(6) References

Nancy, Langton, and Stephen, P. Robbins. Fundamental of Organizational Behaviour. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2007.

Paul, Doherty. “Do we need to be more innovative?” Innovation in the global economy. 2006. <http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:rRvx0ys5gKQJ:www.igloo.org/innovationglobaleconomy+innovation+gretzky&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=7&gl=ca>

Mary, Ormsby. “Gretzky plugs electric hockey skates”. Toronto Sports. 2007. <http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/260714>

Fran, Berman. “On perfect storms, competitiveness, and the Gretzky rules”. The Coming Era of Low Power, High-Performance Computing — Trends, Promises, and Challenges. 2005. <http://www.ctwatch.org/quarterly/articles/2005/08/on-perfect-storms-competitiveness-and-the-gretzky-rule/2/>

(1) Background

Wayne Douglas Gretzky, nicknamed 'The Great One”, was born Jan, 26/1961 in Brantford, Ontario. Born to parents Walter and Phyllis Gretzky, he was their first child and became big brother to Kim, Keith, Glen and Brent. The home rink in Brantford, Ontario where Wayne first started to learn to play hockey was called "Wally's Coliseum".

In his first NHL season, 1979-80, Gretzky was awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy as the League's Most Valuable Player (the first of eight in a row) and tied for the scoring lead with Marcel Dionne with 137 points. Gretzky first played in the official NHL for the Edmonton Oilers from 1979 to 1988. During this time he scored 583 goals for the team. Wayne played for the Los Angeles Kings from 1988-1996. In 1993 he led the Kings team all the way to the Stanley Cup final, where they lost to the Montreal Canadians’. In 1994, Gretzky went on to break Gordie Howe's record of most goals scored when he notched his 802nd NHL regular season goal. Wayne then was drafter to the St. Louis Blues for an exchange of Craig Johnson, Roman Vopat, Patrice Tardiff and two draft picks, only to play for the 1996-1997 season. Nearing to the end of his playing career, Gretzky was drafted to the New York Rangers for the time from 1997-1999 as an unrestricted free agent. On April 18, 1999, Wayne Gretzky retired from the NHL. Upon his retirement, he held or shared 61 National Hockey League records. These records include 40 regular season, 15 playoff, and 6 All-star records.

He met American actress Janet Jones in 1984 when he was a judge on the show "Dance Fever" and she was a dancer, but they didn't begin dating until 1987. Their July 17, 1988 nuptials at St. Joseph's Basilica in Edmonton was dubbed "The Royal Wedding" by the press and broadcast live throughout Canada. "Guards" from the Edmonton Fire Department stood on the church steps. The event reportedly cost Gretzky over $1,000,000; Janet's dress alone cost $40,000. They have 5 children: Paulina, Ty, Trevor, Tristan, and Emma.

Gretzky participated in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Expectations were high of the Canadian team, but without the presence of Mario Lemieux (with whom Gretzky did well with in the 1987 Canada Cup) and several other star Canadians due to injury, the team lost to Finland for the bronze medal. Many also tribute the loss of the gold medal to Canada's coach Marc Crawford's decision to use a defenseman, Ray Bourque, and not Gretzky in the shoot-out against Dominik Hasek.

Since 2005, Gretzky has been coach and part owner of the Phoenix Coyotes. Briefly, the Coyotes are a professional ice hokey team based in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). Here are some states of the Coyotes, before and after Wayne Gretzky was the coach.

(4) Leadership

It is pretty safe to say that most people consider Wayne Gretzky to be a leader, but why? Because it just seems natural to think of him as one? Is it because he was the greatest of his time and led his Oilers to three Stanley Cups in five years while shattering almost every point and goal scoring record in the NHL? Yes, those are good reasons, but what makes him a great leader?

There is something about the type of people that seem to always emerge as leaders in society today that makes them different. Studies show that when the personality of leaders are analyzed around the big five personality traits, that the most important trait was extraversion. (Langton, 259) This however does not guarantee that a leader will succeed; they are just more likely to emerge as one. EI or emotional intelligence on the other hand has more to do with the future success of a given leader. The five components of EI, which are self-awareness, self-management, self-motivation, empathy, and social skills, can be a better sign of a good leader. Based on researcher’s findings, personality traits can help to predict the emergence of a leader, but cannot predict whether or not that leader will be successful in getting their group to achieve its goals. (Langton, 259)

In 2002 when Gretzky took the pressure off of his team he demonstrated the Fiedler Contingency Model very well. The situation allowed him to take control of the situation, and he did. Gretzky used his position power to take pressure off his hockey team and let them do their job, which was to win the gold medal. On the leadership grid Gretzky was right where he should have been, 9 out of 9. He had a great concern for his players, while at the same time keeping the ultimate goal of his team in mind.

