Leadership 1

Running Head: Leadership Analysis

Leadership Analysis

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Leadership Analysis

Introduction:

On 10th of April John Swigert, Fred Haise and James Lovell boarded the most important

operation of NASA history. After Three days on 13th of April while carrying out a daily stir on

the Oxygen supply tanks, the mission of “Apollo 13” underwent a dreadful electrical failure and

was enforced to execute an emergency homecoming mission. The film has given us two sayings

to our day to day cultural language, Houston we have a problem! Said by Jim Lovell, and Failure

is not an option! Expressed by Gene Kranz.

Movie Analysis:

The purpose the (Apollo 13) task had been known to be a successful disappointment is that, yet

they didn’t step on the moon, the group was somehow able to securely return to Earth deprived

of severe damage. But what triggered the main, dangerous events to occur in the start? Why did

these severe events turned out like this and lead to a effective save of the group? There are 3

theoretical ways that could be used to comprehend the fundamental reasons of the dangerous

events.

A Leader:

Gene Kranz, the renowned aircraft supervisor for NASA for the duration of the Apollo 13

mission encouraged his crew and implemented cautious planning, amazing leadership abilities,

and also was capable to efficiently give task affiance between his crew of NASA experts.
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 As a fascinating and resilient leader, Gene appreciated the decision and information

of his team in their respective specialty areas. Assessors had to make a difficult non

planned judgment 500-step list for running the command unit back up in provision

to enter again, reviewing it numerous times in the time which lead up to the

spaceship’s arrival to Earth. Every group member was believed responsible to

flawless their separate duty, as a result every stride was performed appropriately

which resulted in a perfect “successful failure” operation.

 Although Gene displayed endurance and persistence, not one person is perfect,

particularly with spontaneous decision making. As the film carry on too much

difficulties and possible substitutes appeared to be immeasurable, and Gene starts

to lose his head. This is displayed by an outpouring in respect to obtain the startup

electrical process. Subsequently there is no previous knowledge and condition

history to express the plan from; Gene should take in to account the learning curve

of the crew to make this electrical starting process.

Strategic Theory:

Several qualities of the character looks like to be identical with leadership like brainpower,

nature, manager capability, etc. Though, managers and real leaders back their judgments and

understand that there the answer is not that simple, it’s complicated. To equate with Vroom

Leadership model Gene used many of his conclusions as a group, (VanVugt & Ahuja, 2011).

Through our movie, we can see decisions being made after a small group discussion performed

correspondingly beside his team mates in “working the problem” by assisting to estimate paths
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and frame solutions. Also, the Path-Goal model was visually displayed when Gene came up to

the chalkboard, drew the way for the Apollo 13 team from the moon back to earth.

Effective Leadership:

Fruitful leadership was recognized once Kranz and the Houston controlled was informed of

the explosion on the Apollo spaceship. At this instant in the movie he starts his voyage into

transformative leadership. By the help of intellectual motivation he assists his crew rethinks

rational ways oxygen can be saved using items available on the spacecraft. Also, he reminds

them of the contingent reward by reminding each team member of the goal to save the astronauts

lives and take control of the situation by mapping out what must be done to receive the outcome

they desire.

Important Decision:

One of the most key and important decisions in the film is when Gene makes the call on

shutting down the two of the suspected “leaking” fuel cells. To make this decision he uses

certain questions from the diagnostic procedure, and must consider by shutting these down they

lose the ability to land on the moon, altering the entire mission. The most important question is

how important is the technical quality of the decision? To make good on this analysis, he charges

his team with the job of calling in all employees who designed or built “any button” on the

Apollo spacecraft, (Bono, Ilies, 2006). He then can make a favorable decision and trusts that

shutting down the cells could have a positive effect. The outcome is negative, but it still shows

how important trust and confidence is in leader-member relations. Otherwise, precious time
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would be spent deliberating on functional hierarchy and who is the most qualified to make the

decision.

Leadership Lessons morals from the movie:

Highlight and Communicate: The most important thing for NASA was to save the team. The

moon landing mission was aborted in few minutes of the first explosion. And everybody on the

massive NASA crew agreed on it.

Practice Takes Practice: There’s no other way of actually doing something unless you practice it

more and more. It’s the top preparation for disaster. NASA’s persons were in moon landing

industry for 10 years when the explosion happened onboard Apollo 13.

Preparation is the Next Paramount Thing: there are such things that you just cannot imagine up

until they happen. But you can run simulations and training exercises. NASA trained and trained

and trained.

Conclusion:

Over the years, the more times I experience this film I seem to always take something away

from it. From a managers standpoint you begin to realize the difference between the “I” and the

“we” component of a team. You rely on each team member having a substantial amount of effort

and involvement with the overall goal of the mission. For when the times comes each specialized

team member must come forward and contribute their part in the overall objective, then return to

their role as part of the team. Also, managers must support and remain confident in the decisions

made by their team members. Sometimes major decisions must be made under a restricted time

frame, and as the manager you must trust the solutions prescribed by your staff, (Bono & Ilies,
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2006).Finally, you must take into consideration “human limitations”. No human being is perfect,

and mistakes are inevitable, especially under stress.

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References

VanVugt, M., & Ahuja, A. (2011). Naturally Selected: the Evolutionary Science of Leadership.

HarperBusiness.

Bass, B. M., & Riggio, R. E. (2006). Transformational leadership (2nd Ed.). Mahwah, NJ:

Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers; US.

Bono, J., Ilies, R. (2006). "Charisma, positive emotions and mood contagion". The Leadership

Quarterly