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Sherman T. Potter Leadership Styles

Decent Essays

The American television series, M*A*S*H was a popular program based on a United States Army Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in the Korean War. There were several characters who were leaders, very different yet each, in his own way, was a leader. There are several leadership styles, however Colonel Sherman T. Potter, utilized both the bureaucratic and democratic leadership styles to lead and guide the M*A*S*H 4077th unit successfully during a very difficult time. This paper will discuss the different aspects of the democratic leadership style and how Sherman Potter applied them as commanding officer of the unit as well as how different leadership styles are effective in different circumstances. In the second episode of season four, Colonel Potter arrives to take over command of the 4077th (MASH TV, Episode Season 4, Episode 2, “Change of Command” (2017). As he is introduced to his officers early in the episode, he exhibits the typical bureaucratic demeanor expected of a military officer following rules. Potter begins his tenure by communicating with his immediate subordinates, officers Hawkeye Pierce, B. J. …show more content…

Both coaching and counseling are important skills for supervisors. While both skills require good listening skills, counseling is more familiar because it is used to improve an employee’s performance. However, coaching is used to guide an employee who is already doing a good job. As discussed before, in the M*A*S*H episode, Colonel Potter coached B. J. Hunnicutt during a surgery procedure when Hunnicutt needed some reassurance to affirm his abilities. Often, supervisors fail to listen or pay attention to a subordinate and turn a coaching situation into a counseling session by trying to show an employee how to do a job differently or better when the employee actually needed someone to reassure them that they were doing the job

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