Analysis of the Battleship 2012 - Movie Review Example

Running Head: Leadership Style Leadership Style Name Course Lecturer Date Executive Summary The Battleship 2012 is one of the best movies in 2012. The movie is based on a story of alien invasion of the earth. This is a result of the NASA sending some transmission to an alien planet. The navy is on an exercise mission on the sea when the alien strike. The crew finds itself in the middle of war between the alien and man. The report explores the leadership style that is portrayed by the leaders who prepare themselves to defend the earth. Roles and functions of leaders, decision style and power of the leaders are evident in the movie. Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 1.0 The situation 4 1.1 Battleship 2012 4 1.2 Type of leadership 4 2.0 Analyzing the Situation 5 2.1 Functions of a the leader 5 2.2 Leaders and power 6 2.3 Decision styles 7 3.0 Recommendation 8 References 9 1.0 The situation 1.1 Battleship 2012 The movie is based on a story of a young man, Alex Hooper (Taylor Kitsch) who happens to have a goalless life at the beginning of the movie. Later his brother enlists him on a battleship in Hawaii that is preparing to participate in series of exercise at the sea. Unfortunately, Alex is headstrong, reckless and disobedient even there. In the meantime NASA has been sending transmissions to an alien planet. However, a scientist warned of a possible hit back by the aliens. The leadership part of the movies is seen when the invasion of the aliens start and the battleship exercises is caught up in the storm. The navy finds itself n a midst of a war between alien and man, war on the possession of the earth. At this point Alex is forced to a position of leadership. He step in and bravely, he faces the massive adversaries. Alex, is blinded with revenge (as his brother is killed in the war) and it gets to a point where he has to put the men under his command on the risk, however, later he is forced to put aside his self motives and consider others. Eventually, he uses his cleverness, loyalty and skills in this mission and he becomes a leader and a man who is worth of respect. It is important to note other characters in the movie are equally admirable and team work is observed in their operations (Taran, 2012; http://christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/2012/battleship2012.html). 1.2 Type of leadership The type of leadership portrayed in this situation is the contingency leadership theory. According to this theory the success of a leader in any given situation does not only depend on the skills of the leader but on the factors that lies outside a leader (Gill, 2012). Most of the critiques that support the theory hold that it is not only having a well skilled leader that will result to success of a mission but rather having a leader who is capable of solving the problem at hand the right way. According to (Day & Antonakis, 2011) Proponents of the theory think that all factors surrounding the success of a leader, it became hard to predict the success. With this understanding, it is important that the leader need to be adaptable to make the most of potential of the success in case the initial tactics do not work. Indeed, the 2.0 Analyzing the Situation 2.1 Functions of a the leader Basically speaking, there are various functions and responsible that leaders share in common. For instance, it is expected that a leader to be viewed as an executive. Indeed, the leader has significant function of co-coordinating various activities of a team. He or she is said to be in an executive capacity while he or she assigns others to carry out various activities (Adair, 2010). In the presented case, Alex is well endowed with this function. He is able to make some decisions and policy and assigns work to the appropriate crew members. He also organizes the discussion of how to executive the plans they have against the aliens. Essentially, he is able to delegate authority and responsibilities to various teams within his command and hardly interfere with their assigned activities. A leader is also functions as a planner. He is expected to decide on what means and ways and should be adapted in order to achieve the goal and objective of the group. He or she plans the work of the group in a way that the objective of the goal is achieved through proper steps to be undertaken at any moment. Notably, Alex is able to plan on how to executive the much needed activity. It is important to note that while planning he involves other leaders who are below him. Basically, the plan made by Alex and the team end up being successful, an indication that he did play his role accordingly. Adair (2010)asserts that leaders are also viewed as expert. They are mostly viewed as a source of information, expertise and skills. Indeed, the leader should be therefore a capable leader. It is obvious that in many informal and formal groups leader are often the person demonstrating the greatest skills and technical knowledge. Similarly, Alex, as a leader, he is able to demonstrate and function as an expert. He readily demonstrates fighting techniques using the weapons