Moneyball Leadership Analysis Report: Moneyball film

Moneyball Leadership Analysis
Report

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
A critical evaluation of the styles of leadership and management within the Moneyball film
with their characters and sub characters.................................................................................1
Evaluation of leadership styles exhibited were relevant within the team..............................7
Appropriate leadership development intervention which could be implemented..................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Leadership is process of motivating other group of people to work with the aim of
attaining purpose of the business (Renz, 2016). In other words, it is an ability of a single
individual to influence and manipulate the followers to work according to their common goals
and purpose. Management refers to an art of achieving maximum utilisation of resources so that
more productivity and efficiency would be generated. For this report, Moneyball film is taken for
consideration which is directed by Bennett Miller and protagonist played by Brad Pitt. Different
types of leadership styles will be discussed and how it motivates other to work towards goals will
be explained by taking functional example of Moneyball. Apart from this management role in
achieving the vision will also elaborated. At last various implications will be given so that
continuous improvement in the organisation would be achieved.
MAIN BODY
Plot of the movie
Full film is all about national poor or low salaried baseball team who is put a world
record by winning 20 games without getting defeat with the help of statistics data. Centre of the
film is Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane who was former baseball players but
changed their career to management due to poor performance by him and their team in a major
league of America. After getting the position of GM, billy met Peter Brand who is recent
graduated form the Yale university and loves to play with the numbers with the aim of seeing the
future. Both the main characters has used the Sabermetrics analysis which is used in baseball to
predict for the current games. They have managed to collect different varieties of players who
are undervalued in the sports but still have some talent according to their specialities and
capabilities. So after so many twists and criticism by talent scouts and other teams, Oakland team
has managed to win continuously in the matches which is the longest running streak of American
baseball history ((Kim and McLean, 2015)).
A critical evaluation of the styles of leadership and management within the Moneyball film with
their characters and sub characters
As mentioned above, leader role is to motivate the employees to work according to their
highest potential so that they can perform sustainably in the market for a longer period of time.
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Their are many characters in the film Moneyball which is mentioned below with their real
names,
Billy Beane leadership style
Trait theory states that successful leader has different trait or characteristics as compare
to other unsuccessful leader (Lawton and Páez, 2015). Characteristics which differentiate them is
physiological, demographic, self confidence, task related knowledge and enthusiasm, social
characteristics etc. Core traits of the successful leader is given below,
Achievement drive
It refers to how much leader is ambitious and motivated about their goals (Vohra, Rathi
and Bhatnagar, 2015). For instance, if any individual is highly motivated to win a game of sport
then they will commit their full potential in to it so they can perform as compare to other team. In
context of Moneyball, Billy was highly ambitions, full with energy and loves to take initiative.
As when he does not have any way to win their team a match then they have contacted Peter
Brand so that he can implement their mathematical knowledge into the game of baseball which
at last resulting in wining 20 games continuously. Quote from the movie “The statistics were not
merely inadequate; they lied. And the lies they told led the people who ran major league baseball
teams to misjudge their players, and mismanage their games”. James later reduced his complaint
to a sentence: fielding statistics made sense only as numbers, not as language. Language, not
numbers, is what interested him. Words, and the meaning they were designed to convey. "When
the numbers acquire the significance of language," he later wrote, "they acquire the power to do
all of the things which language can do: to become fiction and drama and poetry.” After facing
criticism from other players and team members, he did not stop because he knew that
mathematics will change the face of the game. In other clip in the match, Billy just wanted to win
the match and does not care about anybody as that's why in the last, he has fired the picher
Magnante before the last counting minutes of the game (Billy Beane and the Science of Talent
Management, The Moneyball Way, 2019). So it can be said that Billy has the quality of
becoming the successful leader for their team . It is based on autocratic theories as Billy takes
decision individually to win the match.
