Movies can teach us a lot about leadership because they can give concrete models of behavior for repeated observation and discussion. Hollywood loves strong leaders because they can tell great stories, and it is interesting to see how our society – through Hollywood – portrays leadership in different ways.

Directions:  View and analyze leadership as portrayed in a popular movie by applying two or more of the leadership theories and themes discussed in class.

– Political Theory
– Trait Theory
– Behavioral Theory
– Chaos Theory
– Cognitive Theory
– Distributive Theory

o    Movie:  Apollo 13

o    View the movie. While watching the movie, make careful notes of the context, important characters who have leadership roles, and the storyline of the movie.

o    Write a paper that does the following:
o    Summarizes or describes the movie by identifying at least the following 5
components:
1.  the context [an organization, a government, a family, etc];
2.  the leader(s) and any particular traits or characteristics they may have;
3.  any challenges or goals faced within the context, and whether these are personal
or collective;
4.  how the leader(s) accomplish or fail to accomplish their goals; and
5.  any principal characters that influence the context, the leader(s), the goals or
their resolution.

o  Identify what leadership theory is dominant in the movie. (The leader may be a prime example, or an anti-example, of a particular leadership theory.)  Briefly explain why you perceive that this leadership theory is dominant (e.g., what main attributes of that theory are evidenced in the movie).  To avoid repetition of material, your response to this may be incorporated within your analysis of the movie itself (see next bullet point). Almost every movie on the list has a dominant leadership theory represented in it.  If you strongly believe that no leadership theory is dominant, you must clearly explain why.

o  Analyze the movie by applying two or more of the leadership theories and themes covered up to this point in the course. Your analysis should respond to at least the following 5 questions:

1.  How does the leader(s) strategies, actions, characteristics and/or philosophies relate to each of the leadership theories being used for analysis?

2.  How do the usability and applicability of your two selected theories compare, for analyzing and understanding leadership as presented in the movie? Which was more usable and why?  What was lacking that made one less usable/applicable, and why?

3.  How does the context and culture influence the leader, the practice of leadership, and/or the outcomes?  How does the context and culture relate to the leadership theories being used for analysis, if at all?
4.  What role do others play (family, followers, peers, etc) in influencing the leader, the practice of leadership, and/or the outcomes? How does the role of others relate to the leadership theories being used for analysis, if at all?
5.  Did the movie depict leadership as being situational or normative?  How was that conveyed / made evident?

o  Conclude your paper.  There are many ways to do this, so I won’t be directive, but the paper should not end abruptly.

Remember, you are demonstrating your understanding of the leadership theories, by applying them to analyze the movie.  Your analysis should include adequate references back to the course books or lectures.

**SEE REFERENCES BELOW**

Depending on the movie you select and the number of theories you use in your analyses, your resulting papers will be between 10-15 pages of content, double spaced, not including the cover page or reference list. This is a formal paper.

A majority of the grade will be based on your succinct summary, depth of thought and level of synthesis and analysis demonstrated in the content. The remainder of the grade will be based on length, grammar, spelling, punctuation and APA format.

REFERENCES:

THEORY NOTES – Attached

Harvey, J., Cambron-McCabe, N., Cunningham, L. L., Koff, R. H. (2013). The superintendent’s fieldbook: A guide for leaders of learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. ISBN: 978-1-452-21749-9

Gardner, H. (2011). Leading minds: An anatomy of leadership. New York: Basic Books. ISBN: 978-0465027736
o A PDF of the chapters are ATTACHED

Greenleaf, R.K. (2002). Servant Leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness. New York: Paulist Press. ISBN: 9780809105540
o A PDF of the chapters are ATTACHED

Shields, C. M. (2013). Transformative leadership in education: Equitable change in an uncertain and complex world. New York: Routledge. ISBN: 9781136706943

Category: Essays