The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... It is important to analyze the leadership style employed by one of the characters Miranda Priestly in order to successfully understand the application of leadership and management in this film.  Miranda happens to be a fashion editor of the “Runway” magazine and supervises three subordinates: Nigel, Emily and Andrea. She is confronted with the situation of having to balance her work and home responsibilities as she is married and working simultaneously. This draws our attention to one of the most critical issues highlighted in contemporary workplace- that of work-life balance. Despite facing this dilemma, she has acquired a prominent position in the fashion industry. However, she has been one of the most difficult leaders to approach.  Leaders and managers may derive their f from various sources. Power has, therefore, been defined as being derived from give bases or sources: expert, reward, referent, legitimate and coercive. Miranda has demonstrated four of these types of power. Her expert power stems from the fact that she has served in the position for several years. Her reward power is reflected from the fact that she determines who will be included to the trip to Paris. Legitimate power is derived by virtue of Miranda’s position as director and editor and, finally, coercive power is demonstrated when she prompts her employees that the underperforming employees will be terminated in little time. Furthermore, the movie, through Miranda’s character, also depicts how power is capable of being misused by leaders. Contrary to Wolf who argues that women avoid expressing power in order to project favorable images of themselves (Wolf, 1994), the movie shows just how women “can” express power without being conscious of appearing nice. Consequently, it follows that Miranda’s leadership style is largely transactional as opposed to being transformational. This is reflected in her behavior of tying employee’s results and performance to rewards and punishments. She expected her employees ...Download file to see next pagesRead More