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Twelve O' Clock High Essay

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Assessment of Twelve O’ Clock High- Reflection Assignment #4

The movie Twelve O’ Clock High illustrated various aspects of leadership approaches in an Air Force general’s strenuous attempt to heighten the morale of the 918th Bomb Group. Twelve O’ Clock High highlighted the effects of country-club management under the leadership of Col Keith Davenport and revealed the effects of authority-compliance leadership under the command of Brig Gen Frank Savage. Twelve O’ Clock High highlights two Air Force member’s attempts to heighten the morale of a group. Strong examples of country-club management and authority compliance leadership were used in this film. Use of the Country-Club management was apparent in the leadership style of Col …show more content…

He seemed extremely eager to maintain the “friendships” with his crew members, even when they were at fault. As a result, his type of leadership lacked in increasing productivity, and failed to train his group how to accomplish their mission in war bombing. In an effort to increase the moral of the group, Brig Gen Frank Savage lead the group using authority-compliance leadership. After being approached by Maj Gen Pritchard about the decline of the 918th Airmen’s productivity, Brig Gen Savage was tasked with finding out the “maximum effort” of the group and he decided the best approach to achieve those results were to sternly execute rules and discipline. To sharpen the morale of the group, he began to review employee files and remove ranks from the officers failing to fulfill their responsibilities, reprimand airmen for not verifying credentials of airmen entering the post, and failing to display insignia displaying their rank. Overall, he began to sternly discipline the airmen for failed adherence of the rules. In order to validate his authority, he interacted with the crew only to give orders, providing harsh criticisms and reprimands. He was directive, strict and overpowering. He believed this approach was the only way to influence the airmen in realizing their value, and increase pride among the group. After ordering several test flights missions and target bombings, the group’s skill level began to increase, but the morale and confidence

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