Organizational Behavior: Sir Alex Ferguson, Managing Manchester United - Case Study Example

Organizational Behavior: Sir Alex Ferguson, Managing Manchester United

Organizational Behavior (OB) is the study of people and their behaviors, either individuals or groups and how this knowledge is applied in managing organizations. This paper gives a case study of how Sir Alex Ferguson applied the concept of Organizational Behavior in managing Manchester united between 1986 and 2013 and how he became one of the all-time greatest managers not only in the UK but across the globe (Elberse and Dye 16).

Organizational Behavior (OB) can be divided into three frames which are the human relations theory, scientific management theory and the identity in organizations theory. There are various facts and examples from Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign at Manchester united as discussed in the paper and how they relate to the topic of Organizational Behavior (OB).

Ferguson is also believed to have applied the concept of scientific management while still at Manchester united as a manager and a coach. In his leadership style, Ferguson was always rational, strategic and systematic and this created the base for his successful stay at Manchester United. His interview at the Harvard Business School indicates that he focused on setting up standards for his team. He stated that in his plan, he had three levels of players namely: those aged 30 years and above, those aged between 23 and 30, as well as the younger ones who were coming in and joining the team (Elberse and Dye 5). His idea was that the young players could develop and meet the already set standards by their older counterparts. Ferguson was categorical that his training sessions were based on quality and performance both as an individual player and also as a team. He did not allow any person to lack or lose focus and that it was all about intensity, speed, concentration which culminated to high levels of performance. However, the aspect of scientific management as applied by Ferguson has some limitations. He was very strict with his rules and style of play and this meant that those unable to follow them could leave irrespective of whether they were star or not. A god example is David Beckham whoa was a very talented player under Sir Alex Ferguson but had to leave the club because he did not fit into the system applied by Ferguson. According to many critics, Fergusson was not supposed to allow a player like Beckham to leave but Ferguson stated put and allowed him to leave. This did not affect the team’s performance at all (Elberse and Dye 21).

Another aspect of Organizational Behavior (OB) is the application of human relations theory. During his last decade at Manchester United, Ferguson relaxed his rules and laws form the scientific style of management to the new one, the human relations theory. He accepted the idea that each player was different form each other and that players could be treated differently depending on differences in their motivation. A good example is Cristiano Ronaldo, who was signed by Ferguson as an immature player form Sporting Lisbon in Portugal. Ferguson realized the talent of the player and he surpassed all other great players at United and sometimes could be favored and forgiven even after committing certain mistakes that Ferguson could not tolerate before. Ferguson was much focused on nurturing the talent of the player, rather than forcing him to follow his playing styles and laws. Ferguson understood that Ronaldo was motivated by the fact that he wanted to become the world’s greatest player of all time and he managed him according to his motivation. Currently, Cristiano Ronaldo is a world star though at another club in Spain (Real Madrid). Through this, Ronaldo was able to achieve a lot at Manchester United and was able to score very important goals for the club (Elberse and Dye 12).

The third concept of organizational Behavior (OB) as applied by Sir Alex Ferguson during his reign at Manchester United is the symbolic management. He instilled a winning spirit at the club and ensured that this spirit was part of club’s culture. He was very passionate of ensuring that he instilled good values to his players. Apart from giving them technical skills for the game, he also ensured that he inspired them to strive to do better in life and never to give up irrespective of what stands in between theme and their success. In fact he said that he recruited “bad losers” and demanded that they work extremely hard to defy all odds and emerge as victors. Ferguson also used the same symbolic management to pursue his dream of signing Robin van Persie from Arsenal, which later came to pass. This was the same concept applied by Florentino Perez when he signed Ronaldo from Manchester United (Elberse and Dye 11). The idea that Manchester United has many legends as well as stories in history such as the famous tragedy in 1958 and this has also been creating a strong identity for the payers and the management.