In Autocratic larder-ship all decisions are taken by the top level management there is no
involvement of workers in the decision. Whereas in democratic the decisions are taken with the
mutual consent of the employees. Here there is full involvement of the staff members in
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decision as well as roles and responsibilities are shared within team members. Moneyball film
adopts democratic leadership style in their organization so that employees will be motivated to
work effectively and efficiently in order to meet the desired objectives on time.
Think differently than others:
In the past history of the baseball game, no has ever utilise the statistics knowledge as
everyone thinks that quality of the players matters the most as compare to other things. But on
the other hand, Billy does not have proper resources like money as they can not buy other
players due to shortage of money in the club. Apart from this, baseball is all about hitting the ball
and then run to attain home run overall as all other player scouts watches for this only but billy
thinks differentially that's why he considered different aspects of the game like stolen bases,
walks, swing power, arm strength etc. Billy different thought process is reflect from his dialgue
in the movie like
“BILLY: We need more money Steve.
STEVE: Bill.
BILLY: I need more money!
STEVE: We don’t have any more money.
BILLY: I can’t compete against a hundred and twenty million payrolls with thirty eight million
dollars.
STEVE: We’re not gonna compete with these teams that have big budgets. We’re gonna work
with the constraints that we have and you’re gonna get out and do the best job that you can
recruiting new players. We’re not gonna pay seventeen million dollars a year to players
So it can be said it is important for successful leader to think differentially to other leader as then
only they can attain their differentiation of products and services.”
Autocratic leadership styles are used in the business associates so that employees can be
motivated to perform better in order to meet the emerging needs of the customers. By doing so
skilled employees can be retained for longer time duration in the cut throat competitive world.
In this conversation, Steve is using the situational leadership style through which he
motivated the billy to perform their task with the maximum possible efficiency and performance
in complex situations. This shows that Steve is a good leader who knows which style to choose
based on the situations. He knows that team may not win but still he keeps motivating the team
members to accomplish their goals (Thorpe, 2016).
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Culture
It refers to beliefs, values, norms, rules etc. which are shared among the members.
Culture plays an essential role in the success of organisation as it motivates them to enhance their
performance in the critical situations without affecting from the external environment
(Mintzberg, 2017). Billy Beane has always follow the socialisation rule in compare to
personalised style in which he share each and every details to their team members and let them
decide that what they should do as a leader (Renz, 2016) . This is a great way of motivation the
followers as every team members decision has been taken for considered which motivates them
to work harder so that their actions would help the leader to attain their mission and vision in a
shorter period of time. For instance, he does not have any hope regarding to make the team so
that they can compete with the strongest team and to overcome it, he talks to ….....peter Brand
and listen his theory about the mathematical problems which could help them to win the games
on a continuous streak ((Pardey, 2016)). After having a conversation with him, Billy goes to their
team management, coaches, scouts and their players and explained the strategy which he is
planing to implement in their culture. So at last it can be concluded that culture should be
equipped with open communications, motivation from everyone etc as then only it would help
them to enhance their performance to a certain level.
Honesty and integrity
It is essential for every leader to be honest from their followers as if information is not
disseminate to the subordinates then it demotivate them which leads to poor performance by the
team member. As in the movie, Billy bluntly said Scott hatterberg does not know how to play
first base in the baseball. Billy has the option of not sharing it to him directly but he also knew
that if he did not tell him then he will always in a bubble of lies which is not goof for their
professional development (Hawkins, 2017). Apart from this, he also stated to David Justice that
what are the expectations team has expected from him in the field. He also clears many doubts
which player is having regarding the strategy he is going to implemented as it reduces role
ambiguity of the players which might affect their performance if it wasn't cleared by Billy. Other
than this, billy was full devoted with their team as that's why he turned down the offer of Boston
red Sox to become their general manager in exchange of millions of dollar (Leadership Lessons
from Moneyball. 2019). His main reason behind avoiding this offer is team as his vision is to
makes the team which can not be beat by other team.
