Options
In Good Company, Monsters Inc.
The Devil Wears Prada,
The Insider,
Armored,
Swimming with Sharks, or
Demons and Angels.
Assignment
Prepare a written report that identifies at least 5 theories or concepts covered in the leadership and
managing people or organisational behaviour course and explain how they apply (or do not apply) to
the events depicted in the film as well as integrate these theories or concepts with other concepts
and theories of management and organisational behaviour depicted in the film
DUE 8/11/2022
What are the 5 theories of leadership?

Leadership
o Traditional Leadership theories
 Trait theories
 Behavioral theories
Is there a set of characteristics that determine a good leader?
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Personality
Dominance and personal presence?
Charisma
Self confidence
Achievement
Ability to formulate a clear vision
o Style theories
o Contingency theories
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Connection with the “Managerial Grid” Theory
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Connection with the “Likert’s Behavioral” Theory
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Connection with the “Fiedler’s Situational” Theory
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Connection with the “Traits” Theory
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Style of Leadership presented in the Movie
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Connection with the “Bass’s Motivational” Theory
o Motivational theory - How motivation ties into the movie
 Early Theories of Motivation
 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory
 McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y
 Herzberg’s Two-Factor (Motivation-Hygiene) Theory
 McClellan’s Theory of Needs (Three Needs Theory)
 Contemporary Theories of Motivation
 Cognitive Evaluation Theory
 Goal-Setting Theory – Management by Objectives
 Self-Efficacy Theory
 Equity Theory
 Expectancy Theory
 How attitudes are seen and related to
 Major Job attitudes
o Job Satisfaction
o Job Involvement
o Psychological Empowerment
o Organizational Commitment
 Affective commitment
 Continuance commitment
 Normative commitment
o Employee Engagement
o Perceived Organizational Support (POS)
 The effect of Job satisfaction
 Attitudes vrs Emotions of the characters
o Situational Theory
 Work stress – won’t really say work stress is present in the movie
only after the homeless man was killed there was stress in that
environment but not at the official job
 If we look at the heist as a work environment, there were
physiological and psychological responses
o Example of physiological is when the group panicked
when the homeless man was shot, when Ty completely
turned against them and the plan, Ty keeping himself
locked in the van, going for the sheriff and bringing him
to safety etc..
o Examples of psychological stress would be when Dobbs
battles with wanting to help Ty and staying with his
other colleagues. His death caused another group
member to have a break on the roof where he
committed suicide.
 What is Stress?


Where does it come from?
Stress – Mediating factors include
o How important something is deemed
o Level of uncertainty
o How long the feeling lasts.
 Causes of stress – lack of control, tight deadlines, exposure to
violence, leadership
o Communication – types of communication displayed
 Verbal
 Non-Verbal
 Interpersonal Barriers to Interpersonal Communication
 Filtering
 Emotions
 Defensiveness
 Language used
 National culture / Social acceptability
 Implications for Managers/ those leading
 Removing the uncertainty leads to greater satisfaction. People
are more likely to follow
o Groups and Teams
 Informal structure formed out of mutual interest and friendship – the
heist.
 They went through the stages of group development – forming,
storming, norming, performing and adjourning – but not in the
sequential order.
o How Group Properties can impact those in the group and the environment
 Roles
 Norms
 Conformity
o Ty going along with the plan since he was in such a
tight spot at home, and he was the only man on the team
who won’t have been in on the plan.
o [Asch Studies]
 Deviance
o The plan on a whole.
 Status
 Mike was the “leader”
 Interaction dictated by Mike’s, especially when the gathered to
speak about Dobbs betrayal and although there was no outright
statement saying to kill Dobbs, Palmer knew that’s what he
meant and had to do
 Size
 Cohesion
o
Core Problem
Many theories and concepts of both Leadership and Organizational Business were seen in the
movie. Based on careful overview of the movie in addition to notes and research done, the main
problem shown throughout the movie was that of leadership. This report will analyze not only
how Leadership was portrayed but how several other supporting theories such as motivation,
communication, stress and other themes were seen. According to Zalenik (1977), leaders
develop visions and drive changes while managers monitor progress and solve problems.
