Project Management and the New York Yankees
This is an essay/research paper written about Project Management in business as it relates to the Yankees. The author, Tina, was given an A, so I don’t want to hear any complaints from you Yankee fans. Though this seems similar to my previous arguments about whey the Yankees have failed to win the world series, the paper was written completely separately, which further proves how accurate these arguments are. Enjoy!
“Project Management is a process that spans the full life cycle of a project from inception to completion. It’s cornerstone tenets are planning, execution, and control of all resources, tasks and activities necessary to complete a project. Project management is not an isolated activity, but rather a team effort. In the end, project management is about people and process – how work is being performed. The four ‘P”s of project management are: People performing perfect process.
Most team efforts fail because members are not committed to winning. Why are the Yankees the Yankees? Because they have an expectation of winning, not losing. And they have a repeatable process that mitigates failure.”1
Since the 1920’s the Yankees have become the most successful sports franchise in history because of the way they manage their talent and their organization. The have a business plan in effect with the common goal shared by all to be winning. Their business plan can be broken down into three simple parts: Creating a solid farm system, pursuing and obtaining the most talented players, and creating a culture that demands excellence. This business plan can explain their success of 26 World Champions, but a breach in the business plan can also explain their current sub par performances and their failure to win the World Series in the past six years.
George Steinbrenner bought into the ownership of the New York Yankees in 1973. In that time the ball club has won 6 World Series. Joe Torre took on the role of Manager in 1995 and has coached the team to 4 World Series and 11 straight playoff appearances. Brian Cashman came on board in 1998 and has had a big role in the success of the ball club, but also in its demise.
Holding true to the business plan of fostering a strong farm league to provide the players of tomorrow for the Yankees was very evident in the early 1990’s. The Yankees won 4 championships in 5 years and everyone predicted there would be more. They had their standout ace Derek Jeter, who was the pride and joy of the farm league and broke out in 1995, and helped lead them to their first championship under new management in 1996. They also had Jorge Posada to anchor the team behind the plate. These 2 players would soon become household names and legends in the city. The championship team of 1998 had 13 players on the team whom had come up from the minor league system, and they also had retained 20 players on their roster from the previous year. These two ingredients showcased a team that had a lot of time invested in the culture of the ball club, which was one that demanded excellence.
The championship team of 1999 had a roster containing 12 farm league products and had retained 25 players from the previous year’s roster. These factors also led the Yankees to a World Series title, which would result in a repeat the following year as well. The 2000 team held 13 farm league products and 23 players from the 1999 team. This would be the last team to hold the core values set in place by the project managers, also knows as Brian Cashman and George Steinbrenner.
After the 2000 season the Yankees began to make big changes, a season in which they also topped a payroll of $100 million for the first time. Their heads got too big for themselves and they abandoned the Yankee code. They began to get hungry for every big player out there and would do anything in their power to get them. Big names began to float around like Roger Clemens and Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees became determined. If their gigantic bank book weren’t enough to get the Ace then they would offer their highly touted farm players in trade deals. “Their aspiration to win it all would always remain paramount, but the Yankees continued to set themselves up for joyless seasons and their own definition of failure by thinking they should win the World Series every year.”2
Another problem they faced was giving too many long term contracts to their players that were in the decline of their career. Brian Cashman was also doing a very poor job during the winter months and the club ended up with some pretty uninspired draft picks.3 This resulted in fielding a team in 2004 with just 7 farm league products and a mere 15 player carry-over from the year before. Their payroll topped all charts at $184 Million and no end seemed to be in sight. It was also the year that their Arch Nemesis the Boston Red Sox won the World Series and they failed to win the pennant for the just the third time in 11 years. Their new Ace and promised Mega Million Super Hero enjoyed sitting at home watching the World Series that year.
In 2005 the Yankees were rated to have one of the five worst farm systems in the game. The years of hard work on and off the field were withering before them. There was tension within the management and Joe Torre was on the brink of being fired since the team continued to not produce a championship for the city. There were problems on the field between the players and big names were being traded away. The payroll was at an all time high (yet again) and the team ethics were out the window. The group of people working together to achieve a common goal was replaced by one superstar believing they were better than the next and everyone looking to up their market value. It was no longer the desire of every player to long to play for the championship team since there were no more championships.
The Yankees failed in many aspects, and in those greater than just on the field. Their managers abandoned the business plan and shipped out their farm league players. The managers did nothing to promote good relations between players and the results were obvious; teammates hating teammates and coaches being put on the chopping block. There was no longer the confident swagger at the beginning of the season, and although the offense would continue to be dominant, the team would not succeed since the core values had vanished. These factors, combined with just the overall attitude and behavior of the Yankees and their fans, make it completely evident to me of just why the Yankees Suck!
Bibliography
- http://www.softwaremag.com/L.cfm?doc=archive/1999dec/Success.html
- http://www.waswatching.com/archives/2007/03/verducci_yanks.html
- http://proxy.espn.go.com/mlb/hotstove06/columns/story?columnist=law_keith&id=2742549
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