Abstract

This case is about the comeback made by Sourav Ganguly (Ganguly), the former captain of the Indian national cricket team. After taking over as captain of the team in 2000, the charismatic and controversial leader had turned around the fortunes of the team. In 2005, when he was ousted from the team after a public spat with Coach Greg Chappell (Chappell), few expected him to make his comeback into the international arena. However, with the team performing very badly in 2006, and due to his strong performance in domestic matches, Ganguly was brought back in the team. Ganguly had scripted a comeback by displaying grit, determination and never-say-die attitude, which many saw as attributes of a true leader. This case discusses the events during the period when Ganguly was ousted from the team to his subsequent return. Experts felt that even though he was no longer the captain and did not enjoy much support from the coach, Ganguly had very good support among the playing group as he was credited with shaping the careers of many players in the team during his captaincy. However, with the disastrous performance of the team in the 2007 World Cup, many felt that the team had missed the astute leadership of Ganguly. With the rift in the team between the senior members and the coach coming out in the open, Chappell quit as coach. Experts felt that one of the reasons for the World Cup debacle was that Ganguly was a major power center in the team and it was never ideal to have more than one power center in any major set up. The case will help understand various issues in human resource management and organizational behavior and generalizations can be made to the corporate work environment.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand the issues and challenges in leadership and team building / team management
• Understand the theories in leadership (trait theory, etc.)
• Understand and the various concepts of power and politics, group dynamics, conflict management, etc.
• and Appreciate the importance of people skills for a leader / manager.

Keywords

Indian cricket, Ganguly, Chappell, Leadership, Charismatic leader, Pepsi, Emotional advertisement, Team, building, Group dynamics, Personality, Attitude, Power and politics, BCCI, Coaching, People skills, People management, Cricket World Cup