Sr. No. Particulars Page No.

1 INTRODUCTION
2 BACKGROUND
3 ANALYSIS
4 STEPS FOR IMPROVEMENT
5 REFERENCES
6 PLAGIARISM REPORT

INTRODUCTION

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Lagaan is a Bollywood movie which throws light on a pre-independence era where Britishers

used to collect taxes from villagers in the form of Lagaan. The movie focused on how common

village people who held diverse thoughts and beliefs were united by a normal youth to come

together as a team, learn a game from scratch and compete to finally win the game against the

pioneers of the game. The movie shows us how a seemingly impossible task can be

accomplished when people unite keeping their differences aside, bank on each other’s strengths

and compensate for each other’s weaknesses. The core issues highlighted in the movie are:

⮚ Low individual motivation level

⮚ Lack of initial team cohesion

⮚ Personal Biases

⮚ Reluctance to go against set social norms

⮚ Lack of trust in each other initially

⮚ Lack of enthusiasm to take initiatives

BACKGROUND

The story takes place in a small village of Champaner in India. It is set in 1893, at the height of

the British Raj. The local British commander of the remote province of Champaner is Capt.

Russell (Paul Blackthorne), a racist streak, who insults the local maharajah to his face and thinks

nothing of whipping a Hindu upstart. He administers "lagaan," which is the annual tax payable to

the maharajah by the farmers, and from him to the British. It's a time of drought and famine, and

farmers are unable to pay.

Here comes Bhuvan (Aamir Khan), a popular youth among his people, who confronts Russell

and finds his weakness: cricket. As a consequence of the confrontation, the captain makes a bet

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of a cricket match. Where if the farmers win, they would be relieved of the lagaan and if the

British’s win the tax would be tripled. When the villagers think that the challenge is impossible

and is dangerous as a triple tax would destroy them, Bhuvan points out that since they cannot pay

the current tax, they have nothing to lose. This we believe is one of the first scenes where

Bhuvan shows his leadership qualities and his ability to influence the other villagers.

It was because of Bhuvan’s observations that a right team was formed. Bhuvan’s observation

helped him identify the talent in a disabled untouchable, Kachra, the sweeper. Bhuvan realized

he could spin the ball magically. Another person, Bhura, the murgiwalaa, had spent his entire life

in chasing running hens. With his quick reflexes, he could easily catch the ball, which nobody

thought of it. The movie highlights several other examples of how Bhuvan shaped his team with

keen observation and formed a team from scratch.

Bhuvan starts to coach them with the help of Elizabeth Russell the captain's sister, who believes

that her brother's deal is unfair. The team although have a common goal of defeating the British,

there are many conflicts due to personal differences. There are many subplots that test the team

cohesion during the main match. It is extremely interesting to watch the team overcomes every

difficulties and difference.

In the movie, for Bhuvan, his support system was mostly his mother and Gauri (Gracy Singh),

another local woman who has believed since her childhood that she is meant to be Bhuvan’s

partner. While the movie focuses on maintaining the effort of holding the audience’s attention, it

also does justice to the underlying issues present in the story and the team.

ANALYSIS

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How does Bhuvan create an effective team? Analyse by applying the Team Effectiveness

Model.

Context

⮚ Adequate resources: In the movie, although the team does not have the right resources

to enter into a match with an experienced team with adequate resources, they do not

complain. They try to make the best out of what they have, as they try to make their own

bats, pads and gloves. This was an important lesson, as we got to learn that we will not

always have the right tools to complete a task, sometimes we just have to work with what

we have and make the best out of it.

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 ⮚ Leadership and structure: Teams cannot function effectively if they can't decide who

holds what position and how work is shared. In the movie, Bhuvan demonstrates that

cricket is not that difficult which inspires people to join the team. He also identifies

individual strengths which he uses to assign roles for individuals in the team. He

understands the game, helps everyone understand it and provides a structure to the team.

He always stayed calm and collective and encouraged his team members to do the same,

although it did not work sometimes. Thus, Bhuvan was able to integrate the individual

skills and build a team which was better than the average member of the team.

⮚ Climate of trust: Trust is the foundational block for any team. It includes the trust of the

members in the leader and in each other. This characteristic was clearly displayed in the

movie. While Bhuvan goes on motivating and recruiting each of his team members, he

instils a feeling of trust in them. In the beginning, this lack of trust is evident in

everyone’s behaviour. When slowly the team learns more about the game and with the

help of Elizabeth, they begin trusting Bhuvan, themselves and in each other. This trust is

also challenged when villagers found out that Lakha was passing on their information to

Russel. Bhuvan still chooses to save his life and give him another chance.

⮚ Performance evaluation and reward system: The greatest and the shared goal of the

villagers was to be free from paying “lagaan” or tax. Each member wanted to achieve this

ultimate reward. But it is clear in the movie how the team celebrates small victories. They

appreciate the effort put in by each member despite it ending in a positive or a negative

note. Considering what was at stake, every little step towards achieving their objective

was worthy of celebration.

