Saving Private Ryan

Saving Private Ryan

Many people in this world have power and influence. Yet, there are few who have the traits needed to be an incredible leader. These people who are positive leaders tend to leave strong impressions in our minds for years or maybe even a lifetime. In choosing a movie with a character that portrayed a strong sense of power and influence, and possessed the traits of a good leader, I remembered a character that left an admirable impression in my mind.

Saving Private Ryan is a perfect example of a movie with all of the elements of powerful and influential leaders. Specifically, Tom Hanks who plays Captain John Miller is a strong willed individual with a commitment to his country. He leads his troop through battlefields and dangerous predicaments during World War II. It is his knowledge of combating the enemy, which leads him into a precarious situation.

Captain Miller is assigned the difficult task of finding Private Ryan who is missing along with most of his troop, which was divided after an attack. The reason for the mission is because Private Ryan’s three brothers had just died in the war. Private Ryan is to be sent home immediately. The rest of the events that unfold entail tragedies and accomplishments that lead to Captain Miller’s final command.

Looking back at how Captain Miller was a powerful leader throughout the movie is evident in most everything that he does. He was a legitimate Captain with much training in his position as an authoritative figure. With every command that he gives, he exerts his power.

According to French and Raven (1960), there are five types of power. They are reward, coercive, legitimate, expert, and referent power. It is easy to apply each one of these types of power to Captain Miller and his approach to leadership.

The first type of power, reward power, is the potential of an organization or member in a specified role to offer positive incentives for good behavior. In an organization these incentives may include bonuses, vacations, or promotions. The incentives may vary from one member of a role to another.

Captain Miller may have exerted reward power by giving his soldiers easier work when they behaved properly. Another way that he may have used this power is by allowing them to take breaks when they should have kept going. Being a Captain meant that he had this reward power just by his title.

Coercive power is the ability for an individual to punish a subordinate for undesirable behavior. Examples of coercive power would be dismissal, docking of pay, reprimands, and unpleasant work assignments. Sometimes these types of punishments are stated in organizations main beliefs.

Captain Miller used this type of power whenever one of his troop members behaved improperly. For example, in the movie when he heard one of his men say something he didn’t approve of, he reprimanded him. This also was vested in his title.

Legitimate power is the third type of power. This is also known as authority. This is when a subordinate believes the leader’s power over him or her is legitimate. Captain Miller definitely had this power because of his title. This type of power relates to reward and coercive power. Since he is a Captain his gives him the legitimacy to reward and punish his subordinates.

At one point in the movie, Captain Miller instructed his army to plan an attack on the enemy. This is a command that puts all of their lives at risk. Because that command came from a Captain and not just another soldier, those who followed his orders most likely did so because of his title.

Expert power is the belief that some other individual has expertise in a given area and he or she should defer to the experts judgement. This experience is what made the other soldiers look up to Captain Miller. This expert power is perceived experience. Although the leader may or may not have actual experience, this perception may lead to negative outcomes.

In Saving Private Ryan, there were no negative outcomes because of a lack of experience. Every command and decision made by Captain Miller was based on knowledge and expertise. That is why Captain Miller and his men eventually prevail.

The last type of power is referent power. This happens to be the most abstract type of power. When a leader is someone who can be looked up to they are said to have referent power. The source of referent power is the referents personal qualities.

Captain Miller demonstrates referent power throughout the movie. One factor that may contribute to this quality could be his age. His is slightly older than the other soldiers are. This age difference may cause the soldiers to look up to Captain Miller. Age is known sometimes as a personal quality that causes reverence.

Another aspect of superior leadership