a model of practice. It is further described in three
parts (Burke, 2017).
Leadership as self
It states that the leader must grow and deepen a sense of self-esteem, self- confidence, and
self-awareness because this helps the person to trust their ability to make choices, and
understand the current situation and provide better solutions to the problems (MDRC, 2018).
Leadership and community
It states that applying it helps to develop a relationship among the members and follows
cooperation rather than a chain of command. Such a situation leads to sharing of
experiences, values and creating a positive environment such style helps in solving the
issues together and more efficiently (MDRC, 2018).
Leadership as visionary practice
It states that the person must be a visionary leader because he listens to others and
understands the situation. The person focuses to articulate the hopes of the team and
deepens the skill of boosting self-confidence (MDRC, 2018).
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Understanding the leadership style
It is analyzed that the team follows the democratic style of leadership in which all the
members of the team were given equal opportunity to express their views and provide the
creative solution to the odds faced by the team. It is observed that Derice Bannock was a
democratic leader and gets fully involved in the decision-making process, which further helps
to direct the team in an effective way. The team possesses the qualities of equal
participation, inclusiveness, and deliberation, which further help the team to overcome all the
obstacles and concentrates more towards achieving the goal. As a team leader, Derice

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Bannock has applied all its skills and traits to reach to the fruitful conclusions and develop
the efficiency of the team. Such qualities of a democratic leader help the team to
constructively participate in the decision-making and provide creative solutions to the
problems (Forbes, 2017).
(Source: Wordpress.com, 2013)
Traits of the leader
From the discussion of the above paragraphs, it is observed that Derice Bannock has the
traits, which includes synchronization in its workings and plans; He has the flexibility in its
decision-making as he listens to his teammate Sanka Coffie and makes the changes in its
process of guiding his team members. Derice Bannock has the close focus on the practices
of its team and was sensitive towards the competitive teams to ensure that the efforts of the
team are going in right direction. He possesses the quality of effectively communicating with
the team members and allowing their participation in the decision-making process. He
applies all his energy and efforts to make the team in the Olympics and overcome all the
odds, which comes in way to success (Leaderonomics.com, 2014).

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(Source: My MBA journey, 2011)
It is analyzed that he has the courage and the intelligence to make out to the Olympics
because after the conduct of misfortunate event he does not lose hope and have the belief
that his team will make out to the Olympics. Such qualities of a democratic leader direct the
team with all the creativity and help them in achieving its goal (TEAMWORK Definition,
2016).
Leadership Behaviour of Derice Bannock
In relation to the above context, it is observed that the Derice Bannock was trying to copy
the Swiss team but as his teammate explains and convinces him, he follows the culture and
tradition, which was different from the Swiss team. This changing behavior of the Derice
depicts that he has the quality of effectively behaving with the team members as after
applying his own skills the team was able to manage the complications and ultimately make
out to the Olympics. By applying the creative solutions and dedication to his work, he was
able to manage the team effectively and won the race by holding the Eighth position
(TEAMWORK Definition, 2016).
This achievement depicts that Derice was able to arrange the resources and yield the
maximum for the team in the minimum time. He effectively collaborates with the team
members and has the confidence to achieve the difficult task (Management Study Guide,
2018).
Essential Leadership skills of the team
The essential leadership skills, which are prerequisite to achieve success, are the ability of
the leader to lead the team in an effective manner, ability to motivate and inspire the team
members to work in a coordinated manner towards the vision of the team. In order to

