The Smarter Guys in the Room - Enron - Case Study Example

LEADERSHIP By Name Course Instructor Institution City/State Date Leadership Introduction Scholars have described leadership as a social influence process, wherein an individual can enlist the support and aid of other people to succeed in a certain task (Karp & Helgø, 2009, p.882). Even though leadership is without doubt a type of authority, Karp and Helgø (2009, p.883) posit that leadership is not defined by authority over people; instead, it is a authority with individuals that subsists as a mutual connection between leaders as well as their followers. In spite of trendy notion, the utilization of exploitation, intimidation, and command to pressure others is not a leadership prerequisite (Cronin et al., 2006, p.29). In reality, persons who look for group approval as well as endeavor to act by keeping other people’s interests first have as well turned out to be successful leaders. In this regard, the study seeks to carry out a critical Analysis in leadership aspect and change based on three movies: The Smarter Guys in the Room" Enron Case, Alive- the 1972 story of the plane crash in the Andes, and 13 Days - the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. The Smarter Guys in the Room" Enron Case Enron is a saga concerning the biggest corporate failure in America’s history at that point in time, and the saga concerns a human disaster. The rise and fall of Enron has been the focus of several studies, particularly in the conventional, commercial as well as academic literature together with movie (Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room), which is the main focus of the study. 1986 was the year Enron was instituted from an amalgamation of InterNorth and Houston National Gas with Ken Lay being appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and chairman. The electrical power markets deregulation begun in 1988, and Enron changed from a conventional natural gas energy corporation concentrated mainly on energy delivery by means of gas pipelines to an energy broker corporation that drew both sellers and buyers together (Dunne et al., 2008, p.1060). Notably, Enron changed into a state-of-the-art international business that branched out into trading weather derivatives, water, electricity, energy, as well as broadband. Near the beginning, setbacks at Enron surfaced prompting the 1987 inquiry of two Enron senior managers at the Valhalla-based oil trading division, and the investigation reports uncovered fraud books and offshore accounts (Dunne et al.,2008, p.1056). This proved that the brokers had squandered all of Enron’s coffers, plus Lay knew right from the start about the fraud. Scores of Enron’s top management plus their workers had a collection of incredibly alike personality attributes, life experiences, as well as educational backgrounds. Such corporate leaders emerged from poor families and they possessed an incredible enthusiasm and goals to prevail over the past and make their lives better (Karp & Helgø, 2009, p.894). The premature success of Enron along with the subsequent failure provides a lot of priceless means for leaders to use in developing their leadership competence as well as in building-up the company they work for (Linthicum et al., 2010, p.165). Based on the movie, Enron depicts the incredible leadership responsibility that executives have in setting up the organization culture as well as in comprehending the methods utilized to evolve the organizational culture (Hayashi, 2007, p.35). At present, scores of organisational leaders refute the subsistence of a business culture in their companies or some see it as something uncontrollable, rather than balancing the chance to shape the organization’s formal culture (Cohan, 2002, p.276). Apparently, Enron was successful for the reason that it set up a firm organization culture by means of the company’s response at vital points in time of the company’s history as well as in leadership actions in communicating and adopting fundamental principles like aspiration, innovation and flexibility (Gregoire & Arendt, 2004, p.401). The Enron’s experience stresses on the need for leaders to be thoughtful professions in recognizing and examining their personal management style as well as to search for a reasonable leadership approach. Dunne et al. (2008, p.1057) is of the view that under any organisational ineffectiveness such as that seen in Enron there must be a leader who is core imbalanced to the company’s approach. Even as Conroy and Emerson (2006, p.501) claim that organisational culture will have an effect on leadership style as well as the explicit leadership capabilities used to a certain extent, the movie advocate that leaders’ approach must be balanced. Leaders, for instance, will long to thoughtfully set demanding objectives for workers, but as well to design command that avert unprincipled actions against the set objectives (Moriceau, 2005, p.792). It is very important for leaders to be mindful that the leadership practice needs a comprehension about oneself and others. In addition, the must know how to analyze their embedded prejudices to make certain that they are supporting miscellany of thinking and views and not recruiting an individual who have personal attributes like theirs as seen in (Conroy & Emerson, 2006, p.401). Even though leaders must not finish the Implicit Association Test (IAT) at the time of hiring process, they should try to analyze their personal biases along Enron’s lines. The movie has proved to me that leaders with a top level of self-confidence and capability are accomplished to work with various entities as well as to value various concepts and styles of working (Cohan, 2002, p.277). After watching the movie, I have realized that leaders must practice care in the objectives they set for workers plus the rewarded activities. Whereas they could be compelled to pursue time-honored performance evaluation techniques and paradigms developed by the company, leaders can use their skills to shape workers behaviors by cautiously choosing the objectives that can be followed (Linthicum et al., 2010, p.164). Alive- The 1972 story of the plane crash in the Andes On 13th October 1972, a Uruguayan airliner conveying 45 passengers crashed in Andes, prompting a far-reaching rescue as well as search operations, which was instituted and braced by the three governments namely Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. However, following ten days without indications of any surviving passenger, the respective governments presumed that all passengers were dead and so the rescue and search operation was cancelled (Estol, 2009, p.697).  