12 O Clock High Case Study

Compare and Contrast Leadership Styles of Group Commander - Twelve O’Clock High

Leadership in war time is a dynamic process. No one particular commander is exposed to the same challenge and implements a textbook solution. While leadership doctrine is provided to commanders, it serves more as a guideline than anything else. This situation can be clearly seen in the leadership and management styles of General Frank Savage and Colonel Keith Davenport. Both of these individuals were faced with the challenge of leading a Bomber Group during World War II. Grossly undermanned and equipped, their directive from command was to give maximum effort and fly their assigned missions until replacement aircraft and personnel could be brought up to the front.
That being the case, it is probably the most difficult leadership trait to master effectively. Within Twelve O’Clock High there was communication between the Wing Commander, the Group Commanders, and then on to the group members. In terms of both the Group Commander’s communication with the Wing Commander, it was largely informal with both the commanders. However, communication between the Group Commander and the group members, General Savage and Colonel Davenport had two different communication styles, at least initially. Colonel Davenport was significantly more inform in how he communicated with his men than General Savage. This was likely due to Colonel Davenport’s desire to relate on a personal level with his followers. The group was faced with a high operations tempo and Colonel Davenport likely saw it as a way to ease their stress. The group would focus on the mission and not have to worry about the interaction with command. However, this caused the group to begin forgetting the little things and translated later on to the loss of fellow wingman. General Savage was very formal in how he communicated and demanded the respect and admiration from his group. He did this by enforcing the chain of command and setting the example both verbally and nonverbally in how he carried himself. Examining either commander’s communication style, one should also consider how each instilled a sense of discipline and
Colonel Davenport was concerned about the group completing their assigned mission. However, he allowed each aircraft commander to act with a certain level of autonomy on missions. This was observed and corrected by General Savage remanded a crewmember that violated group integrity during a mission. General Savage was a commander that ran the group as much by the book as any commander could. To demonstrate his seriousness in following protocol, any violators would be transferred to the Leper Colony with Lieutenant Colonel Gately. The Leper Colony was a creation of General Savage for Lieutenant Colonel Gately to demonstrate the importance of wingmanship and proper command presence. Given that the group was undermanned and underequipped, General Savage’s leadership methods were more effective than that of Colonel Davenport’s. However, a common struggle that each commander faced was that of defining “maximum effort”. Peace time operations can have periods of high operations tempo. However, after some time operations often subside and units resume normal operations. In war time, it is important as a commander to find the proper balance between maximum effort and overexertion/overuse of your followers and