The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring

Managing Teams, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is a fantastical story of good versus evil, friendship, and perseverance. I felt that this movie in comparison to the rest of the trilogy, most accurately represented the qualities in relation to the terms used in our textbook. The Fellowship is formed after the recent discovery of the Ring, which is capable of granting an immense wealth of power to any who wields it. The creation of the Fellowship is representative of a project team. A project team is a team created to complete specific, one-time projects or tasks within a limited time. A council is called to determine what to do with the Ring which a variety of characters are
in attendance and this scene alone accurately depicts several terms in our textbook. The first is Forming. Forming is the first stage of team development, in which team members meet each other, form initial impressions and begin to establish team norms. For an extended period, the council argues over what should be done with the Ring and who should possess it. This is representative of Storming. Storming is the second stage of development, characterized by conflict and disagreement, in which team members disagree over what the team should do and how it should do it. It is decided upon that the Ring should be destroyed and this can only be done by the fires from which it came, Mount Doom which is located in Mordor. The problem with this is that Mordor is where Sauron resides, and Sauron is the original creator of the Ring. Frodo, the hobbit who is in possession of the Ring, volunteers to escort the Ring to Mount Doom. He is accompanied by Aragorn, the elf Legolas, the dwarf Gimli, Boromir, and his three hobbit friends and the wizard Gandalf. Together they form the Fellowship and comprise a unique group with varying skills and attributes to assist them in the arduous journey ahead. This represents Team diversity. Team diversity is the variances or differences in ability, experience, personality, or any other factor on a team. Early in their journey, they come across an obstacle which forces them to adjust their travel path. This adjustment leads them into the mines of Moria which has been overrun with orcs. Whatever disagreement the group had before quickly dissipates as they must now fight for their lives, all the while watching each other’s backs. This growth continues when Uruk-hai ambush the group at their encampment at Parth Galen. At this stage the team has fully matured and exemplifies the term Performing. Performing is the fourth and final stage of team development, in which performance improves because the team has matured into an effective, fully functioning team.

Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, The Truman Show
The Truman Show is a concept movie meant to explore deep premises but on a manageable scale.
The Truman Show is a depiction of “what if our lives are just a television show?” projected onto a simple, every-day man type of character. The Truman Show follows the life of Truman Burbank, who is unknowingly the star of a globally popular television show. This is representative of two terms, ethical intensity and social consensus. Ethical intensity is the degree of concern people have about an ethical issue. By knowing this show is viewed worldwide and that no one has objected its existence represents the social consensus, which is the agreement on whether behavior is bad or good. The premise of the movie in and of itself is a representation of the infringement of the Principle of individual rights. The principle of individual rights is an ethical principle that holds you should never take any action that infringes on others’ agreed upon rights. The act of subjecting an innocent man to a fabricated life and retaining the truth from him is a violation of this principle. Truman is an average man who resides in the town of Seahaven. As we follow him to his job, we see that he desires to travel to Fiji, but the exploration into this idea is cut short when his boss walks up while he is on the phone with a travel agent so he hangs up. When confronting his wife with this idea, she shoots down the proposal. Later, he tells his closest friend Marlon about his idea. Marlon disregards the thought as well. In a scene where Truman relives a memory from college where he meets a girl named Lauren who he spends a private moment with on the beach. This scene represents whistleblowing. Whistleblowing is the act of reporting others’ ethical violations to management or legal authorities. In this case, she alerts Truman to the façade that is his life and tries to tell him the truth about the television show but she is quickly taken away by a man who poses as her father. As the movie
progresses, Truman becomes more and more wary of his surroundings to the point where he makes an attempt to escape. When Christof and the team directing the show realize Truman has left, they enact a massive man hunt to find Truman. They raise the sun and instruct all the actors of Seahaven to search for Truman. When it is found that he is at sea, Christof utilizes the weather functions to try and force Truman back to land. When it is clear that Truman is persistent and perseveres through the inclement weather, Christof retracts the weather and allows Truman to collide with the edge of the dome which housed his entire life. In the end, when asked by Christof to say something as in fact the whole world was watching, Truman remarks with his famous catchphrase “In case I don’t see you, good afternoon, good evening, and good night.” afterwards exiting the dome.