Answer To: nstructions Select one of the following films. All the films are available for viewing online...
Somudranil answered on Jan 12 2021
AUTOCRATIC LEADERSHIP OF MIRANDA PRIESTLEY IN
THE FILM THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
Table of Contents
Executive Summary 3
Introduction 4
Traits and characteristics of an autocratic leader: 6
Behavior and styles of an autocratic leader 7
Use of Robbins Framework 9
Group Member Characteristics and Behavior 9
Context (Internal and External Environment) 11
Conclusion 13
References 14
Appendices 16
Executive Summary
This report has been designed to bring out the various effective facets of autocratic leadership through the movie The Devil Wears Prada. Directed by David Frankel this movie talks about the young student Andy who accidentally lands up in a fashion magazine called Runaway. Here she gets to meet the editor in chief the autocratic headstrong Miranda Priestley who keeps judging Andy for every decision she makes. As soon as the movie unfolds the audience gets to know about the autocratic quality of Miranda meted out to her employees. This movie also shows how Andy gets involved equivocally to the fashion industry under the influence of Miranda forgoing the former’s personal life. Miranda is strict about the detainment of the power in her grasp and therefore moves the strings in her playful manner. It sheds light on the autocratic leadership quality of her quench for power and eventually holding it for the betterment of the company.
Discarding autocracy and failing to uphold it as a quality of good leadership is not any kind of utopian belief but is a matter of belief generated by absorbing certain characteristics along the way. For Example- Honesty, integrity, trustworthiness, assertiveness, sense of humour, motivational spirit, so on and so forth. Leaders, therefore, need to gain all these features with the ensuing years. It is, therefore, necessary for the leaders to be headstrong with steadfast ideals to harmonize any and every situation with the employees of the organization. The autocratic nature has been portrayed vividly through many realistic vignettes throughout the film.
Introduction
An effective study of the various practice of leadership is brought forth through the movie The Devil Wears Prada produced by Fix Studio Pictures and directed by David Frankel in the year 2006. Frankel’s film is also based on the book of the same name. The movie is a detailing of the nitty-gritty of the fashion industry and how a young woman who has just finished her grads in English ends up in the industry. The vulnerability of the woman has been projected in a manner where her dream job becomes a nightmarish task for her. Hovers on her like the impending doom as soon as the young lady comes to meet the editor in chief of Runaway, Miranda Priestley. This is exactly where the leader steps in and the study comes into practice. The film brings out the autocratic policies of leadership exhibited by Miranda Priestley in the dynamic fashion industry, and to what extent she exercises coercive power for the betterment of her magazine. It is a fascinating study where Miranda shows her diverse characteristic facets even under dreadful situations. It is due to her autocratic behaviour that the magazine holds a goodwill in the fashion industry. The lives of the employees around her are encapsulated with fear due to her steadfast attitude and her strict nature.
Figure 1: Miranda exhibiting her assertive nature to Andy
(Image source: Google)
Leadership behaviour and Characteristics
Confidence in terms of the autocratic nature: - In context of Hackworth et al. (2018) a leader should be enough confident about what steps and initiatives they are taking. Being confident of the actions one performs helps them by providing a proper justification of the actions. Confidence helps in taking proper decisions to the leaders, as it is a crucial part of any organization’s leaders. In addition to this concerning Miranda’s autocratic behavioural decision making abilities have been vividly exemplified in the film through a sequence which takes place inside a meeting room. As she speaks to her subordinates about the cover for summer and how she sarcastically insults all the employees by injecting fear amongst them.
Figure 2: Miranda explaining her employees in a steadfast manner
(Image Source: Google)
Being an autocratic one leader should be a good communicator: - In context of Crossan et al. (2015), an autocratic team leader conveys a message or instructions to his team, and then it is quite essential that team members should properly understand the message. Autocratic ideals does not completely discard the aspect of being a good communicator. On the contrary, it is easier to communicate due to the breach in power between the leader and the employees that the communication process becomes easier. It is so because the power division is quite lucid and therefore the employees are bound to listen to the leaders. Consequently, they also convey their ideas having in his or her mind. Communication plays an important role in the success of a person as a good leader, because leaders cannot become leaders alone, there is always a team or a group, which is led by a team leader. Boies et al. (2015) observes that often team members do not get accurate messages or instructions which are conveyed by the leaders then there may be many problems, like inefficient coordination among the team members (Setiyowati & Candraningrum, 2019). However, with the effective and autocratic functional attribute of the team leader this problem is completely solved. Miranda Priestly being an autocratic leader communicates her thoughts effectively in the scene where she tells Nigel about what the color of the tie should be.
Traits and characteristics of an autocratic leader:
The autocratic leader mainly aims to retain the authority, power and control and thereby continuing to take every decisions according to their will. In the views of Karthikeyan (2017), there have been human beings who had practiced autocratic leadership since a long time back and leadership cannot be defined under specified rules and laws. This can also be considered from the experience that gets propelled up over the years. Absence of submissiveness and non-conformity lies the core attributes of leadership which cannot be defined under a set of rules, regulations or any kind of law. Regulation of the norms for the functioning of the company in an effective manner has to be carried out by the leader efficiently.
The traits and characteristics of an autocratic leader is brought into play by the portrayal of Miranda Priestley in the movie The Devil Wears Prada. Appearing profound to its effect the functional operations is required to be done with utmost finesse in order to strive for the long run. As a leader it is essentially important for gaining a better understanding of the organizational functions. There are many important characteristics, which can be incorporated in an individual that can guide a person to step towards the path of becoming an efficient leader. By gaining an understanding of the character of Miranda Priestley, it will help in understanding the various characteristics related to the autocratic leadership. These are provided as follows:
Growth and knowledge in terms of autocracy- Schoemaker et al. (2018) observes that business cannot succeed without effective growth and learning process. Miranda Priestley despite being an autocratic leader has shown success of great qualities of leadership by imbibing lessons from her experience, which has happened to, diverse in terms of the industry. This has in turn ensured her position as a woman...