Composition

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⮚ Abilities of members: people having complementary skills should be brought together to

form a high-performance team. Bhuvan did a good job in identifying individual skills in

the team members to build his team. This was evident when he saw the talent in the

differently-abled spinner and decided to add him to the team against the wishes of all the

villagers. He also saw the quick reflexes that the hen catcher had and added him to the

team as he would make a good fielder. This helped Bhuvan in forming a good team that

complemented each other’s skills to achieve their objective.

⮚ Allocating role: Bhuvan was a cognizant leader. He could always find the strengths and

weakness in people and have an idea when and where they can be leveraged to achieve

victory. This was evident when he could see that the skills that the differently-abled

spinner had can be used against the opponents. He had also assigned the role to the

youngest person in the team to be the runner as he might have high stamina compared to

the other old players in the team.

⮚ Diversity & Cultural differences: In the movie, Bhuvan is seen to build a diverse team

with members from different ethnic, religious, work and even age background. He is very

astute here as he knows persons from different backgrounds tends to help and contribute

in their own unique way. But in the start, this diversity was causing a lack of cohesion

and personal biases of the members were causing conflict. It is interesting to see how

Bhuvan is able to turn this Diversity into his strength.

⮚ Size of team: Bhuvan’s team consisted of 11/12 members each member has his role

clearly defined in the team and since the size of the team was not too big, he was able to

communicate effectively to each member and motivate them through his words.

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 ⮚ Member preferences: At the start of the movie see different people having different

preferences. Some not willing to co-operate with each other when their thought processes

didn’t match, for example when Bhuvan allows Kachra to join the team due to kachra

being backward caste people were unwilling to work with him. This was caused due to

their personal biases and their fear to go against the social norms. But eventually, Bhuvan

was able to convince everyone and show that Kachra had his talent. Due to this Kachra

proved to be an important asset during the final match.

Process

⮚ Common purpose: All the villagers resonated with one clear goal: to not pay taxes for 3

years. For this, they understood that they had a cricket match to win and if they lost they

will have to pay triple the taxes which they had no means of doing. This common

purpose is what binds the whole village together.

⮚ Specific goals: In case of Bhuvan, he not only dreamt about their goals but also put in

place a clear strategy/ short term goals, to make that dream a reality. When the villagers

were scared that they did not know anything about the sport he instilled confidence in

them by pointing out that it was similar to Gilli-danda. He had the ability to translate the

huge task in front of them into small subtasks which the team members can carry out, as a

result, each member gained confidence and believed that they can beat the British in a

game of cricket which led them to their success.

⮚ Team Efficacy: Bhuvan kept motivating his team members at every stage, he did not let

them doubt themselves and made them believe that they can win. This can be seen

throughout the movie how he instils confidence in each member and thus the whole

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 village. The team believed they could succeed even when all the odds were against them

and finally, they did.

⮚ Team Identity: Team identity is about each members affinity for and sense of

belongingness to his or her team. Each of Bhuvan’s teammates was appreciated for

his/her specific skills and abilities. And understand that they belong to the team and were

united by a common cause.

⮚ Team Cohesion: The emotional attachment of each team member towards each other is

very evident in the final match. Every member shows their emotional connection to the

team. This was evident when the differently-abled spinner took a hat-trick and everyone

appreciated him. It was also evident when the young by runner was mankaded as he left

the crease before the bowler released the ball. He comes running towards Bhuvan, hugs

and cries, Bhuvan as a character seems to be the person who can make things right.

⮚ Mental Models: Team member knowledge and belief about how work gets done by

them. If team members have different ideas about how to do things, however, the team

will fight over methods rather than focus on what needs to be done. This was evident in

the movie when Lakha who was perceived to be a good player started missing easy

opportunities, which created tension in the team.

⮚ Conflict Level: there were a few conflicts between the team member. First, there was a

relationship conflict between Goli and Bhura. There was also another conflict with Lakha

where he betrayed his village, this led to some tension temporarily as Bhuvan interferes

to pacify the situation and gives him a second chance when he tries to redeem himself

and proves his loyalty.

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 ⮚ Social Loafing: Social loafing is the tendency for individuals to expend less effort when

working collectively than when working individually. This was one part which was not

present in the Bhuvan’s team. Each member had played his part very well and each was a

pillar on which the whole team played and won. Even Lakha who was not performing

well was not social loafing, rather, he was doing it on purpose.

What similarities and differences do you see between the context of Bhuvan’s team and your

own project team? What learnings from your analysis can be applied to your own team?

⮚ Similar to the movie, our group has a leader who identifies our strengths and weaknesses

and maps our work accordingly to complete our tasks ( ex: in the movie Bhuvan

identifies the spinner's unique skill and leverages his ability to win the match). However,

it took some time for us to figure out our strengths as initially we did not know each other

well and were figuring out ways to work together efficiently. Also, we acknowledge that

every subject requires a specialised approach and so we assign leaders for each project

based on who has prior knowledge in that field. That person acts as a guide for the rest of

us.