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Cognitive ability
It should be important for every leader is to tackle the unseen future obstacle as then only
their efficiency and effectivity would be measured. For instance, if leader is not able to clear the
problems which their followers is facing then there presence would be of no use for team. In
Moneyball, Billy knew in the starting that he does not have money as well as players which
could assist him to win the matches so he tackle the situations by implementing strategy of using
mathematics in the game (Thorpe, 2016)). His decision regarding the sebarmatrics shows his
analytical ability to solve the situations by considered it is a business problems instead of sports
related problem. Apart from this, importance of knowledge in specific field also shows in the
movie as billy and Yale graduate individual knows very much about the baseball due to which
they succeeded in implementing the same. For instance, general manager of the team has
knowledge about the specific potential, intangible traits which is required in the baseball to win
the game.
So after all the traits mentioned in the above report, it can be summarize that Billy have
all the traits and characteristics which would make him successful leader in the context of
business as well as in sports.
Autocratic style
Autocratic style is also known as authoritarian leadership style in which individual takes
and control all the decision in the organisation and did not considered any opinions from the
subordinates or colleagues ((Baron and Parent, 2015)). All the decision taken by the leader
supported by the knowledge they have and experiences they have gained over a period of time.
There are some benefits as well as negative points of this style like it assist organisation to take
decision faster in a critical situations But on the other hand, this style also demotivates the
employees as there importance are considered by the leader while taking decision which mights
affect their performance in a favourable or unfavourable manner (Key Characteristics, Strengths,
and Weaknesses of Autocratic Leadership, 2019) In the movie Moneyball, Billy Beane has
autocratic styles which are mentioned below,
When Pete comes with his scouts to the meeting first time, then billy demonstrated the
authoritative style of leadership (Crossan, Seijts and Gandz, 2015). Pete has attended some
meeting in the past also with his scouts with the understanding that the A’s needed some
changes but it was not clear what type of changes. When he took Pete in the meeting with him,
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he has already selected the procedure for selecting the new players. The scouts along with the
Pete were present in the meeting for providing their advice and consultation but Billy was sure
about the procedure he will use in selection and drafting the players. He goes to the meeting and
stated everyone about the players which will be drafted for the game instead of consulting with
anyone. Billy has used autocratic leadership style in various situations. One such situation is
when billy decided to trade Giombi and Pena. The head coach, Art Howe, wasn't satisfied with
the team drafted by the Billy as he did not want several players to play at specific positions. The
head coach thought that the team assembled by the Billy is useless and dysfunctional. Billy did
what he though t was right and he was so serious about his plan that he traded the players which
was refused by the head coach to sit.
The decisions taken by the Billy regarding the team are risky but still they are necessary
for the team to get the success in the baseball game. He had chosen his team very carefully due
to which he had a lot of expectations for the success of the team. The major risk taken by the
billy was that he had chosen the statistical method for selecting the team instead of conventional
methods and he had went over the scouts’ heads. He wants that his plan becomes successful but
the plan must be followed by the team members for getting the success. Even after having so
much pressure from the coach, he was so motivated in his work that he handled every situation in
an effective manner without any problem. It is not necessary that any other leadership style
would be proved perfect in similar situations. He followed his instincts even after taking such
huge risk as he has the capability to handle the team properly in the complex and difficult
situations.
Peter Brand
It is an important character of the movie as he plays a primary role in getting the
consecutive 20 winning games streaks. He has gained the leadership and power in the team due
to knowledge and intellectual level he has related to baseball game. Peter has always been a
mathematics obsessed person due to which he always jot down every interesting facts he learns
about baseball and always try to use it with the aim of helping billy to win the game of baseball.
Expert power can be implied from his dialogues “It’s about getting things down to one number.
Using stats to reread them, we’ll find the value of players that nobody else can see. People are
overlooked for a variety of biased reasons and perceived flaws. Age, appearance, personality.
