Being in school full time and working full time, I don’t have much time to watch television or movies. However, the other day I caught part of a movie that my husband was watching while I studied. The move was Ender’s Game, which is based on a based on a novel by Orson Scott Card (Pritzkger, et al., 2013). The movie is a science fiction film in which gifted children are being trained to initiate an attack on an alien race. While watching the movie I was easily able to relate two of the characters to some of the lessons we are discussing.
The first character that caught my attention was Colonel Graff. He was in charge of the fleet and directing them to perform at their best. Colonel Graff’s approach to leadership closely resembles the situational approach. He is able to adjust his approach based on the situation presented to him and guide his fleet accordingly. There are times where his approach needs to be directing and times where he needs to be supporting or even delegating (PSU, n.d.). Because he is able to approach each situation accordingly, he is very successful in his leadership of the fleet.
The main character is Cadet Andrew “Ender” Wiggin. Ender is moved around between several different squads. In one squad, he is picked on and beaten up. In another squad, the leader is intimidated by him and treats him terribly. At that point, the Colonel removes Ender from both squads and makes him the leader of a new squad that is comprised of other misfits. The colonel is able to see the leadership qualities that Ender possesses and knows having him manage a squad of people like him he will be successful. Which the colonel’s actions, I am able to see Fiedler’s Contingency Model put into play (PSU, n.d.). In this model, it is characteristic to place a leader in a certain situation that is determined based on that leader’s strengths. Colo
nel knows that Ender is a leader and by placing him in this situation, he is able to lead the squad to successfully destroy the alien homeland.
There were many situations in this movie that follow lessons for this class, but in just the short period of watching the movie I was able to see classic examples of two specific lessons.
Gigi Pritzker, Linda McDonough, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Robert Chartoff, Lynn Hendee, Orson Scott Card, Ed Ulbrich. (Producers), & Gavin Hood. (Director). October, 2013. Ender’s Game. [Motion picture]. United States: Summit Entertainment Lionsgate.
Pennsylvania State University. (n. d.). Leadership in Work Settings—PSYCH 485. Online course lesson, Penn State World Campus, The Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved September, 2014 from: https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/fa14/psych485/001/content/05_lesson/04_topic/03_page.html