Sir Alex Fergusson retired from managing Manchester united in 2013 and his reign made him the most successful manager in the history of British football(Elberse and Dye 2). Up to today, some people still refer Ferguson as the greatest coach in history. Ferguson was far more than a coach, in fact he was just the same as Steve Jobs of Apple. Ferguson was the manager of not only the first team but also for the entire club. Players, management team, coaching staff among other parties were under the management of Sir Alex Ferguson as the head coach and a manager. Ferguson applied the concept of Organizational Behavior (OB) in managing Manchester United Football Club and the following statistics indicate that Ferguson was indeed a manager who had immense leadership skills other than the coaching skills. Before his retirement in May 2013, Ferguson had spent 26 seasons as the Manchester United manager, the English football club that is ranked among the most successful and valuable franchises in the sport of football across the globe. During that period, Sir Alex Ferguson amassed 13 English premier league titles, with other 25 trophies from other competitions both domestic and international which included FA cups and the champion’s league (Elberse and Dye 16).

There are various instances in Ferguson’s stay at Manchester United that show how he applied the concept of Organizational Behavior (OB). When sir Alex Ferguson arrived at Old Trafford, Manchester United’s main playground, he focused on organizing the club and created a structure that ensure long term success for the club. He modernized the club’s Youth program by establishing two centers of excellence aimed at targeting the best talent as young as 9 years whereby he recruited various competent scouts to undertake such duties. Through Ferguson’s youth program, he was able to develop various stars who rose through the ranks and at the moment, they are renowned Manchester United legends. These were David Beckham, Ryann Giggs, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes (Elberse and Dye 09). These are big names well known across the globe not only by football fans abut also by every other member of the society. These names were as a result of the great leadership of Sir Ales Ferguson who shaped the club’s modern identity since the time when he joined the club, up to now when he is a director of football at the club (Elberse and Dye 22).

Sir Alex Ferguson arrived at Manchester United at a time when the first team was struggling with only one player aged below 24. Ferguson says that he had only one thing in his mind: to build a football club. He planned to build it from the bottom so as to create continuity of supply of players to the first team. This shows that Ferguson organized the organization a new and this clearly shows the he indeed applied the concept of OB in his leadership at Manchester united. He believed that his approach would enable the players to grow up together and help create a bond that in turn creates a working and a winning spirit. Working with a young and inexperienced team can prove to be difficult for football coaches and managers, but Ferguson had the confidence and conviction that he could re-organize and rebuild the team(Elberse and Dye 18).

Ferguson difference from other football managers was seen immediately after he took reigns at Manchester United whereby he decided to work with a young first team (Elberse and Dye 12). 99 percent of newly appointed football managers start by recruiting new and experienced players so as to survive their jobs since the belief is that most club owners and shareholders require titles for the managers to be assured of job security. Football is a results-driven industry, however, Ferguson did not just put that in mind, and instead he defied odds and decided to go for the young and inexperienced players(Elberse and Dye 10). He believed that his style of organizational Behavior was the perfect fit for Manchester United and decided to work for the long-term success of the club. Sir Alex Ferguson stated that he always took pride of seeing the young players develop and grow to become football stars. The job of a manager is to be inspiring and ensure that people get better through this. Ferguson worked to give the amateur players the technical skills required, make them winners both in and out of the field by making them better people in anywhere they go in their lives. He gave the young boys a chance to play for a great club like Manchester United and through this, he gave a longer life span and loyalty to the club, something still applied by the club presently under Louis Van Gaal as the head coach and manager.

At times of great success, Ferguson could also work to rebuild the team and ensure that there are no success loopholes. He is well-known for assembling five winning squads during his reign at Manchester United and still continued to win trophies. This shows that Ferguson was always focused on organizing the team and ensuring that a winning culture was created. His decisions were driven by the situation of his team in the rebuilding cycle as well as the life cycles of the players. In other words, his decisions to retain, promote or sell a player was driven by how much value a certain player could bring to the club at a certain point of time. Managing talents at the club also involved cutting and releasing some players especially those who did not bring any value to the club as well as those who did not agree with Ferguson’ style of play and management. Ferguson is believed to have been fair when dealing with players during his reign at Manchester United including the loyal veterans who had some personal attachments with the manager (Elberse and Dye 5).