Bill James and mathematics cuts straight through that. Billy, of the twenty thousand knowable
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players for us to consider, I believe that there is a championship team of twenty five people that
we can afford. Because everyone else in baseball under values them. Like an island of misfit
toys.”
So at last, it can be concluded from the above dialogue of the movie is that knowledge
can enhance the productivity level of business to a certain level.
Management of Oakland baseball team
Main role of the management is to find the resources and capabilities they have and how
they could optimize it to the fullest (Paliszkiewicz, Gołuchowski and Koohang, 2015). Their
work is to find the ways through which they can enhance employees productivity level to its
fullest which persuades to better performance in the market. According to Moneyball film, team
owner Steve Schott knew about the lack of money but still he wants to make their team best in
the game of baseball. One of the dialogue of the Steve to Billy which shows their way of
handling the critical situations is given below,
“Bill (Billey) we’re a small market team and you’re a small market GM (General manager). I’m
asking you to be okay not spending money that I don’t have. And I’m asking you to take a deep
breath, shake off the loss, get back in a room with your guys and figure out how to find
replacements for the guys we lost with the money that we do have” (Leadership Lessons From
Moneyball, 2019).
Why Billy follows Peter
Billy was willing to follow Peter due to several reasons. First reason is that the Peter was
having good knowledge of the Baseball and other games due to which he was capable of
developing proper and better strategies. These strategies can be used by the team for getting the
maximum score to win the match. Also due to this high knowledge, Peter was able to predict the
game moves which can be leveraged by the team for winning the matches. Also the high
prediction of game scores and strategies which can be used by the team for winning the match is
the major reason for billy to follow the Peter. Peter also has good mathematical skills which he
combined with strategy development and game knowledge so as to predict the game in proper
manner. These capabilities and skills allowed the Billy to follow the path or working of Peter so
that the team of Billy can perform better in the field while playing the match. This shows that the
Billy is activist type of follower as he act according to the observations which was observed
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through the work of Peter. Such type of followers works with or against the leader whereas Billy
works with the leader rather than against him.
Evaluation of leadership styles exhibited were relevant within the team
All the leadership styles which has been used in the movie is according to the situations
they are facing. Leader as well as management were confused as how they enhance their team
performance without spending large amount of money through buying big players from other
baseball team (Jiang, Chuang and Chiao, 2015). So at this time, situational style is the only
appropriate and suitable style for managing the team as it would be time consuming if they have
found some other way of winning the game. Along with this, it would also be expensive in
nature if they would have hire new manager or players for their team. But Billy have to take care
of the team member motivations as mentioned earlier as different situations can decrease the
performance level of employees. To reduce this, at last billy have adopted the situational
leadership styles and asked every members about the opinions they has in their mind. It can be
said in the last that this leadership is style is ideal for handling different kind of situations.
Appropriate leadership development intervention which could be implemented
Efficient leader is important for every team as their work is to show the right path and
strategies which are based on the available resources they already has. But before implementing
or suggesting any new leadership style in the team there are few points which should be
considered by the management as well as leader which is mentioned below,
 Real problem: Leader and management wont be of no use if they does not have idea
about the real problem they are suffering (Hallinger and Wang, 2015). In the movie, Billy
and Steve knows the real problem they were facing at that time i.e., lack of money to buy
famous players, replacement of start players who have left the team for money. For
instance, in the movie Scouts of A were forcing Billy to replaced Johnny Damon from the
team so that they can score better in the match. But billy knew that this isn't the problem,
his overall aim is to win the game instead of buying the players so that they can win for
their team.
 Solve critical situations: Leader efficiency will be test at the time where they have to
solve the problem which can not be resolve by some other person. In the movie, Billy
goes to Steve for asking some money so that they can buy famous players for them but he
bluntly said no because Steve does not have any money at all. So if Billy have left the
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situations unresolved then the movie might have ended at that time only. But he fought
with the situations by find different way of solving the issue and i.e., by using
mathematics to win the game of baseball.
