Leadership Film Analysis - Remember the Titans - Movie Review Example

Memorandum December Leadership Film Analysis-Remember the Titans (2000) This memo seeks to briefly describe the leadership events that took place in the American sports drama film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Boaz Yakin in 2000, Remember the Titans. Consequently, we will use the theory and concepts from the books and our observations and discussions in class to not only explain what happened, but also explain why it happened which basically involves giving a theoretical analytical summary of what the leader dis, the outcomes from the deeds and the reason for the outcome. Remember the Titans (2000) is an inspirational film that tells the story of the 1971 high school football team of T.C. Williams High School. The film revolves around bringing on board Herman Boone as an assistant coach in an all-white coaching staff and is later appointed as the head coach, a position he is reluctant at first to accept but finally accepts when he realizes that he is held in high esteem and respect, something that was lacking in their community. The leadership styles of Coach Boone are exemplified right from the start of the movie with the riots that erupt after a storeowner kills a black teenager which underscores the racial tensions that exist as a result of the desegregation of the high school. Coach Boone has the challenge of not only overcoming the racism within the team, but also the coaching staff and the community if he wishes to build a winning racially mixed football team. Behavioral theories give much focus to the study of specific behaviors of a leader and postulate that a leader behavior is the best predictor of his leadership influences hence the best determinant of his or her leadership success. Coach Boone exemplifies behavioral leadership style right from his exterior with his difficult childhood and being a seasoned civil right activist influencing his behavior and his leadership style. This is further exemplified when he becomes the head coach and seizes control then uses his authoritative power in setting the tone for both the staff and the team. Fielder’s model postulates that there is no one best style of leadership and that the effectiveness of a leader is based on the situation he or she is facing. Consequently, the model asserts that this results from two factors; leadership style and situational favorableness that is popularly known as situational control. From the outset of the film, it is evident that coach Boone is determined to do what to his mind is the right thing and even refuses to take Yoast’s since he perceives it as a situation that parallels what had happened to him in North Carolina. However, he accepts the role since he is faced by the needs of his followers and Boone uses his legitimate power and his willingness to establish dominance to fully execute the leadership role in addition to being highly motivated to lead and success with the team. Hersey-Blanchard situational leadership theory vouches for the use of different styles and postulates that successful leaders should change their leadership styles to correspond with the maturity of the people they are leading and the details of the task. Coach Boone exhibits different styles of leadership throughout the film. He starts off with a directive style of leadership and clearly spells out to the team that it was not a democracy, but a dictatorship where he is the law. This proves successful as established a relationship with both the black and white players with punishments like running a mile each time a player drops a pass, fumbles a football or misses a blocking assignment which increases cohesiveness. He later exhibits what we can perceive as a supporting style (Blanchard the color model) which gives emphasis on support as opposed to control. The leadership styles keep on changing throughout the film. To be a successful leader requires having a vision. From the film, it is evident that coach Boone a visionary leader. Right from his appointment, he was a visionary leader with quest for success for the program. He had a vision for the team that which was to win the championship. The visions was even evident when he was brought in as an assistant coach. This vision was transcendent since despite different situations came up that needed to be handled in order to accomplish his vision, Boone was able to stay focused on his goal of winning the championship which consequently led to the team winning no matter the situations that came around the way. As a matter of fact, more was achieved apart from winning the championship. Effecting change is no mean task especially when it involves racial segregation. In challenging the process, Coach Boone faced various risks and fears. His first fear originated from his difficult childhood which made his background and experience in civil rights activism. However, the main risk was from the division along ethnic lines. Consequently, when he first met the Titan coaching staff who made it known to him that he was not wanted. However, despite being pushed, he did not push back but instead remained not only polite, but also respectful and diplomatic while making it clear that his main agenda was to win football game and not the sideshows. He sticks to his vision for the team to seize control of the team after which he uses his authoritative power to set the tone for both the staff and the team. The three keys to effective leadership include delegating work, communicating clearly and showing appreciation. Coach Boone did quite well in implementing communication. In the film, there is wide use of oral communication with a lot of speeches and group discussions which played a great role in ensuring the team succeeded. As the head coach, Boone ensured there was a clear structure of passing information both within the team and the staff. At the start of the film, facial expressions in form of glances and stares between the coaches out in the field was a form on non-verbal communication. This team went through the five stages of group development. These five stages include forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. The team was formed by the school districts choice in a bid to integrate the school. Consequently, the team stormed and had conflicts and then normed on realization that they were a team and that they needed to work together as a team in order to succeed. They then performed in their games and won each game as a team and adjourned after winning the championship and became friends. I would relate an experience I had sometimes back to coach Boone’s experience. Conflict management continuous to become important. The conflict process also has five stages which include potential opposition and incompatibility, cognition and personalization, intentions, behaviors and outcomes. While watching the film, it is evident that teams solved their conflicts using the outlines five stages hence their subsequent success and working together. Another leader from the film that I identify with is Coach Yoast. I identify with coach Yoast as apart from helping players with problems, he is friendly and approachable and always expresses appreciation and support and as a matter of fact it is his attributes that Coach Boone borrowed especially towards the black players and this is also what we learn from him. A good example of an instance where Coach Yoast pushed the comfort zone was in the scene where the Titans were playing against a tough team and they were having a hard time focusing and he used his charisma to get them back on track. The other concepts from MGT 471 that are depicted in the film include the importance of having a proper work design which enables teams to not only work together, but also take collective responsibility for completion of significant tasks. Additionally, the film made course concepts especially on behaviors, attitude and emotions. Consequently, the film reinforces the importance of leadership and culture. Please use the information in this memo to help me further refine my skills on the issues addressed by the film. If you have any question or need any clarification, contact me at abcnet@xyz.com or at 702-123-4567. Read More