Leaders are those that set direction, pull individuals together and in their way, motivate and inspire
those to bring about a change. Hogan, Godan, Curphy & Hogan (1994) says, “Leadership is
persuasion, not domination”, they go on to say that “leadership only occurs when others willingly
adopt, for a period of time, the goals of a group as their own”. Individuals, like the team of
guardsmen, had to all be willing to follow the plan made by Mike Coharne, their unofficial leader.
The movie and various leadership theories can be connected and be described under the following:
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Connection with the “Managerial Grid” Theory
The “Managerial Grid” theory was created by Blake and Mouton focusing on different
combinations of leadership styles. It was believed that they are 2 dimensions of effective leadership.
Those are one’s concern for people and one’s concern for production. While there can be several
different combinations of leadership, the theory focuses on 5, the corners and the centre of the grid.
There’s (1,1) manager, (1,9) manager, (9,9) manager, which is where Mike initially starts out as, (9,1)
manager, where he ends up, and the (5,5) manager. Managers in the (1,1) grid are usually not very
concerned with production or their people. There is little to no effort given to get the work done in
the right way and they allow matters to go off track. Their efforts are only aimed at sustaining the
organizational membership. (1,9) managers believe that if they take care of their employees, they
will do the work. They focus mainly on ensuring that employees are comfortable and satisfied
showing little regard for production. Mike Cohorne starts off as a (9,9) manager. He recognizes and
places equal emphasis on the plan and the people taking part in it. This team is made up of
committed employees with their own individual goals linked to the main goal, their heist. This model
focuses on individual need for satisfaction, ways to develop relationships of trust and respect,
interdependence of employee involvement, developing team spirit and the development of
managers as effective leaders. Mike understood that each member of the team had their own
reason for committing to steal the money.
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Connection with the “Traits” Theory
Connection with the “Likert’s Behavioral” Theory
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Connection with the “Fiedler’s Situational” Theory
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Connection with the “Traits” Theory
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Connection with the “Bass’s Motivational” Theory
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Leadership Style
Armored - Summary
This movie is about the attempted robbery of an armored truck that goes wrong. The main
character Ty Hackett is the legal guardian of his brother Jimmy ever since their parents died.
Recently off probation, his coworkers come up with a plan to fake a robbery when they learn they
will be carrying over $40 million dollars. Ty is desperate for money as the house is facing
foreclosure, but he still isn’t comfortable participating in the robbery. Mike the apparent leader in
this scenario tells him to think about it overnight as the plan was to be carried out the next day.
Another obstacle arises for Ty as when he arrives home, he finds a social worker who tells him
that his brother has not been attending classes and could possibly end up in a foster home if he
loses the house.
The next day when Ty is late, the team is worried he isn’t going through with the plan and might
teel someone. However, he comes in late and agrees to go along with the plan only if no one
gets hurt. The team takes 2 trucks to haul all the money. They are filled and then both leave for
the destination, on the way they stopped at an abandon factory which because of all its electrical
equipment, causes them to lose radio contact. They used this stop to hide the money in a
smokestack. Halfway through a member sees a homeless man watching them. After chasing him
down, he gets shot. Ty tries to get him to safety and he his shot once again by Mike, the leader.
This upsets Ty and he runs to the other truck that’s still filled with money and locks himself
inside. In hopes of getting away, Ty drives off, but the leader chases him down in the empty truck
and crashes into Ty. The siren is hit and goes off. Mike quickly gets it disabled but the sirens
were already hear by the sheriff eating nearby. The sheriff then leaves to drive towards where he
heard the sirens.
Ty at this point still refuses to come out of the truck so the rest of the team tries to break off the
doors to the back of the truck. While inside the truck Ty convinces Dobbs, another member to not
go along with the plan which makes them all murders. Dobbs tries to get the fuse but is caught
and killed by Palmer. The sheriff arrives at this point and Mike pretends to be a maintenance
man telling him that everything is actually okay on the inside. As the sheriff begins to leave Ty
gets the siren going again and Baines, the one who initially shot the homeless man shoots the
sheriff. Ty finds a moment to get out of the truck undetected and sets fire to the money with a
flare. This allows him to get the sheriff back to the truck with him for safety.
Quinn at this point has a plan of his own and leaves in the other truck. Ty takes the sheriff’s radio
and sneaks out of the bottom of the truck. He tries to get to the roof where he believes he get a
better signal to call for help. Palmer catches him on the roof but he himself can’t even believe
what he’s done and commits suicide as he realizes they will all be getting caught.