 Stay away from past: It should be important for leader and manager to forget the
decision they have taken in the past as it makes the person conscious regarding the future
decision which makes it more dangerous in context of profitability (Frich and et. al.,
2015). For instance, Billy was never been successful in league he played for the A team
and due to this it enhance the angry intensity of the billy. He does not even goes to watch
any game of baseball in the ground because of his past dissatisfaction performance.
So after mentioning the arguments over effective leadership style, Billy Beane should opt
situational leadership style in which individual change their way of leading the team according to
the situations they are facing in the present. For instance, if in the future billy is planning to bring
changes in their team then they should opt participative and supportive leadership style in which
Billy will continuously motivate them with the aim of removing resistance to change within
them. Apart from Billy, Steve should opt transformational leadership style in which his focus is
to internally change the behaviour of people so that they can adopt every change team is going to
implement.
Mentoring
Mentoring is defined as the leadership style in which senior and well experienced staffs
are required to guide their subordinates that how any of the work is required to be done. It is very
effective for any of the organisation because it helps to achieve the target of an organisation.
This is the process which helps to improve the performance of an every individual(Mentoring:
Meaning, Definition, Characteristics and Importance, 2018). In context of the movie, it would
have been very effective because it will accurately tell them that how their players are
performing and how they can improve in future.
Coaching
Coaching is the process in which main aim is to improve the performance and focus of
any of the individual. The person who gives training under this process should be expertise in
there field. It helps individual or any of the person to achieve their target which they wants to
achieve (What is Coaching? 2018). While talking about the movie, it can be clearly understood
that coaching could have been very effective for their players to enhance their performance.
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CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned information it can be concluded that leadership is an essential
part of the organisation which plays their important part in the success of it. Efficient leader will
be one who will motivate the employees to work harder by eliminating their resistance to change
factors as then only they can perform with their highest productivity. But without management
leader can not be that effective as it assist them by maximizing their utilisation of available
resources. Management work is to keep the activities done by employees according to the
mission of the vision as then only competitive advantage would be attain by them in a
competitive market.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Baron, L. and Parent, É., 2015. Developing authentic leadership within a training context: Three
phenomena supporting the individual development process. Journal of Leadership &
Organizational Studies.22(1). pp.37-53.
Crossan, M., Seijts, G. and Gandz, J., 2015. Developing leadership character. Routledge.
Frich and et. al., 2015. Leadership development programs for physicians: a systematic review.
Journal of general internal medicine.30(5). pp.656-674.
Hallinger, P. and Wang, W.C., 2015. Assessing instructional leadership with the principal
instructional management rating scale. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer.
Hawkins, P., 2017. Leadership team coaching: Developing collective transformational
leadership. Kogan Page Publishers.
Jiang, K., Chuang, C. H. and Chiao, Y. C., 2015. Developing collective customer knowledge and
service climate: The interaction between service-oriented high-performance work
systems and service leadership. Journal of Applied Psychology.100(4). p.1089.
Lawton, A. and Páez, I., 2015. Developing a framework for ethical leadership. Journal of
Business Ethics.130(3). pp.639-649.
Mintzberg, H., 2017. Developing theory about the development of theory. In Handbook of
Middle Management Strategy Process Research. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Paliszkiewicz, J., Gołuchowski, J. and Koohang, A., 2015. Leadership, trust, and knowledge
management in relation to organizational performance: Developing an
instrument. Online Journal of Applied Knowledge Management.3(2). pp.19-35.
Pardey, D., 2016. Introducing leadership. Routledge.
Renz, D. O., 2016. The Jossey-Bass handbook of nonprofit leadership and management. John
Wiley & Sons.
Thorpe, R., 2016. Gower handbook of leadership and management development. CRC Press.
Vohra, N., Rathi, N. and Bhatnagar, D., 2015. Developing leadership skills among EMBA
students: Innovations in design. Vikalpa. 40(1). pp.15-27.
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