Sir Alex Ferguson: A Key Management Thinker

This paper explores the life and career of Sir Alex Ferguson, a key management thinker known for his successful tenure as the manager of Manchester United. It examines his leadership style and how it relates to modern organizational management, including the importance of self-confidence, communication skills, and team development.

Individual written project
on a key management
thinker

Contents
Contents...........................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Brief information about life as well as career of Sir Alex Ferguson...........................................1
Exploring important work done by Sir Alex Ferguson while managing Manchester United.....2
Relation of concepts given by management thinker with modern organisation’s working........3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
Management theories can be understood as concepts which are surrounded by varied
strategies in an effective manner (Ardelt, Ferrari and Shi, 2020). It also encompasses of varied
tools as well as framework which can be implemented in modern establishments in a strategic
manner. It aids organisations in focusing, communicating as well as evolving their management
and leadership theories for attaining organisational goals. Varied academic as well as non-
academic authors have given their thoughts on management and its varied aspects. One of the
non-academic thinker is Sir Alex Ferguson who is known for handling Manchester United from
the year of 1986 to 2013. Sir Alex had also won varied trophies for managing Manchester
United.
Brief information about life as well as career of Sir Alex Ferguson
Alexander Chapman Ferguson is the full name of Sir Alex Ferguson who was born in
1941 in a district of Glasgow. Sir Alex had begun their football career with a club named
Harmony Row Boys in the city of Govan. Alex ‘s career began as an amateur at Queen‘s Park
when he was 16 and made his debut as a striker. After this first attempt, he made 20 goals in his
31 games for Queen’s Park, despite this he could not command a regular place. This made his
move to St. Johnstone in 1960.
Later, Sir Alex Ferguson had joined Rangers for £65,000 which is considered as record
fee among two Scottish clubs. Sir Alex Ferguson has performed very well in his two seasons
with the assigned clubs by scoring six goals in a competition. In his autobiography as well as
interview, Sir Alex Ferguson has stated that at Rangers, he suffered from discrimination due to
his marriage with a catholic. Sir Alex Ferguson had remained with Brockville for four years
where he gained much experiences as well as recognition in an effective manner. At last, he had
finished his career as a player in 1974. Sir Alex Ferguson has played very less international
matches. It has been seen in an article published at BBC where he was identified as best Scottish
player who has not played lots of international matches (Dominici, Del Giudice. and Lombardi,
2017).
In later years, Sir Alex Ferguson was appointed as manager at Old Trafford where he was
worried by fitness as well as drinking habits of players. Later on, he was able to manage their
team to ranked up at 11th place at the season finale.
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Sir Alex’s managerial career has been sighted with glorious highs at the time when he was
chosen as in charge of Scottish team called St. Mirren.
Exploring important work done by Sir Alex Ferguson while managing Manchester United
Sir Alex Ferguson has joined Manchester United in 1986 where he finds an inconsistent
team but he made them to place at highest ranks on chartbusters in an effective manner. When
Sir Alex has joined Manchester United, club was in its dire straits. It had not won any title in any
league for nearly 20 years. They were also facing a threat of relegated in regards with lower
divisions. In next 26 seasons, after joining of Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United won
numerous domestic as well as international trophies which made Manchester United as one of
valuable franchise in sports. Sir Alex willingly wants to instil values in their players in a strategic
manner. Apart from delivering technical skills, Sir Alex wanted to inspire them for doing better
and made them winners. Sir Alex follow tough, aggressive leadership style whereby he remains
loyal with making compliance in regards with ethical standards as well as commitment from
along with towards the players in a strategic manner (Easterby-Smith. and Et. Al., 2021). This
practice has made Sir Alex as a highly regarded coach in front of players which having a hard
character as well as stubborn man.
There are varied things which have made an eventual effect on success of their career such
as vision, delegating responsibilities, being decisive, preparing a right environment and many
more (Iandolo and Et. Al., 2021). Sir Alex Ferguson has been made a perfect role model for
young as well as aspiring players due to his affiliative leadership styles. This has gained by Sir
Alex by creating emotional bonds with their players as well as nurture them to make their
playing characteristics effective. Sir Alex Ferguson has developed a sense of building trust as
well as foster their team to have a sense of belonging. This helps them to boost their morale as
well as improve communication channels among team members in a strategic manner.
In his autobiography, Sir Alex Ferguson has said that for making Manchester United a
conventional football club towards a major business enterprise. Sir Alex has stated that he moved