Jimmy is kidnapped by Quinn and is brought back to the abandoned factory. Mike threatens to
kill Jimmy if Ty doesn’t come out of the truck, so he opens the doors. He and the sheriff are
pulled from the truck. The rest of the team goes to retrieve the money and as Ty rigged it blow, it
explodes and kills them. Jimmy and the sheriff are pulled to safety and Ty runs to get Mike away
them. Mike chases Ty down with the truck and crashes and is killed in the crash. Ty, Jimmy and
the sheriff are taken to the hospital where there are talks about Ty getting a reward.
OLIVIA:
Hey, so i liked the summary and will add a few key concepts for us to focus on in the
discussion of the movie as it pertains to leadership. As I see it there were many “leadership”
roles demonstrated here by mainly the Chief Ashcroft and the team lead Cochrane but there
were other mini leadership roles by the subordinates in the group also but I think focusing on
the main ones would suffice for the report.
I focussed mainly on information from unit 8 lecture on Leadership but we can add
information from Unit 5 Groups & Teams lecture also.
Unit 8: Leadership theory: “leadership cannot be taught but it can be learned” - Dr. Dion
Greenidge
Concepts in this movie as a leader: Strategic thinking & Power and Influence
I think this is a good area to explore for the discussion of Cochrane as the team lead as the
main plot of the movie.
What is leadership?
“Leadership is the process of influencing the activities of an organized group in its efforts
towards goal setting and goal achievement” - Stogdill, 1950, p. 3
“Leadership only occurs when others willingly adopt, for a period of time, the goals of a
group as their own” - Hogan, Gordon, Curphy & Hogan (1994)
There are Several Taxonomies of Leadership Behaviors, including those by Borman and
Brush (1993), Davis, Skube, Hellervik, Gebelein, and Sheard (1992), Yukl, Wall, and
Lepsinger (1990}
Yukl, Wall, and Lepsinger (1990) Leadership Taxonomy is the broadest and identifies 14
categories of Leadership behaviour
Planning and organizing, Problem solving, Clarifying, Informing, Monitoring, Motivating
Consulting Recognizing Supporting Managing conflict and team building Networking
Delegating, Developing & Mentoring and Rewarding
Borman and Bush (1993) link
http://jacksonfall14professionalissues.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/106744248/Borman_20_26_
20Brush_20%281993%29.pdf
Davis, Skube, Hellervik, Gebelein, and Sheard (1992) link
https://books.google.tt/books?id=dxCjoSU4MnwC&pg=PA224&lpg=PA224&dq=davis,+skub
e,+hellervik,+gebelein,+and+sheard+(1992)&source=bl&ots=QwMo-YFNl&sig=ACfU3U35w00NNAzc1SNONpSRDwHDnJlrNw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj158fmZD7AhWiRDABHRNrCWYQ6AF6BAgZEAM#v=onepage&q=davis%2C%20skube%2C%2
0hellervik%2C%20gebelein%2C%20and%20sheard%20(1992)&f=false
Leadership theories:
Trait Theories: Trait theory: Leaders are born, not made.
Behavioural Theories: Behavioral theory: Behavioral theory: Leadership traits can be taught.
Style Theories:Types of leadership style:
Autocratic - Baines (the erratic one)
Democratic - Cohrane (the team lead/planner of scheme)
Laissez-fraire (free rein) - Ashcroft (the chief)
Paternalistic- Cochrane demonstrated this to Ty?
Contingency Theories: https://asana.com/resources/fiedlers-contingency-theory
Situational Theories: Hersey & Blanchard: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/herseyand-blanchardmodel.asp#:~:text=The%20Hersey%2DBlanchard%20Model%20suggests,%2Drelevant%20
and%20relationship%2Drelevant.
(Delegating, Participating, Selling, Telling)
House’s Path-goal theory of leadership: The theory assumes that a leader’s key function is
to adjust his/her behavior to complement situational contingencies.
Attribution theory: People attribute almost magical qualities to leadership.
“New leadership theories”:
1. Charismatic leadership: Attributions of heroic leadership abilities when followers
observe certain behaviors:
2. Transformational leaders: - inspire followers to transcend their own self-interests for
the good of the organization
3. Transactional leaders - motivate their followers in the direction of established goals
by clarifying role and task requirements
4. Level 5 leadership