Free Essay on Leadership Issues in the Movies

Qualities of a leader

Leadership comes with a lot of responsibility. There are diverse qualities that a leader should possess. Among these qualities are; confidence, transparency, innovation, patience, stoicism in some situations, open-mindedness, personable, persistence and accountability. However, despite having all the above attributes there may arise differences among the leaders which may lead to the rise of many issues.

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Twelve Angry Men is a film production of 1957 which primarily concentrates on a jury's decisions in a murder case. This film majorly highlights several thematic factors that affect leadership such as critical thinking, stereotypical behaviors, argumentation(how to present one's views) and the importance of human life.Based on the movie, twelve angry men(1957), one of the issues that the juror's faced was group inter-dependency. The conclusions derived by the jury at first were based on speculations rather than facts.The 18-year-old Latino boy is allegedly accused of murdering his father since a knife that belonged to him was found at the murder scene. Several witnesses reported having heard screams, witnessed the murder or saw the boy flee the scene.11 jurors voted guilty while only one juror( Juror No.8) cast a not guilty vote.

The claims that the witnesses had could only be hearsay. As the deliberations progress, the story develops into a scrutiny of the Jurors personalities, relations, backgrounds and sentiments.

Opposing views in the group

Most leaders are usually afraid of standing alone and defending their own verdicts. The group vote of being guilty was just a mere conclusion based on the easily observed evidence. While Juror no.8 firmly defended his reasons it stirred the rise of oppositions among the other jurors themselves as they all had different opinions and beliefs. The existence of inter-dependency among the group was vividly exposed. Due to the arising differences among the jurors, it might have elicited impatience, arguments, inflexibility and negative emotions. Mr. Davis, however, managed to build a community through his subtle and tactful manner of approaching each and everyone's opinions, thoughts and ideas, eventually managing to draw a solution in unison. Opposing views are bound to rise in any discussion, the involved parties should be viewed as an opportunity rather than rivalry. If approached sensitively and diplomatically, the presence of varying sentiments among oppositions leads to a better understanding and resolutions. Unfortunately, most leaders want to be right rather than considering the views of their contenders. They move with masses assuming; the larger the crowd in support, the stronger they are. People have a tendency to value their own contributions more than those of others.(Kouzes & Posner, 2003, p.103)The behavior of Henry Fonda on leadership suggests that effective leadership entails empathy, accurate conceptualization and unbiased interpersonal skills.

Courage Under Fire film

In the film, Courage Under Fire, Lieutenant Colonel Nat Serling was assigned to investigate and ascertain whether Captain Karen Emma Walden who died in the Gulf war deserved accolade the Medal of Honor for Combat accolade. Captain Karen was in charge of a unit which comprised of three male subordinates; a white, an African-American and a Hispanic male. During Colonel Sterling's investigations, he found out that all these men had different perspectives and renditions of the same event. It was his duty to determine what their interpretations were affected by; their gender roles, races and culture. This situation placed him in an ethical circumstance as he needed to balance out their grievances and perspectives. Gender discrimination soon molded doubts towards Colonel Walden's integrity. Colonel Walden has kinda pushed away from the story to an extent we do not get to know her real personality but judge her from her subordinates views.

Undoubtedly, this raises questions about the position of women in the military and the perception of heroism. What qualifications are required to point out a hero? Is heroism affected by gender?

This film attempts to tackle various concepts of leadership across cultures, ethics in leadership and the different stereotypes.

Works Cited

Kouzes, J.M.and Posner, B.Z.(2003).Credibility: How leaders gain and lose it, why people demand it. San Francosco: Jossey- Bass.

Twelve Angry Men (1957 version).

Courage under fire (1996).