918th Bomber Group Free Essay Example

The 918th Bomber group is radically transformed from being a “hard luck” group under Colonel Davenport to a successful group with pride and self confidence under Brigadier. Savage. The reasons for the dramatic turn around lie clearly in the differences in the leader ship style between the two men.

The analysis presented in this paper has been done with an aim to answer one fundamental question: “Why did Brigadier Savage succeed in transforming the 918th while Colonel Davenport fails? “. The differences in leadership style between the two men have been presented within the frame work of three main parameters: vision, organizational changes and human resource management.

Vision Colonel Davenport, while basically “a nice man”, has a myopic view of the 918th.

He is only able to see “mission to mission” and cannot foresee how the actions of his group play a role in the larger scheme of things, i. . , winning the war against Germany. As a result he is unable to notice the performance gaps of his group and how their dismal performance plays a role in the war against Germany at large.

Even his body language is one of resignation and lacks the contagious confidence that a leader needs to posses [1]. It is no surprise that the men in 918 under Davenport lack the pride and self esteem required for the job and give excuses to stay on the ground. Brigadier Savage on the other hand clearly sees the bigger picture.

As he says to Lieutenant Jesee Bishop after a successful mission “Sure we’re guinea pigs.

But if we hang on now, one day soon somebody is going to see a solid overcast of American Bombers on their way to Germany to hit the Third Reich where it lives”. He also understands that this “hard luck”, if left unchecked, could affect the rest of the 8th air force groups costing them the entire war. An interesting point worth discussing is how Brigadier Savage shared his vision with his group.

In fact when he assumes leadership he even rebukes the group for pondering “what does this all mean? [2] and it isn’t until the third mission that we hear him share his vision with Bishop. Remarkably his actions and confidence make the men realize for themselves what is at stake. When Savage announces towards the end of the movie that Germany would be the next target of the mission, there is a collective sense of jubilation on being entrusted with “the responsibility”. That the vision is shared by everyone is evident form the fact that even many members of the ground crew (Stovall, Mcillhenny, Padre) end up clandestinely flying on the mission to Germany.

Organizational Changes Unlike Davenport, Savage realizes the importance of flying at 9000 ft as opposed to 19000 ft. He realizes that this is very important for day light precision bombing to become a success []. However he also realizes that certain fundamental changes need to be made at the 918 for it to succeed even flying at 9000 ft. To this effect there are three critical changes that Savage does that have long term impacts on the 918th. One, he focuses on turning the 918 into a professional unit.

He scolds the guard at the entry post for not verifying his identity; he places Gately on arrest and demotes him from his position of Air Executive; he demotes Sergeant Mcillhenny to a Private for not wearing his uniform and promotes an accomplished man such as Cobb to the position of the Air executive. He is in essence signaling the message that in the “new organization” he will be holding them to a higher standard. Two, he introduces regular training and briefing sessions for the group to take them back to the basics. He stresses on tighter pattern formations and group integrity.

When Lieutenant Pettingly leaves the formation to help a crippled aircraft, he publicly scolds him and tells him that one B-17 leaving the formation reduces the fire power by ten guns and adds that a crippled air craft must be expendable (where as Pettingly’s commitment to his group is not). The effect of this is that he drives home the message that this is no longer a “friends helping friends” kind of organization that it used to be under Davenport but a military operation that needs to adhere to strict guidelines to function effectively.

In fact he immediately asks that room mates be changed for all his men so no personal affiliation are fostered that could jeopardize the mission. Finally, in the new organizational structure, Savage ensures that the men do not become dependent on him for flying their missions. He rotates the leader for each mission thereby ensuring that no one person becomes indispensable to the success of the mission. The impact of this is the culmination of the movie when Gately, an under performer initially, ends up leading and succeeding the important mission of destroying the German ball bearings factory.

Human Resource Management Unlike Davenport, Savage was very keen on using a system of punishments and rewards to manage resources and to overcome performance gaps. He demotes Gately and puts him in charge of a plane with misfits and under performers. Worse, he humiliates Gately by asking him to paint the words “Leper Colony” on his plane. In the long run the impact of this “cognitive dissonance” is remarkable. Gately strives hard to redeem himself (as evidenced by flying on missions even when his back was hurt) and in the end leads the group to a successful mission when Savage is unable to lead.

In terms of rewards, Savage is very careful about what he wants to reward. When all the pilots withdraw their transfer applications and Cobb suggests that they be given passes to London, he flatly refuses. He is keen on rewarding only actions that deserve to be rewarded. However, when the 918th is the only group that braves the weather (even after being recalled by General Pritchard) and ends up successfully destroying the enemy target, Savage cites radio malfunction to his superior (and adds that if he obtained such a chance again he may have radio malfunction again).

He also insists that General Pritchard recommend the group for a commendation for their actions. By doing this Savage is making the men realize that he will reward genuine accomplishments and that he will even risk fighting his superiors for his men. An interesting aspect of human resources management is how Savage solicits the help of two people in the 918 play crucial roles in its transformation. The first one is Adjutant Stovall who helps in delaying the transfer orders and provides Savage a much needed window of “ten days” to transform the 918.

The second person is Lieutenant Bishop who withdraws his transfer request which leads to all the pilots withdrawing their transfer requests. It is to Savage’s credit that he was able to win over key people in the organization (by making them share his vision) who then played important roles in turning the tide over. Conclusions Organizations need to be perceptive in selecting a leader that will fill the needs of the particular situation that they are facing. In the present case, while Davenport may have been a good manager, what the 918th needed was a visionary leader.

General Pritchard understood that when he gave Savage the job. While Savage’s approach of “tough love” may seem denigrating and out dated there are some crucial lessons in leadership that are still relevant today. To begin with a successful leader needs to have a vision and see how the actions of the group impact the bigger picture. The leader should also instill a sense of confidence and pride to the group he or she leads. Lastly, reward systems should be meaningful in that the group at large should clearly understand what is being rewarded so they can understand and exceed the expectations of the organization.

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