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1. Coach Carter: The Change Agent
Change Management: The Ken Carter Way
How to bring about change in the most unlikely of situations? Ask Coach Carter. In the
movie titled Coach Carter, Samuel L. Jackson plays the role of Coach Carter. Carter
successfully ran a sports goods store in the neighbourhood of Richmond. He was an alumnus
of Richmond High School where he was a star basket ball player during the 1970s. However,
when Carter was offered the job, he was disappointed to learn that the basketball team of
Richmond High was poor at the sport and was quite indisciplined. Carter accepted the job of
coaching the team with a vision of ensuring a good future for the players through the
medium of basketball. In keeping with his vision, he made it mandatory for the players to
sign a contract if they wanted to be a part of the team. Among others, the contract required
the players to show a minimum stipulated academic performance. When the players failed to
do well academically, Carter locked the gym and debarred the players from playing despite
their good performance in the basketball tournaments.
In the neighbourhood of Richmond, the youth were prone to violence. The culture of going
to Junior College after schooling was not quite popular there. Carter envisaged that a
combination of good basketball and academic performance could help the boys win college
scholarships. With this strategy, Carter wanted to effect change in a small group of people –
the basketball players of Richmond High School.
However, his proposals were not acceptable to any body. Especially after the lockout, there
was widespread resentment from the players, the teachers, the parents and the local populace
of Richmond and everything was captured by the media.
However, Carter did not give up and he stuck to his stand. The turn of events was such that
the lockout ended and Carter decided to quit as the coach of the basketball team of
Richmond High School. However, Carter had been able to change the mindset of the
students. They comprehended his vision and went all out to achieve what Carter had
envisaged for them.
While the movie ended on a happy note, the strategies of Carter were debatable. In an effort
to bring out change, Carter used extreme measures such as rigorous punishments, a strict
code of conduct and ultimately the lockout.
© IBSCDC, 2010
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2. Coach Carter: The Change Agent
From the perspective of business, can such extreme measures be used to bring out change in
teams, departments or even organisations? May be yes and may be no. Carter must have used
extreme measures because his task seemed to be herculean. Going by the state of the basket
ball team of Richmond High School, may be Carter knew that change would be impossible
without the use of extreme measures. Also, he was quite passionate about his vision.
Thus, if a team, a department or an organisation is confronted with a situation similar to the
one depicted in the movie, extreme measures to effect change are justifiable. However, how
to effect change shall depend on several other aspects as well. These include the personality
of the leader or the change agent, the relationship between the leader and his team, the
organisational culture, etc.
Nevertheless, the strategies and tactics of Carter in effecting change speak oodles about his
qualities as a leader. Not only did Carter coach the players, he even counselled them
individually and proved to be their mentor. Despite the lockout being ended against his
wishes, Carter ultimately proved to be an efficient change agent as he was able to achieve his
vision of transforming the lives of a small group of young men through the medium of
basketball.
Vandana Jayakumar
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