Time Line

You will watch the movie and then as you progress, you will start to recognize some of the leadership theories, style and behavior that is exhibited by your “movie leader”. 

The Iron Lady is a British-French movie that dealt with the life and the career of Margaret Thatcher and was produced by Pathé. The movie might be termed to be a biographical account of the British stateswoman and politician, Margaret Thatcher, the longest serving Prime Minister active in the United States. The movie was released in the year 2012 in the United States and United Kingdom while the Australian citizens had the privilege of viewing the movie at fag end of 2011 (Youtube.com. 2018). The following assignment deals with the various leadership traits that are demonstrated by the central character of the movie. The assignment opens with the time line that is put forth within the movie and proceeds further to discuss the trait theory as put forth by the various instances in the movie. The assignment finally reaches its conclusion with the discussion on the two other leadership traits that are depicted by the concerned character within the movie.

• The movie opens with the central character having breakfast with her husband and getting along with the regular daily life. The personal security team of Thatcher is seen to be around them and inquire upon them.
• The elderly lady is found to be present at a convenience store buying milk while the members of her security staff are worried about her and have been wondering as to how did she slip away from under their prying eyes. They are seemed to be worried about her safety while terming her escape to be one of her fancied flights.

The movie might be considered to be a retrospection on the events in the life of the leader.

• Thatcher as a child had witnessed the second world war and is depicted to be socially isolated from the other children of her age.
• The scene shifts to the time wherein the young Thatcher is seen to be discussing marriage with her present husband, Denis. The movie moves further to reveal the ways in which the central character of the play defends her position as a leader and the ways in which she defends her position as an eligible candidate.
• The movie further depicts the various struggles that Thatcher had to go through. The movie finally returns to the present moment with the daughter of the elderly leader visiting them helping them sort out the clothes of her husband so that they may be sent to be distributed to the poor and the needy in a charity show.
• The then leader is seen to be in a wretched mental state where she has been imagining the presence of her dead husband all along. The movie ends with the note that her husband has been leaving her all alone with the statement that she will be alright in the days to come.

The trait theory generally refers to the approaches that deal with the study of the human personality. This theory also known as the dispositional theory relates to the various habitual patterns that are depicted by the various people in the fields that pertain to the behaviors, the emotions and the thoughts. The trait theory related to the leadership of certain people refer to the assumptions that the leaders take birth (Christensen, Mackey & Whetten, 2014). This theory states that the concerned leaders display the proper traits and qualities that are needed for the leadership. The various traits that are related to the trait theory of the leadership might include the matters that are related to the matters that pertain to the display of the compulsiveness, the conscientiousness, the dominance, the emotional stability, the enthusiasm, the tough-mindedness and the social boldness on the part of the concerned leader (Marion & Gonzales, 2013; Hogg & Adelman, 2013). The major traits that are depicted by Margaret Thatcher are the authoritative or the directive traits. The concerned leader has been depicting is the strivation of the authority and the power on the concerned nationals.

Trait Theory

The leader in consideration, Margaret Thatcher is depicted to have been following a very bold style of leadership. The leader is seen to be depicting her boldness in every sphere of her life. She is observed to have been putting forth a very strict statement to her husband before their marriage about her ambitions and her dreams (Kumar, 2013). She is found to be very strict in the matters that relate to the lifestyle that she might have been following. The statement “I will not die washing a teacup” (Youtube.com. 2018). This statement depicts the authoritative and the directive skills that are depicted by the concerned leader. The movie further depicts the authoritative skills of the leader in discussion, Margaret Thatcher, in the ways wherein she hustles to gain her position as a leader in the world dominated by her male counterparts. 

The other trait that is depicted by her prominently is the constant striving for the authority and the power that is needed in the field of political leadership. The concerned leader of the state was advised by her colleagues that “If you want to change the party, you have to lead. If you want to change the country, you have to lead. You have it in you.” (Youtube.com. 2018). This motivated the leader to engage in a stronger hustle to gain the position of the Prime Minister of the country. The leader is often depicted in the movie to be struggling in the male dominated sphere of the governance of the country.

