VIII.++Spiral+of+Experience

 VIII. Present and discuss the significance of the spiral of experience as evidenced.

"...leadership development is enhanced when the experience involves three different processes: action, observation, and reflection (54)."

"If a person acts but does not observe the consequences of her actions or reflect on their significance and meaning, then it makes little sense to say she has learned from an experience" (Hughes et al, 54).

"Because some people neither observe the consequences of their actions nor reflect on how they could change their actions to become better leaders, leadership development through experience may be better understood as the growth resulting from repeated movements through all three phases rather than merely in terms of some objective dimension like time (e.g., how long one has been on the job)" (Hughes et al., 54).

"We believe the most productive way to develop as a leader is to travel along the spiral of experience (54)."

I believe there are several spirals of experience taking place throughout the film.

The first spiral we could consider is General Savage. Action: Entered and demanded all men consider themselves dead and worked them hard. Observation: Some men did well, most requested transfers, he was told he was being too harsh, missions started becoming more successful, men revoked their requests to transfer. Reflection: The action ultimately provided satisfactory results. Pushing the men to step up was a good strategy. Action: After men revoked their requests to transfer he worked them hard again to develop leaders in the group Observation: The men continued to step up to the task and became proud of their group Reflection: the goal of developing leaders was successful as Gately was able to successfully lead several missions.
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The second spiral is that of Gately Action: He flew so few missions despite his abilities to take on the responsibility. Savage called him out on his slacking with a firm lashing. Observation: He was demoted and forced to fly missions with the leper colony of men who were problems. Reflection: Slacking is an embarrassment to his family Action: He worked hard to bring up his leper men and did not complain even when he was injured Observation: Once the General discovered he was injured and in hospital, he was commended on his work with the men and the group no longer needed a leper craft. He was promoted back to his old position. When Savage fell ill he took over commanding missions successfully. Reflection: Pulling his own weight in the group enabled him to show that he had leadership qualities and could get the job done successfully.
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I believe the first spiral has more potential than breaking out all the smaller spirals. We could flesh out and develop each one if necessary. I believe each character may have a spiral that interlocks with the big one.