In the film “12 O’clock High,” leadership and followership play a significant role in the plot, and it has been used for decades by the military as a training exercise. The same principles were used in the Human Factors class to help the students determine their leadership styles and how to be a better follower. From the very first few scenes, “12 O’clock High” was a true story about how a bombing unit in World War 2 bounced back from a period of bad luck and poor training to become one of the best units the U.S. Army Air Force had. As the plot begins, Colonel
Davenport is shown the Officer in Command of the bomber unit. While he participates in every bombing run, and has a close relationship with most of his men, his men are performing poorly …show more content…
Despite having no physical ailments, Savage falls into a similar position to Davenport at the beginning of the movie and feels that he has let his men down. While General Savage fears the worst, his troops come back victorious with little to no losses. In the long run, Savage succeeded in leading the 918th Bomber squadron. Even though General Savage was a successful leader in the end, he had to lead in different ways in order to fix what went wrong under the leadership of Colonel
Davenport. Savage begins the film as an autocratic leader because he was focused on fixing the problem, and was not very concerned with the opinions of his men. This form of leadership was ineffective because Col. Davenport was a very democratic leader, and the complete 180 switch would never work. As a result, Savage decided to act more democratically, by asking for one soldier to explain grievances on behalf of the whole unit. Furthermore, Savage shares responsibilities by joining in on bombing missions, and by defending his men after they went through with a risky mission. Just like Davenport,
Savage felt himself to be a coach-like leader who felt sorrow when he lost good men, …show more content…
On the other hand, his men needed to be guided emotionally at first, so Savage displayed a participating leadership style when he tagged along on bombing missions (PowerPoint). Later on in the film, Savage delegated tasks to his men when they had the pride and confidence to do their jobs (Trollip 9-16). Savage was a dynamic leader that could adapt to changes and change his leadership styles as need be. As was said before, since the beginning, the troops in the 918th were able to do their jobs and do them well, but after Col. Davenport left, they felt alienated with a leader they didn't relate to. As the movie progressed, they became effective followers and listened to their leaders more often and better than before. Everybody has a different style of leadership, as demonstrated by Gen. Savage and
Col. Davenport, and I have my own as well. For me, I prefer to delegate and participate more than telling or selling because I like my subordinates to be on the same page and be
Stafford 5 educated about the topic they are doing. I think participating in the team is almost always necessary because in order to lead, one must know about the subject more than their followers, so practicing is always good
Davenport is shown the Officer in Command of the bomber unit. While he participates in every bombing run, and has a close relationship with most of his men, his men are performing poorly …show more content…
Despite having no physical ailments, Savage falls into a similar position to Davenport at the beginning of the movie and feels that he has let his men down. While General Savage fears the worst, his troops come back victorious with little to no losses. In the long run, Savage succeeded in leading the 918th Bomber squadron. Even though General Savage was a successful leader in the end, he had to lead in different ways in order to fix what went wrong under the leadership of Colonel
Davenport. Savage begins the film as an autocratic leader because he was focused on fixing the problem, and was not very concerned with the opinions of his men. This form of leadership was ineffective because Col. Davenport was a very democratic leader, and the complete 180 switch would never work. As a result, Savage decided to act more democratically, by asking for one soldier to explain grievances on behalf of the whole unit. Furthermore, Savage shares responsibilities by joining in on bombing missions, and by defending his men after they went through with a risky mission. Just like Davenport,
Savage felt himself to be a coach-like leader who felt sorrow when he lost good men, …show more content…
On the other hand, his men needed to be guided emotionally at first, so Savage displayed a participating leadership style when he tagged along on bombing missions (PowerPoint). Later on in the film, Savage delegated tasks to his men when they had the pride and confidence to do their jobs (Trollip 9-16). Savage was a dynamic leader that could adapt to changes and change his leadership styles as need be. As was said before, since the beginning, the troops in the 918th were able to do their jobs and do them well, but after Col. Davenport left, they felt alienated with a leader they didn't relate to. As the movie progressed, they became effective followers and listened to their leaders more often and better than before. Everybody has a different style of leadership, as demonstrated by Gen. Savage and
Col. Davenport, and I have my own as well. For me, I prefer to delegate and participate more than telling or selling because I like my subordinates to be on the same page and be
Stafford 5 educated about the topic they are doing. I think participating in the team is almost always necessary because in order to lead, one must know about the subject more than their followers, so practicing is always good