5670 Managerial Leadership Mid Term Writing Assignment:
Each student will write a mid-term paper on Sir Winston Churchill, from the movie Darkest Hour. The review will deal with Leadership issues that are covered in chapters 1-5 of the assigned text, Leadership Research Findings, Practice and Skills (Dubrin, 8th edition).
Start with a synopsis of the movie that is no more than two paragraphs, and answer the questions for each chapter for writing your review. The paper should be at least 7 pages in length not counting the cover and bibliography. The paper should be written using the APA, 6th edition style.
Questions for each chapter to be answered as completely as possible, it is best to use examples from the movie to support the answers.
Chapter 1: Nature and Importance of Leadership.
Was the overall style of the leader in the movie technical or behavioral?
Specifically, what roles did the leader in the movie play? Give examples (p. 12-14)
What were the categories responsible for the satisfaction or frustration of the leader and how did the leader overcome them. Discuss the situation and how the leader dealt with them (pp.17-20).
Describe the category of followers with whom the leader had to deal. If they were lower level followers what strategies did the leader employ to adjust their behavior and to what level were the behaviors adjusted (pp. 25-27)
Chapter 2: What general personality trait did the leader possess and did the leader change his or her personality trait through the course of the movie? Why? (pp 37-46).
What general leadership motive did the leader display? Give examples (pp. 53-55).
Chapter 3: If the leader was charismatic, was the charisma socialized, personalized, or celebrity? Give examples (pp. 76-80). If the leader’s style changed to more transformational what were the circumstances under which that change took place and what was the impact on the followers? (pp. 89-92)
Chapter 4: Using the four Combinations of Initiating Structure and Consideration (Figure 4-1), under which category did the leader fall? Did the category change during the course of the movie? Which situations caused the change? (p.109).
Was the leader’s attitude associated with tasks or relationships? Did the attitude change and why? (pp. 112-120?
In your estimation, using the Leadership Grid (Figure 4-3), what particular style did the leader display? Give examples? (124-134).
If the leader was a female what special obstacles did she have to overcome? (p.134).
Chapter 5: If there were conflicts that set up situational or contingency issues, which of the following theories were applied to resolve the issue(s) PP. 148-162) Explain your choice.
Fiedler’s Contingency Theory
Path-Goal theory
Situational Leadership II (SLII)
The Normative Decision Model
Leader Membership Exchange (LMX) and Contingency Model
Did you enjoy the movie and would you recommend it as an effective movie on leadership?