with the time. He strongly believed in man-management skills which helped him to deal with
global football stars in an effective manner. Sir Alex always treated himself as an employee for
Manchester United as it does not enter into the ownership as well as management matters of
club. Sir Alex also maintain good relations with the media in an effective manner for disgracing
any controversies.
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Relation of concepts given by management thinker with modern organisation’s working
Sir Alex Ferguson is considered as an excellent manager for managing Manchester United
and he also won several accolades while doing this job. It is imperative for leaders to have a self-
confidence on them which help them to exude positive attitude among their team members in an
effective manner (Massa, Tucci and Afuah, 2017). Sir Alex was self –confident as well as has
the right knowledge for running Manchester United in an effective manner. His football
experience also played a significant role in enhancing his management skills in an effective
manner. Sir Alex has return back the trust of directors of Manchester United by leading them and
made them won numerous matches in a line. In regards with Morrisons, managers should lead
their team with self-confidence which help them to exude a positive behaviour in team members
in an effective manner.
It is imperative for organisational manages to have a great communication skill which led
them to inspire as well as influence attitude of people for accomplishing desired objectives
(Niknazar and Bourgault, 2017). Managers should be able to make use of their verbal as well as
non-verbal communication and pat attention to body language of their employees for ensuring a
right message to them in an effective manner. Sir Alex is considered as a great communicator by
making his team players to focus on achieving objectives in an effective manner. For example,
Sir Alex motivate their team players between breaks by making them remember about the
winning cup as well as their position as a winning team. This practice of connecting with the
players led them to win several matches in a strategic manner. This can also be used in
Morrisons whereby organisational managers can motivate the employees for accepting
technological changes in a strategic manner.
Team development as well as high standards are required to be addressed by the
organisational managers in an exponential manner (Sankar, 2021). Sir Alex also encouraged their
players in regards with physical as well as mental aspect in an effective manner. Sir Alex
strongly believes in prioritizing team development, emphasizing attacking footballs as well as
bringing best out of the platers in a strategic manner. In context to Morrisons, managers can also
provide on-the-job training for increasing job satisfaction as well as employee’s morale. This
practice can motivate employees in enhancing their productivity in an effective manner. This will
also help managers in making the employees accountable for their operations in a significant
manner. Sir Alex has set high standards as well as used his creativity for telling inspirational
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stories to their team members for making them motivated in an effective manner. Sir Alex
always tries to strive their team in an effective manner with their managerial skills. Sir Alex
emphasizes on making close relations with team members in order to provide them motivation as
well as inspire them in a positive manner.
CONCLUSION
From the above information, it has been concluded that it is imperative for mentors or
coaches to enhance their follower’s performance in an effective manner. For doing this, they
have to adopt varied leadership styles which help to make enhancement in their responsibilities
in an effective manner. Sir Alex has made a significant contribution in enhancing the
performance of their team players at Manchester United. Sir Alex has used his managerial skills
as well as leadership styles for increasing the ranking of Manchester United in a strategic
manner. Being a tough coach help them to enhance productive skills of their team members. Sir
Alex also has been a great motivator as well as communicator which influence their team players
in a strategic manner.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Ardelt, M., Ferrari, M. and Shi, W., 2020. Implicit wisdom theories from around the world and
their implications for wise business and management. Handbook of Practical Wisdom in
Business and Management, pp.1-30.
Dominici, G., Del Giudice, M. and Lombardi, R. eds., 2017. Governing business systems:
Theories and challenges for systems thinking in practice. Springer.
Easterby-Smith, M. and Et. Al., 2021. Management and business research. Sage.
Iandolo, F. and Et. Al., 2021. Drilling down the viable system theories in business, management
and accounting: a bibliometric review. Systems Research and Behavioral Science. 38(6).
pp.738-755.
Massa, L., Tucci, C.L. and Afuah, A., 2017. A critical assessment of business model
research. Academy of Management Annals. 11(1). pp.73-104.
Niknazar, P. and Bourgault, M., 2017. Theories for classification vs. classification as theory:
Implications of classification and typology for the development of project management
theories. International Journal of Project Management. 35(2). pp.191-203.
Sankar, J.P., 2021. Ethical theories in business: Thirukkural perspective. International Journal of
Business Management. 24(3). pp.404-421.
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