At 23:42 7/30/96 -0500, you wrote:
>With all the talk coming from Bob Dole about movies, family entertainment,
>and Hollywood, this thought crossed my mind. What movie as a metaphor most
>closely captures management theory and why?
>
>Steven Farmer
>Savannah, Georgia
>
Management theory? There are a number of theories to embrace, certainly I
think movies over time reflect in general the salient management approach
of the time. If you look back to all of the John Wayne movies, certainly
we see a strong inspirational leader who saves the day, with everyone else
looking to that person to do exactly that...the hierachical corporation.
Moving on in time, one movie that's particuarly impressive as a metaphor
for a learning organization is the movie "Dead Poets Society" with Robin
Williams. In my opinion, the leadership style shown in that movie is one
to aspire to as a "leader" in a learning organization (Robin William's
character). Finally, I think Apollo 13 is an excellent example of how
teams function within a learning organization. What is so interesting is
that the traditionally hierarchical (and even militaristic) structure of
NASA had to break into teams of practice in order to solve a life and
death problem. What makes this even more interesting is that it really
happened.
--Debbie Broome <debbieb@linux.plano.gov>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>