Published Online:June 2025
Product Name:The IUP Journal of Effective Executive
Product Type:Article
Product Code:IJEE040625
DOI:10.71329/EffectiveExecutive/2025.28.2.65-70
Author Name:Stephanie Jones
Availability:YES
Subject/Domain:Management
Download Format:PDF
Pages:65-70
This paper profiles the Operations Manager of a new but fast-growing team in the sport of rugby union, based on the Pacific Island of Fiji, which competes against teams from Australia and New Zealand. The club’s management and administration numbers over 50 with around 100 players. The profile is based on a model for understanding the leadership style and drive of specific leaders—“The Eight Questions of Leadership”, devised by the author. The model is based on the motivations to be a leader; if this role requires expert knowledge; if the leader in question tends to lead from the front or behind the scenes; how the leader balances work and private life; if the leader believes in being a team player; if the leader considers it important to be a manager too; why the leader is accepted by the followers, if this is the case; and the nature of the legacy which this particular leader might leave behind. The paper may also be of interest as this Operations Manager being profiled is remarkable as a female in a male-dominated world.
Many leadership roles need passion and being passionate about the job, but none more so than in a sports team, especially when the pride of the whole country is at stake. Here, an example of a leader who illustrates this point has been chosen—the Operations Manager of Fijian Drua, a rising star team in the sport of rugby union, based on the Pacific Island of Fiji. With a population of less than a million, this popular club in Fiji frequently takes on major players from Australia and New Zealand, and often beats them. Over 8,000 turn up for a home game in a city of 70,000 (more than 10% of the city’s population).