High-Stress Leadership

Leadership in Glory The author of this report chose the movie Glory from a list of several movies or television shows. The author will look at Glory character Robert Shaw from a leadership perspective. Specifically, the author is to answer six different questions. The first question is what supervisory techniques in the move were effective. The second asks what methods were not effective. The third question asks how a supervisor could have or should have acted differently in a particular scene or situation in the movie.

Fourth, the author will explain how a wartime or emergency room environment can greatly shift and change how supervisors perform and react because of their very stressful environment. Fifth, the author of this report will explain the supervisory trait that the author most identifies with. Finally, the author will explain how using the "textbook" technique can lead to failure and how this manifests in the movie Glory. While leadership is not rocket science, stressful situations and using cookie-cutter technique can lead to problems.

Analysis One method that Shaw used in the movie was to fight for his black soldiers' right to have socks and shoes just like the white soldiers in the group. It is not logical or ethical to not give shoes and socks when they are available and Shaw would not stand for that. One event in the movie where Shaw clearly missed the leadership mark was when Shaw did not stop the flogging of Trip given that he was a former slave.

While it might have been normal and customary for this to occur with soldiers that go absent without leave (AWOL), to do this to a former slave has horrible optics and sets a horrible precedent with the other black soldiers in the group. This bad example of leadership is one precise time and even where the author of this report would do things differently.

While is not beyond the pale to punish soldiers for going, it is not hard to understand why a black man living in Civil War-era times might be a little sheepish about fighting alongside or against many of the same whites that owned slaves or condoned the practice thereof. It would have been wiser to change the punishments to something such as time in the brig or something of that nature rather than beating that one could easily associate with the way slave owners treated their slaves (Zwick, 1989).

As for how leadership can be quite different in an environment that is consistently or even constantly high stress such as war, in a prison or in an emergency room, there are some observations that are easy to figure out and enumerate. First, adherence to protocol and procedure is not optional when speaking of such an environment because lives are literally on the line.

Stressful situations will tend to rattle and flummox people during their first few exposures to the environment but they should eventually acclimate and adjust to the tension. Those that cannot cut it should not be in the proverbial or real line of fire as poise is essential. People that act as soldiers, emergency rooms nurses and prison guards should not fear their supervisors. However, they should absolutely fear failure and they must build a resolve against allowing failure to occur.

IF they cannot or will not do so, they are not fit for the job (Zwick, 1989). Lastly, there are situations where using the "textbook" technique is the wisest course. Indeed, there is not a problem with using general best practices and habits. However, trying to solve any form of a problem with the same precise solution will often lead to problems. In many to most cases, there should be a general guidelines but not a precise solution.

For each problem, the solution must come from the general guidelines and best practices but the solution should also center on the specific problem. For example, most people know that water is often a very good way to put out a fire. However, having a policy where someone applies on all fires could actually get someone killed or at least lead to greater damages. The reason for this is that fighting grease fires, just as one example, will actually make the fire worse.

As such, the solution to a regular fire like a grass fire or burnt toast could be water. However, the procedure to put out grease fires should be different. The best overall way to approach this subject would be to have a fire extinguisher that puts out all fires including regular and grease-based fires. Finally, the author will explain the trait that the author relates to the most, and that would be resolve.

While the author of this report will never be in a situation like war, it is important to exhibit.