⮚ Similar to the movie, our group has a good climate of trust built over time by the

successful completion of tasks. This gives each member the freedom to work on their

own time and comfort to complete the task by reducing the need for constant monitoring.

Everyone is mature enough to handle and fulfil their responsibilities within the stipulated

time.

⮚ Unlike the movie where people identify themselves as higher class people and refuse to

team up with a low-class cripple, no one in our team identified ourselves as a higher class

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 or lower rather we saw each other as equals and hence we never came across any

conflicts based on our cultural differences.

⮚ Similar to the movie where Bhuvan's team plays cricket in an unconventional way, each

member in our group does their work in their own way. We do not try to assimilate each

other in any way and we barely have any norms apart from submitting our work on time.

We believe that as long as our end goals are met, people should be able to carry out their

tasks in a way they are most comfortable in. There is the freedom to innovate which

matters when you work on a project.

⮚ Similar to the movie where no one complains or scolds their team members for not

performing well, we as individual members of the team try to do our tasks to the best of

our ability and do not complain when we don't get good marks for it, rather we try to find

the strengths and weaknesses in individual members and rotate tasks accordingly. We do

give feedback to one another but it is not in a critical or condescending manner. We

respect the fact that every member is valuable and has a lot to contribute to the team.

⮚ Similar to the movie where the whole province comes together as Bhuvan's team wins the

match, we as individual members of the team feel good to identify ourselves as a member

of our team. We have received relatively good marks on several instances which have

also increased our cohesion. And we will continue to give our best to the assignments and

tasks ahead in the next trimester.

⮚ Similar to the movie where no one complains about not having the right resources to win,

even when our group does not have the right resources with respect to the details we were

looking for, we do not complain. Rather we try to make the best out of the resources

available and try to do a good job on the other aspects of the task. Before that, we also

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 ensure that we try to do our own research in order to have the data we need for the

assignment.

STEPS FOR IMPROVEMENT

How can you use learnings from your analysis to improve your team’s performance?

⮚ Since our MBA started in an online mode, we did not have the liberty of meeting each

other in person. As a reason, we bonded for the first time in a video call for a group

project. We believe we should have more virtual meets as it would give us an opportunity

to bond other than work. Also, we must plan to do activities other than college work. We

can have game nights and singing nights to just relax from the stress of a rigorous course.

⮚ Also, we believe we can have study meets before the exam, where we can revise on

concepts together. In this way, we can have a better understanding of our course concepts

also. This will also give us an opportunity to be aware of each other’s strengths and

weaknesses which can form as a great asset in future endeavours.

⮚ According to the above analysis, we also found though we very well play on our

strengths yet we haven’t done anything to lower the scope of each other’s weakness. We

believe a good team is where we can benefit from other members strength to learn new

skills and minimize our weakness. Thus, apart from giving each other feedback, we feel

sharing our paste experiences and knowledge by not only group study periods but also

guiding each other on the road we have ahead. Also, giving them mini-tasks that can help

them overcome their weakness

⮚ We believe we can also be more open to communicate and provide feedback. As we have

not met in person, there are certain aspects of the personalities of the teammates we do

not know. Often, we make a preconceived notion about a person based on certain

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 incidents without knowing the actual personality of the person. As it is a virtual mode, we

have not interacted with them outside of the square tile of a video call. Also, we are

reluctant to share honest feedback. We fear what the other person might think about.

⮚ We must upskill ourselves to deal with an emergency situation. In case of group projects,

it is often possible that one of the members fall sick or have a personal emergency at

home. During those times, where a crucial part of the project is left and we have a time

crunch, we should learn not to panic and instantly take over the left-over portion. Each

person should be well-equipped to deal with such last-minute adjustments.

⮚ We also feel though our team definitely has a good team spirit in regards to our work and

project yet there is a lack of emotional connect among our team. Emotional Foundation

can help a team walk through the path of trust and loyalty smoothly. Taking up the

assignment help us to build professionalism for each other but in addition to it taking up a

stand for each other during classes will help in providing emotional support and forming

a deeper bond.

⮚ We must improve our long-term planning strategy. Instead of preparing goals from

project to project, we must now shift our attention in creating a repository of knowledge

by keeping a collectable of articles, videos and other resources which can be relevant to

the subjects we study. As a result, these resources will form a big asset to our future role

as an HR professional. This will help us plan not only for the present but also for the

future. As every subject is inter-related, the repository we make today can be useful later

as well.

Hence, from our findings, we believe our group if looked from the vantage point of

professionalism, can be rated high yet there are steps and measures that still are to be taken to

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reach the destination of team effectiveness that can help us land to the actual unrealized potential

of our team.

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