The leader also depicted some other leadership styles as well. These included the autocratic theory of leadership and the transformational leadership theory. The British Prime minister is observed to have been practicing the autocratic leadership in the matters that pertain to the development of British state (Odumeru & Ogbonna, 2013). The autocratic leadership displayed by the leader tends to be characterized by the control of the individual on the matters that pertain to the decisive areas in the governance of the area (Hoogh, Greer & Hartog, 2015). The leaders however, do take bits of input from the other members of concerned group though they make their choices on the basis of the judgements and the ideas of their own and are rarely observed to be taking advice from the followers (Rast III, Hogg & Giessner, 2013).

The other theory of leadership as followed by the leader in discussion, the British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, in the movie The Iron Lady is the transformational theory of leadership. The characteristic features of this leadership theory are the fact that the leader in this case works with the other members of the team in a group in order to identify and create the needed changes in the administration of the concerned matters (Kark & Shamir, 2013). The leader in this case, Margaret Thatcher tended to display the transformational leadership in the ways in which she helped defend the British territories with the help of the strong ideas, values and visions that she had implemented within the territories of the country (Avolio & Yammarino, 2013). This in turn led to the conditions that were challenging to both the international opponents of the leader as well as the political rivals that existed within the territories of the country.

Conclusion

Thus, from the above discussion it might be pointed out that the concerned movie in discussion, The Iron Lady, does justice to the biographical display of the life led by Margaret Thatcher. The movie clearly depicts the strong leadership qualities that are depicted by the British Prime Minister and tends to deal with the various ways in which the leadership traits of the concerned leader had helped in the matters that pertain to the development of country. The movie successfully depicts the ways in which the protagonist had helped in the depiction of these leadership qualities even in her day to day life within her family 

References

Avolio, B. J., & Yammarino, F. J. (Eds.). (2013). Introduction to, and overview of, transformational and charismatic leadership. In Transformational and Charismatic Leadership: The Road Ahead 10th Anniversary Edition (pp. xxvii-xxxiii). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

De Hoogh, A. H., Greer, L. L., & Den Hartog, D. N. (2015). Diabolical dictators or capable commanders? An investigation of the differential effects of autocratic leadership on team performance. The Leadership Quarterly, 26(5), 687-701.

Hogg, M. A., & Adelman, J. (2013). Uncertainty–identity theory: Extreme groups, radical behavior, and authoritarian leadership. Journal of Social Issues, 69(3), 436-454.

Jones Christensen, L. I. S. A., Mackey, A., & Whetten, D. (2014). Taking responsibility for corporate social responsibility: The role of leaders in creating, implementing, sustaining, or avoiding socially responsible firm behaviors. Academy of Management Perspectives, 28(2), 164-178.

Kark, R., & Shamir, B. (2013). The dual effect of transformational leadership: Priming relational and collective selves and further effects on followers. In Transformational and Charismatic Leadership: The Road Ahead 10th Anniversary Edition (pp. 77-101). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Kumar, R. D. (2013). Leadership in healthcare. Anaesthesia & Intensive Care Medicine, 14(1), 39-41.

Marion, R., & Gonzales, L. D. (2013). Leadership in education: Organizational theory for the practitioner. Waveland press.

Odumeru, J. A., & Ogbonna, I. G. (2013). Transformational vs. transactional leadership theories: Evidence in literature. International Review of Management and Business Research, 2(2), 355.

Rast III, D. E., Hogg, M. A., & Giessner, S. R. (2013). Self-uncertainty and support for autocratic leadership. Self and Identity, 12(6), 635-649.

Youtube.com. 2018. Watch The Iron Lady Watch Movies Online Free. Retrieved 20 June 2018 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHjk1AVdg0o