Explain the concepts of effectiveness and efficiency as they apply to the performance of the 918th Bomb Group.
Paper
Film: Twelve O’Clock High (1949), Twentieth Century Fox (1949)
Instructions: Upon viewing the video, provide your analysis for each of the following questions. Be as specific and detailed as possible in your responses. Give specific examples to illustrate your reasoning. Respond to each part of the question. Use appropriate sentence structuring and grammar. Do not use bullets.
Situation: A B-17 bomber unit (the 918th Bomb Group) stationed at RAF Archbury, England, during World War II is suffering great losses and is rarely able to hit the designated target on its bomb runs. The commander (Colonel Keith Davenport) is replaced. The new commander (Brigadier General Frank Savage) has a different leadership style and employs a number of organizational behavior tactics to bring the unit up to efficiency and effectiveness.
1. Describe General Savage’s Legitimate Power and provide one example.
2. Describe General Savage’s Reward Power and provide one example.
3. Describe General Savage’s Coercive Power and provide one example.
4. Describe General Savage’s Referent Power and provide one example.
5. Describe General Savage’s Expert Power and provide one example.
6. Discuss the key differences between General Savage’s and Colonel Davenport’s behavioral approach to leadership using the relationship-oriented and task-oriented behaviors. Provide a specific example for each approach.
7. Where would you place General Savage’s on Blake and Mouton’s Leadership Grid? Support your response.
8. General Savage removed Lieutenant Colonel Gately from the Air Executive position and placed him as the aircraft commander of the Leper Colony. Describe the impact General Savage’s decision had on Lieutenant Colonel Gately’s future performance and motivation.
9. What impact did General Savage’s decision to establish the Leper Colony have on the organization’s overall motivation (not just those who were assigned to the Leper Colony)? Support your response.
10. Using the Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory to respond, discuss how the readiness of the 918th Bomb Group men and General Savage’s leadership style evolved through the four quadrants from the time General Savage took over the organization until the final mission in the video.
11. A B-17 aircraft, as used in the video, has a 10-member crew. Explain how this configuration constitutes a team effort as opposed to a group of airmen. Give a specific example of the team effort on a B-17 aircraft.
12. Discuss the concepts of effectiveness and efficiency as they apply to the performance of the 918th Bomb Group. In other words, how is effectiveness used to measure performance? How is efficiency used to measure performance? Support your responses.
13. Provide your personal thoughts on how effectively the Twelve O’clock High video portrays the leadership concept.