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achieve the goal, the team must have the ease to communicate effectively which leads to
the building of a healthy relationship and understanding of the members to work with
coordination (Cashman, 2017).
The team members must be committed towards their efforts to have the confidence to make
out to the Olympics. They must work hard to achieve their target and must have trust among
the members to solve all the odds that come in the way of success (Very well mind, 2018).
The leader of the team must be expertise in the field so that he can give the best training to
its team members and can achieve the target. The leader must develop the strategies to win
which are different from the other teams and help in achieving the goal. The members of the
team must support and respect the decisions of each other to ensure coordination among
the team members and the efforts of all the members all integrated into one direction (Daft,
2014).
The unconventional strategies used by the leader to turn the issues into the advantage are
the quality of the charismatic leader that applies the different strategies to achieve the goals
of the team. Derice Bannock was able to make the accurate evaluation of the current
situation to plan the unconventional strategies which are in favor of the team (Questia, 2017)
It is observed that the leader i.e. Derice Bannock was successful in applying contingency
theory of leadership which depicts the efficiency of the leader in applying the different
theories according to the given situation. It states that the leader applies different theories to
the different situations and effectively interacts to the given situation. Derice Bannock was
able to manifest different styles of leadership according to the given situation and however
directing the team towards the achievement of its goal (Explore psychology, 2017).
As discussed from the above paragraphs, it is analyzed that Derice Bannock is the right
person to the lead the team as he has applied the unconventional strategies and has put all
the efforts to lead the team in a better way. He has evaluated the current situation of its team
and was able to alter the strategies, which creates hurdle in achieving the goal. With all the
hard work and commitment towards its passion, Derice was able to integrate the efforts of all
the team members and provided with the new methods to develop efficiency and compete
with the other team more confidently. He has the traits of effectively communicating with the
team members and has a close focus on the activities performed by the team members. He
was fully dedicated and was a good listener, which are the main qualities of a good leader
(Like A team, 2018).

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A leader is the one who is able to guide and influence its members towards the achievement
of the goals of the organization. According to my learning’s I feel that Derice Bannock should
continue to be a leader for the competitions in future because he has the quality of
persistence, which depicts that he does not give up on any situation and believes that
anything is possible if the person tries for it. He was the one who is adaptable to the
changing situation and inculcates it in its team members to make the team members
comfortable to the changing situation. He has the ability to persuade its team members and
integrate their efforts towards the achievement of the common goal. (Lussier, and Achua,
2015).
Derice Bannock has the quality of self-efficacy which depicts the belief in one’s capabilities
to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments. He
was able to meet the emotional and psychological needs of its team members and was able
to persuade them verbally (Northouse, 2018).
It is analysed that under the leadership behaviour of Derice Bannock he has applied
leadership model of Blake Mouton’s which depicts the balance the leader is able to make
between concern for the people and concern for the task. It states that Derice Bannock was
concern for its team members as well as for its goal. He collectively ensures that the team
members are satisfied from its action and are diverted towards their goal to make it to the
Olympics. The main focus of the leader was to apply the leadership style of team
management which provides highest efficiency both to the team members and the goal of
the team (Mind Tools, 2018).
The major issue, in this case, was that Derice Bannock was trying to imitate the strategies of
the Swiss team, which created dissatisfaction among the team members, as every team is
unique in its own way and each team must develop its own strategy (Smart learning way,
2015).

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CONCLUSION
From the discussion of the above paragraph, it is concluded that the concept of leadership
has grown over the years because this helps the leader to guide and direct the members of
the team and provides the unconventional strategies to resolve the problems.
The film Cool Runnings describes the role of the Derice Bannock to make it to the Olympics.
It also describes his dedication and hard work towards the achievement of the goal. The
case also describes that he follows a democratic style of leadership in which it allows the
other participants to provide creative ideas and considers their ideas. He was able to
compete with the other team members and make it to the Olympics. He has the traits of self-
confidence, flexibility, integrity, and energy to overcome all the hurdles that restrict the path
of success. By applying the skills of effective leadership, it guides and influences the
activities of the members to ensure that all the actions are in line to the pre-determined
objectives.
It is observed that after all the struggles the team was able to make out to Olympics and
leaves the message for the public to not lose hope and continue with all the dedication and
honesty. It gives the power to fight all the odds and have persistence.
Therefore, it is essential that every organization must apply leadership skills and achieve the
objective of the firms efficiently and effectively.

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REFERENCES
Antonakis, J. and Day, V.D. (2018) The nature of leadership.3rd ed. London: Sage
publications.
Bolman, G.L. and Deal, E.T. (2017) Reframing Organizations: Artistry, choice, and
leadership. United States: John Wiley and sons.
Bucic, T., Robinson, L., and Ramburuth, P. (2010) Effects of leadership style on team
learning. Journal of workplace learning, 22(4), pp.228-248.
Burke, W.W. (2017) Organization change: Theory and practice. London: Sage Publications.
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Cashman, K. (2017) Leadership from the inside out : Becoming a leader for life. 3rd ed.
Oakland: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
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Daft, L.R. (2014) The leadership experience. Canada: Cengage Learning.
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