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Miranda Priestly displayed unhealthy motivations through the film. She communicated non-verbally her negative reactions to others. She was selfish and in being so, she put other down. Narcissism was expressed through being unkind and callous toward others not in positions of power. She was very controlling and manipulative. She was greedy and did everything she could to retain her power.
2. How did Miranda display the shadow of power? What scenes or aspects of the movie provided examples of this?
When she has set these expectations that her coffee be ordered, that her magazines be just so, that all the preview of the clothing not being good enough, she displays the shadow of power. She makes decisions that affect many people in a huge way simply because she can and probably wants the attention and feeling that come along with that power.
3. What ethical challenges to followers (from Box 1.3, Johnson pp. 25-26) did Andy and others face? Did they meet those challenges well or poorly? Why do you think so? How did their interactions, with Miranda and/or others, communicate their ethical and/or unethical followership?
The challenge of obedience, also the challenge of obligation -- how far should you go? To give up everything in order to please Miranda. This was met in that Andy was obedient, but it caused her personal life to suffer.
The challenge of bad news -- Andy faced this when Miranda made her choose to go to Paris or lose her job. She also made Andy tell Emily, then told Andy that she had chosen to go to Paris to get ahead and put Emily down. Andy also met the challenge of bad news by telling her the change that was coming into the magazine. Andy was chose to be loyal to Miranda.
4. What contextual pressures, of the organization and broader culture, contributed to the problematic leader-follower dynamics in the movie? On a more general basis, how might leaders and followers guard against unacceptable influences of such contextual pressures?
-False consensus. No one was willing to speak up, implying agreement, which can be harmful to the Company and industry because people just allow it to continue to be the way it is.
-Physical appearance and the pressure and emphasis placed on it contributes to the dysfunctional nature of the industry.
-The gender culture -- the male/female dynamic and the societal expectations that come with a female leader. Things would have been different and be viewed differently if she were a man.
-We creat textual pressures by the way we act in organizations.