After that, 70 days subsequent to the Andes crash, two emaciated and bearded youngsters surfaced in Chile, walking from Andes and claiming that they were survivors of the vanished airplane.  A Skeptical civilization gazed as the teenagers guided the rescuers to find out 14 other survivors who had survived for more than sixty days on the mountain (Koeppel, 2005, p.77).  The survivors rescue turned out to be an instantaneous media aesthesis and the whole world desired to know how under such aggressive environment did the survivors managed to stay alive. Surmounting their initial distress, the plane crash survivors planned a speedy rescue, and under the leadership of Algorta they first gave the injured first aid, and then extracted corpses from the debris, after that they built a temporary quarters for sleeping. By means of a diminutive transistor radio, they found out that the dispatched rescuers were searching the mountains for any plane crash survivor. However, they never knew that the white downed airplane fuselage was almost indiscernible to rescuers from the top. Apparently, it took more than a few days for Algorta as well as other survivors to excavate themselves from the icy obscurity, at the time when the group lost three more guys. By that time their decision to break loose from the darkness and the mountain using their personal tools was more inviolable than ever. On 12th December 1972, three most powerful survivors embarked over the defrosting summer ice to look for help whilst Algorta plus the others survivors waited inside the plane, hanging on to their treasured radio as well as listen for press releases. After 72 days, Algorta plus his companions received the good news from their radio that the three strong guys had found the help they had embarked to look for in Chile: as a result, a helicopter was dispatched to rescue the remaining survivors, and just akin to other 16 survivors, Algorta their leader spoke without stinting with the press after the rescue (Estol, 2009, p.699). Fascinatingly, Algorta’s leadership style, particularly in the world of business reflects how he conducted himself on the mountain. Different from the laudable boys who walked down from the mountain to look for assistance, Algorta stayed with the rest of survivors to inspire and give them hope. This proves why he is an effective leader: given that he built teams amongst the survivors, inspired them, and ensured the groups functioned effectively (Koeppel, 2005, p.111; Cronin et al., 2006, p.31). 13 Days - the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis 13 Days is a staging enthused by a number of the occasions of the Cuban Missile Crisis, gaining from more than a mass of journalism, memoir writing, as well as scholarship. Importantly, it symbolizes a viewpoint achieved by reviewing a chain of significant occasions that occurred four decades ago. Essentially, I have realized that the movie was not intended to be the first word or last word, on the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis (McKercher, 2011, p.335). Rather, it is a sort of suggestion of the big moments that occurred in thirteen days as I excellently comprehend them from modern’s vantage perspective. The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis was a 13-day altercation between the United States on one side as well as Cuba and the Soviet Union on the other side. Generally, the crisis is viewed as an instance wherein the Cold War almost turned out to be a nuclear conflict and was as well the initial acknowledged event of mutual assured destruction (MAD), which was seen as a decisive factor in a crucial global arms accord (Hershberg, 2004, p.14). When US had positioned their nuclear missiles in Italy as well as Turkey, all aiming at Soviet Union plus the unsuccessful US effort to oust the Cuban government, Nikita Khrushchev in 1962 suggested the proposal of positioning Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba to dissuade any upcoming invasion effort by US. During July, 1962 conference between Fidel Castro along with Khrushchev, a top secret accord was signed and construction of numerous missile location in Cuba started (Hershberg, 2004, p.12). Thirteen Days incarcerates the actuality that is so apparent in the tape records: The Kennedy crisis had almost nothing to do with Cuba, but had much to do with the obligation he had taken from the previous regime to defend the West Berliners. As a leader, Kennedy had no basis to presume that the 1961 Berlin Wall construction had weakened the frantic zeal of the East Germans to append these West Berliners to its incarcerated inhabitants. Somewhat in contrast: The Berlin Wall was part of the proof in the midst of scores that the East Germans along with their Soviet supporters were becoming impatient. Earlier, Khrushchev had cautioned US leader that he was definitively planning to resolve the Berlin setback towards the end of 1962 (Walker, 2012, p.28). Besides, the US threat of attacking Soviet with nuclear weapons was the only matchless defense for West Berliners. However, anything that could have damaged the reliability of this warning might have compelled the U.S. president (Kennedy) to give up West Berlin or as well start international nuclear war. And this is why Kennedy was hesitant to let Khrushchev escape bearing in mind what he had done in Cuba (Hershberg, 2004, p.17). Without doubt, the film is triumphant in characterizing the presidency as challenging task that needs an extremely high astuteness as well as acumen. Plainly, 13 Days reveals that it takes competency and good decisions making to reside in the White House (Hershberg, 2004, p.54). Conclusion In conclusion, it has been observed that leadership involves inspiring supervising and communicating. Key leadership skills and attributes revealed in the movies include: leading by example, that is to say someone who is always around and capable of getting his hands dirty. 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