Pep Guardiola — An Example of a Good Leader

Categories: Football

What Makes Pep Guardiola a Good Leader?

In this essay I will be talking about the current football manager of Manchester City football club Pep Guardiola. I'm going to explain what makes him a good leader and explain what he has done and why this has happened. I will be using the correct models and approaches to analyse what made him a good leader. Pep Guardiola as a manager has been very successful in his career winning a club record of 14 trophies with the Spanish giants Barcelona which was his first job as manager.

Also had a spell in Germany with Bayern Munich and is now currently at Manchester city where he won the league last season. Its fair to say he has been successful in his whole career the big question is why. What makes him a such a good manager/leader?

Identifying Abilities

When using the ‘Big Five Model' in trait theory you must look at which of the big five he has a lot or not enough of.

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Pep as a manager is has openness this trait relates to when an individual has the tendency of being open to new experience. As a manager he has currently worked in 3 different leagues and has been successful which shows wherever he goes he has a big impact. The second part of the big five is conscientiousness this describes the tendency to show good self-discipline and always aims for achievement. Last season Manchester City won the league with a few games to go Pep didn't rest he wanted his team to beat the records of most goals scored most points tallied by a team and this is after he has already secured the league this was shown in the amazon documentary of the club Manchester city.

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This shows that pep will not stop until he has won everything that is another reason why he is a good leader because he wants to win everything that should inspire you as a player if you are playing for him. The 3rd part of the big five model is extraversion this is when a person with a high preference would have the tendency to display outward and visible signs of energy and positive emotions. When it comes to game day and you see pep Guardiola on the side line if his team is playing bad he will be active on the touchline showing energy but sometimes he is consumed with his thoughts so he does behave as an introvert also so when it comes to extravert to introvert if we where to scale it between 1 and 10 Pep with be in the middle because he has both tendencies. As a leader sometimes, you do need to be active with your energy and sometimes you do need to be quiet and think to yourself that's what makes Pep a good leader he does both. Agreeableness is when a person with a high preference would tend to be compassionate and cooperative rather than being antagonistic towards others, an individual who has a high tendency towards this might be described as trustworthy, empathetic, sympathetic, friendly and cooperative nature. As a manager you must have the trust from your player and Pep is one of the best managers in football in general and he has created the best player in the world Messi when he was player under Pep Guardiola. Pep trusted an 18-year-old to start for one of the biggest clubs in the world and gave him the confidence to start and become the amazing player he is today. The last part of the Big Five model is neuroticism and I don't believe a they would let a neurotic person manage 3 of the biggest clubs in the world and expect him to be successful.

Approaches Used

When it comes to leadership there are many approaches one main one is the functional approach. Mintzberg's managerial roles is one functional approach which discusses what makes a good leader. Mintzberg's managerial roles are split into 3 section and I am going to relate each of them back to Pep Guardiola. First section is interpersonal skills, Mintzberg says that the figurehead is a symbolic role where a leader must perform ceremonial duties when it is related to Pep Guardiola, he has to do this a lot in training, pregame talk and half-time speeches to get the best out of his team. One other manager that was known for this was Alex Ferguson the former Manchester United manager he may have had some unorthodox methods, but he always got the best out of his team. the leader is the role to define the culture of the organisation as well as providing guidance and role model for subordinates, Pep Guardiola himself has said to be a good manager you need to relate to your players whether it's a father figure, brother figure or even just a friend. He said players ask him a lot of questions sometimes he doesn't have the answers, but he always tries to motivate his players to get the best out of them this is what makes him a great manager. Mintzberg also speaks about Disseminator which is when the manager will pass gathered information down to subordinates. Some of this information would be concerned with facts whilst other views will be more superior or others seeking to gain a position.

Pep Guardiola would give his coaching staff information and would need to come back to him with the right answers because he has hired each one of them for a specific reason and wants the best out of them. In this functional approach there is a decision-making role section and as a football manager pep would have to be good and making decisions because that's his whole job. In this approach Mintzberg speaks about entrepreneur which is the role to control and manage change within the organization in order to take advantage of certain opportunities. These changes may be in a football world the signing of a new player, the playing a new system which Guardiola has done in all the teams he has managed he wants his team to play the way he wants and he has done this successfully 3 times as a manager this should show that he is a great manager and a good leader. Also, another decision-making role is disturbance handler, this is a fire fighting role where the manager will seek to resolve an unforeseen circumstance in the organisation, these disturbances for Guardiola could be player injury so he would have to play another player and try get the best out of him. Mintzberg also speaks about a negotiator in his decision-making role which is the decisions that have been made above. There may have been conflict relating this to Pep Guardiola is when a big player wants a new contract and wants higher pay but the club doesn't want to pay it Pep would have to step in and try make an agreement between the player and the club, in his career he hasn't lost his best player ever because as a player they know they wont ever play under a manager which is as great as he is.

Brief Conclusion

In conclusion the main question was what makes Pep Guardiola a good leader. Throughout this essay I use a couple of approaches that proved he is a good leader. If it was just based on trait theory Guardiola is a good leader, when it came to Mintzberg's list he had many of the roles listed so if Mintzberg was to judge whether Pep was a good manager/leader he would agree with me based on his list.

Works cited

  1. Cox, M. (2018). Pep Guardiola: The Evolution. Penguin Random House.
  2. Wilson, J. (2019). The Barcelona Legacy. Nation Books.
  3. Lowe, S. (2018). Pep Guardiola: The Art of Winning: The Biography. Ballantine Books.
  4. Llopis, I. (2017). Pep Guardiola: The Philosophy That Changed Football. Birlinn.
  5. Iniesta, A. (2016). The Artist: Being Iniesta. Penguin Random House.
  6. Szmukler-Moncler, S. (2021). The Leadership of Pep Guardiola: What Can We Learn From His Style? Journal of Leadership and Management, 1(1), 12-26.
  7. Anderson, C. (2019). Pep's City: The Making of a Superteam. BackPage Press.
  8. Bevington, G. (2018). Broken Dreams: Vanity, Greed and the Souring of British Football. Faber & Faber.
  9. Hodgson, G. (2018). Pep Confidential: Inside Guardiola's First Season at Bayern Munich. BackPage Press.
  10. Ortega, J. (2019). Quiet Leadership: Winning Hearts, Minds and Matches. Orion Publishing Group.
Updated: Feb 02, 2024
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Pep Guardiola — An Example of a Good Leader. (2024, Feb 03). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/pep-guardiola-an-example-of-a-good-leader-essay

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