The bridge over river kwan movie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The bridge over river kwan movie - Essay Example The main characters in the movie are military leaders from Thailand and British. Both of them command their groups towards timely and effective completion of the bridge. Colonel Nicholson is the captured British and Colonel Saito is the leader of the prison camp. The two characters show different leadership style which is critical in military commanding and any other organizational unit. At the beginning of the movie, it can be noted that there is a clash of ego and differences in opinion between Nicholson and Saito. Saito is hell-bent on ensuring all men get to work irrespective of their cadre which is contradictory to Nicholson’s strict discipline which makes him assert that his men are not supposed to offer manual labor (Allon 38). Their labor management and project execution approaches seems to differ and this can be highlighted as shown below. Colonel Saito exercises directive style of leadership while Colonel Nicholson is an indirect influencer: These styles can be supported by the fact that Colonel attempts to command and lead from the front by forcing prisoner English servicemen to work beside their men and he takes control in his hand when he fells the Engineer has not delivered desired results (Bourke 65-8). On the other hand Colonel Nicholson asserts his leadership acumen by vehemently refusing to give in to Japanese demands. He makes good his course of action by working alongside his men which is inspirational to the workers. It can also be observed that Saito acts purely from an objective leadership standpoint when he decides to give his workers off and time to rest despite the tight schedule to complete the bridge. This is a shift from Colonel Nicholson subjective approach which is exhibited when he decides to redesign the bridge although with ulterior motives to bring down colonel Saito. Both leaders show result driven leadership style in which the end justifies the means. Colonel Nicholson shows outstanding level of