Media analysis paper examining leadership - Essay Example

Running Head: Media analysis paper examining leadership The rise of the apprentice is a cultural phenomenon which is the first television reality show aired, it centres on business scenarios to depict leadership. It pits successful people against each other to arrive at the next successful executive. There are very many lessons that we can deduct from media personalities and the reality shows they are attached to: among the most common lessons is leadership. Generally leadership is how people and resources can be effectively organized to attain the set objectives.

This paper analyses some of the aspects portrayed by media personalities on leadership skills and styles, thus the apprentice will be a major reference point (Donald 2013).In episode 2 of restaurant impossible, the men’s teams are meeting to chant the way forward on an advertisement campaign to promote restaurant services (Cathy 2014). Robert Irvine who is the project manager depicts a number of characteristics leadership where he portrays a discursive technique by engaging his fellow members.

We see Irvine trying to convey direct directives and bringing to the fore challenging questions for other members to ponder and find the best approach to undertake. Irvine comes up with a proposal on division of labour in form of statements, for instance he uses the phrase ‘need’ to assign roles (Northouse 2013).Robert Irvine exemplifies himself as a leader by dominating the floor as the resultant task assigner and spells out his role as the floater. According to the different leadership theories, Irvine portrays that a leader is born and made.

In this perspective we find that Irvine is influenced by the situation to stand with his team to make the best alternatives. The situation influences him to stand out as the coordinator of the campaign. This can be cemented by the attributes and the use of ‘okay’ which is an approach that ensures that the members completely comprehend their roles, this is typical to most leaders as a leader as to ensure that the subordinates are ready for the tasks. Irvine displays a high degree of leadership which according to a member of his team is a positive technique (Northouse 2013).

In episode 4, Robert Irvine travels to Italy to save a collapsing Italy restaurant. Robert Irvine is recognized as the leader and allowed to adopt all the changes he may require in the group. Robert Irvine accused of trying to curtail the decisions that his team mates makes on the business campaign, a member is quoted saying ‘you’re obviously getting mad that I’m thinking on my own’. However, we see Robert Irvine taking a tactical approach to skew away the fact that he is trying to criticize the idea (Northouse 2013).

According to a leadership approach Robert Irvine can be termed as a good leader since he recognizes the efforts of his group members but tries to frame them towards attaining the set objective. As a leader he impersonalizes himself from the negative instance and tries to take a more conventional manner of leadership (Northouse 2013).Robert Irvine is asked if he is upset in episode 4, the colloquial expression used by Robert Irvine to describe his emotions explains and describes a certain degree of cooperative discourse style.

Robert Irvine relentlessly emphasizes on team work and this can be deciphered from the use of the phrase ‘we’. In his role as a leader he embodies the concepts of egalitarian and consensual style of interactions among the team members. It is clear that Robert Irvine does not take an authoritarian approach in his leadership rather tries to adopt a collaborative approach which offers some level of democracy (Donald 2013).By analyzing the interactive leadership styles of the two instances, the paper depicts that they convey different leadership styles in the apprentice.

Robert Irvine leadership can be summed as being authoritative and directive, this aspect is inclined on the masculine nature of the project manager on the other hand he also portrays a leadership strategy that can be summed as being accommodative and encouraging group consciousness in the matter. However, both instances depict democracy and authoritative leadership styles in the team. We find that Robert Irvine tries to reason out with his team and at the same time push for action on serious matters (Northouse 2013).

ReferencesCathy, D. (2014).The Celebrity Apprentice 2014 Returns with Kate Gosselin, Ian Ziering, Martina Navratilova and Johnny Weir. Retrieved from: http://haveuheard.net/2014/03/celebrity-apprentice-2014-returns-kate-gosselin-ian-ziering-martina-navratilova-johnny-weir/Donald, J. T. (2013). An Apprentice Lesson in Leadership. Retrieved from: http://www.evancarmichael.com/Entrepreneur-Advice/576/An-Apprentice-Lesson-in-Leadership.htmlNorthouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice. Thousand Oaks: SAGE.