MSL501

10-2-2020

Case: Submit at end of day.

Today we explore leadership in the context of trust, betrayal and crises management of a
disaster. We look at a scandal in Australian Cricket 2 years ago and search for lessons relevant
to you and organizations.
Due: End of day.
Points: 10 (5 and 5)

Your report includes:

Part A: (6 points)
1.
You are to create a brief integrated summary of the articles focused on crisis management
included on BlackBoard or MSTeams to create a strategy to help address the disaster. Some
may not be that relevant. You discern.
You can create this in point form, a decision map, or chart or otherwise. It is your project.
(PowerPoints are fine)
2.
1. Briefly summarize the BIG issue. (Consider the implication of a leader cheating and
being caught.)
2. Consider all leadership ideas. Assess Smith’s leadership qualities. As captain, Smith
was the de facto leader of the Australian cricket team. However, what leadership
qualities does he need to develop to be a truly effective leader?
3. Examine Smith’s behaviour in the face of a crisis. What in your view made Smith use
“bad judgement” during a crisis situation?
4. What lessons in leadership during crises can you draw from the ball-tampering scandal?
Part B: (4 points)
3.
Your group is to record a round table discussion focused on ‘when leadership and trust is
betrayed, can it be recovered. How can this crisis facing Australian Cricket and Steve Smith,
the captain/leader of the team be overcome? Can it be overcome? Transferable lessons from
Cricket to work.
You can record using PowerPoint. A strategy for your submission is to use PowerPoint.
 Put your answers to Part 1 & 2 on PowerPoint slides and then add a slide and record
your Part 3.
Upload to MSTeams (Files) (file size)

CASE SYNOPSIS

In March 2018, Steven Smith, the 28-year-old captain of the Australian cricket team, finds
himself facing a controversy termed the Australian ball-tampering scandal, which threatens to
ruin his professional career and casts doubts over his capacity to assume future leadership
positions in the sport. Cricket Australia (CA), formerly known as the Australian Cricket Board,
has found Smith guilty of “planned” foul play involving a deliberate and premeditated attempt
of ball tampering with two of his colleagues in a test match against South Africa in Cape Town.
As penalty for breaching article 2.3.5 of CA’s Code of Conduct,1 CA has suspended Smith from
all international and domestic cricket for 12 months and banned him from any leadership
position in the sport for at least a year thereafter. Even later, however, he is only eligible for
such leadership positions if he is accepted by fans and the public. 2 Reacting to CA’s decision to
send him home, a tearful Smith has admitted to a “failure of leadership” and attributed his
actions to an “error of judgement.”3

However, as Smith plans to enter this phase of “involuntary” retirement from the sport, he
needs to reflect on his own leadership qualities and how leadership in crisis situations should
differ from leadership during normal times. In particular, he must consider what constitutes
leader character and what leadership qualities he needs to acquire. He must also consider
how he can recover from this huge reputational loss and major professional setback.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

This case helps in understanding questions pertaining to leadership, especially during crisis
situations. Such questions include the following: What are the dimensions of leader
character and what is their relevance for effective leadership? What explains “error of
judgement” and “failure of leadership” in a crisis situation? What are the lessons in
leadership that can be drawn from crisis situations? How can leaders/managers recover from
professional setbacks, and what are the barriers to the recovery process? After going
through the case and assignment questions, you will be able to

 understand leader character and the qualities required of a leader;

 identify leadership behaviour in crisis situations;
 describe the barriers to recovery after a career disaster; and
 understand how to successfully navigate career disasters by overcoming barriers to
recovery.