Gretzky also demonstrated a great deal of charismatic leadership in the 2002 Olympics games. By standing up for his team when nobody else would, he empowered them to keep pushing toward their goal, which was eventually accomplished. He did not settle for the status quo. Gretzky could be compared to Steve Jobs in this situation. With Apple doing poorly in 2006 they brought Jobs back because they knew his success in the past, and it worked again. His charismatic leadership style turned the company around and changed the face of Apple.

Over the years it has been easy to see that Wayne Gretzky has been a great leader. By looking at just a few of the reasons for his success, and the success of others, it is clearly seen that leadership does not happen by chance. Leadership can be predicted when certain traits are found in people, although it does no guarantee their success as a leader.

(5) Situation

Wayne Gretzky was the executive director for Team Canada at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. He headed up the selection committee who was responsible for picking the best players to represent Team Canada. Gretzky had a vision for this team, and that vision was to win gold, anything less would be a disappointment. Team Canada had not won a gold medal at the Olympic Games for fifty years. Canadian hockey fans wanted a win badly. Gretzky made this known to the players he selected. This challenge of putting Canadian hockey back on top created much enthusiasm with the players, especially when the NHL’s all-time point leader, Wayne Gretzky, is personally calling you to let you know that you are going to be a part of Team Canada.

Gretzky became a very important part of Team Canada’s success once they entered the tournament. Team Canada started the tournament of with a very poor start of one win, one loss and one tie during the round robin. In the last game of the round robin against the Czech Republic an incident occurred where Gretzky saw an opportunity to pounce. With little time left in the game a Czech defensemen dished out a brutal cross-check to Theoren Fleury. Following the game Gretzky held a press conference with the media and made a big deal out of it. He was frustrated that there wasn’t a major penalty handed out and the fact that it was a European player that did it, because had it been a Canadian, the reports in the papers the following day would say how Canadians were dirty hockey players. This was the spring board to the rest of Gretzky’s rant. He continued along making claims of a media conspiracy against Canadian hockey and an international dislike for Canadian hockey. He painted the picture that everyone in the world wanted Canada to lose except for Canadians. After Wayne’s tirade, the world’s attention had shifted its focus to him and completely away from his team and players. During this time, Team Canada was able to come together as a unit and refocus on the task at hand and not what everyone else was thinking. They went on to win the gold medal.

Wayne Gretzky stepped up to the plate when his country needed him. He was able diffuse the conflict surrounding Team Canada and let them focus on what they had to do. His leadership in this situation is undeniable and it’s obvious that the coaching staff and players responded.

(3) Diffuse Conflict

Conflict, defined in Fundamentals of Organizational Behavior by Nancy Langton and Stephen P. Roberts, is a process that begins when one party perceives that another party has negatively affected, or is about to negatively affect, something that the first party cares about. Gretzky has stood out because he takes it upon himself to relieve conflict from his team members and diffuse it. It allows for his teammates, players, and coaches to focus on the game and better prepare for the next challenge. This is how he diffuses conflict, both as a player and a coach. Through years of conflict as a player, Gretzky has expanded his borders and understanding of the game of hockey by becoming a coach. He brings with him years of experience and understanding into how successful teams should be operated because he was a player for the Edmonton Oilers in the 1980’s.

As a coach, Gretzky is in a constant state of conflict resolution and is working towards relieving conflict between the press and players; so that they can focus on they job. Gretzky likes to develop multiple alternatives and set the common goals for his players, so he can solve the problem. He has maintained the balanced power structured during conflicts which made him a model for other coaches and players. Gretzky has always resolved his team issues without forcing consensus. Through the development of himself as an individual and a professional hockey player, Wayne Gretzky has acquired all the skills and abilities to handle conflicts as a coach.

(2) Innovation

Fundamentals of Organizational Behavior by Nancy Langton and Stephen P. Roberts defines innovation as a degree to which employees are encouraged to be innovative and take risks. The organizational behavior is innovation-oriented when an employee contributes to improvements, developments or unique creations at an individual, team or organization level, and as a result encouraged, recognized and rewarded for their effort. Gretzky won four Stanley Cup championships and three Canada Cup tournament titles during his career as a player. Gretzky’s constant re-innovation of the game of hockey and how the press should be dealt with is a refreshing and admirable quality.

Gretzky is a frontrunner in the NHL, bringing out new concepts and ideas that label him an innovator. Recently, Gretzky has developed a new, battery-warmed skate that melts ice to give its wearer more speed with less work and overall, a better hockey experience.

His love of the game of hockey, Gretzky has transcended himself into an innovator and has made himself the idol of many players and coaches in how he performs as a professional. He is constantly innovating the game of hockey long after being retired as a player and will be for many years to come.