supplied to the team. 2.2 Leaders and power A significant part of leadership is to positively influence the people he or she manages. This influence, however, depend on various factors ranging from a leader personality to his or her strength (Adair, 2010). The influence is also referred to as power. There are various types of power that a leader may possess. Legitimate power is that power of a leader has when the team or followers believe that he or she has the ‘right’ to instruct the team and they have an obligation to follow his or her instructions. In most cases, legitimacy power is created following the job title. In the presented case, when the high ranking leaders perish, Alex, is accorded the power as he is the only remaining person with the rank among the soldiers. Still, referent power is also evident in the movie. This type of power is created when the team or a group believes that their leader has the qualities that the basically admire and wish to possess. It is important to note that this type of power mainly depend on the views of the follower on the personality of the leader. As such, the leader is therefore, not expected to have referent power over everyone (Martin, 2006). Analyzing the presented case, it is noted that not every member of this team support Alex as a leader. Indeed, opposition is seen from some team members who believe that the can command the rest better than Alex. Minor conflict arises but Alex applies his cleverness to lure them to working together in defeating the aliens. However, the fact still remains that he possessed referent power as most of his fellow marines supported him. Still, in another cases, most of the leaders in this movie are also seen to possess expert power as they are more experienced than the rest, therefore, consulted on the way to go to win the war. 2.3 Decision styles Decision making is one of the primary roles of a leader. It is obvious that people expect leaders to make decisions that are good for the majority and not of a few. In the movie, the Commanding Office, Alex, is expected to make huge decisions that not only will save the lives of his team but also the earth. Indeed, this is a big responsibility and an ideal decision style is highly recommended in the situation. The officer portrays a collective-participative decision making style. This style of decision making is when the leaders involve the team members to participate in the decision making. The leaders deliberately encourage and ask the other team members to participate by giving perceptions, ideas, information and knowledge concerning the decision. However, the leader is expected to maintain total control of the decisions as much as the outside information is also considered (Martin, 2006). Still, the leader is completely responsible for the outcome of the decision made. It is important to note that if the leader is a good communicator, he or she listens and is careful to consider the collected information which eventually gets an accurate understanding of the position in order to make a good decision (Gill 2012). In order to get an excellent decision to win the war, after several unsuccessful attempts, Alex considers involve all the team members in creating a solid decision. The members are given chance to express the knowledge of the situation at hand. Notably, some of the crew had faced somehow similar situations and therefore, suggests that the same strategies could be applied in the war. The Commanding Officer gives a shot to these suggestions while maintain his decision, ultimately, due to his good communication and listening skills, his accuracy in gathering information ensures that the navy defeat the aliens saving the earth. 3.0 Recommendation In case of a situation similar to this in future; the following recommendations may serve as a blueprint. Firstly, the NASA should make the necessary exploration before sending transmission to the alien planet. It is important that the leaders of the mission to ensure that the safety of the people are put is put into consideration as planning is underway. Secondly, before embarking on any mission of exercise, the navy should consider exploring any potential danger and attacks. The Commanding Officers need to ensure that the necessary equipment and arms are available and that every crew is capable of making the right decision when faced with uncertainty When faced with the presented situation, a leader should obtain accurate information on the enemy and understand their way of operation. This would increase the chances of saving more life. In addition, this calls for the leaders to have efficient communicating procedure with the outside world while under such missions. References Adair, J. (2010). Strategic leadership; how to think and plan strategically and provide direction. New York: Wiley. Day, D., & Antonakis, J. (2011). The nature of leadership. London : Wiley. Gill, R. (2012). Theory and practice of leadership. New York: Wiley. Martin, B. (2006). Outdoor leader: theory and practice. London : Human Kinetics. Taran, 2012; http://christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/2012/battleship2012.html Read More