Den formella ledaren : En kvalitativ studie av ledarskapsstilar på filmduken

On screen we can find different types of leadership styles and film has a great potential to influence our view on leadership. In this essay we have analyzed how the filmmakers have portrayed different leaders and styles in movies. Northouse defines leadership as a process in which an individual influences a group to achieve a common goal. He highlights that it is possible to define three different main perspectives of the concept, focus on the group process, focus on behavior and focus on personality. We wanted to analyze how and to which extent the leader communicates with the subordinates and what type of leader this makes them. By looking at organizational communication in the films we can contribute to media and communications research. Our main question is “How is the leadership portrayed in three big award-winning movies from the 2000s?”. The purpose of this study is to analyze how formal leaders and their leadership are portrayed in modern American movies. Big American movies have a large audience and therefore have big potential to affect our view on leadership. That's why it's relevant to analyze how movies portray leaders in different situations. We have used a qualitative content analysis method in our essay. This is because we have been striving to achieve a comprehensive description of the studied area. We have also used a semiotic analysis for the studied area. We have analyzed how the leaders talk, what they say and how they behave. We have come to the conclusion that leadership can look very different. Based on previous research and our analysis of the movies we have also come to the conclusion that communication is a very important part of a functioning leadership and an organization. The choice of semiotic resources such as gestures, words and symbols can affect the leadership. A leader does not always have to have a specific style, it's possible to adapt different styles to different situations and people and you can also use a mix of different t