Leadership
Apollo 13 Briefing Note
Introduction
The assessed Work is the Apollo 13 case – the relevant section of the film should be studied. This section begins about 46 minutes into the movie and lasts about 45
minutes. There are copies of the DVD in the library but each team may wish to purchase a copy as it is recommended that you view the relevant section of the DVD both
individually as a team – it is available from Amazon for less than £5. You may also find it on You Tube.
Below you will find the briefing note and the questions which we wish you to focus on
Background briefing
On April 11, 1970, astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and last-minute, less experienced replacement Jack Swigert (played respectively by Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton and
Kevin Bacon) blasted-off towards the moon. After almost three days of smooth operations, an oxygen tank onboard the craft blew up, sending the crews onboard and at
NASA’s Houston-based command center into overdrive to get the spacecraft back to Earth with its inhabitants alive. The explosion triggered a series of dilemmas, one
following another, that lasted several more days. They quickly lose oxygen, run out of power, and get exposed to dangerously high amounts of carbon dioxide.
Intensifying the situation is the fact that these mishaps catch the scientists and technicians at Mission Control by surprise, and they’re not sure how to remedy the
situation.
We focus on a section of the movie which concentrates on a critical part of the Apollo 13 mission. In addition to focusing on the astronauts, this part of the movie
features Gene Kranz the flight controller who is played by Ed Harris. To many he is the real hero of the mission. An important role is also played by Ken Mattingly who
had been replaced by Swigert 72 hours before launch because he had been exposed to chickenpox.
Upon its release the Apollo 13 movie was praised by many of those involved as a fair portrayal of what happened. Of course, the events are compressed and critical
moments are highlighted: but, the makers of the film did have access to a log of events as well as the voice recordings of the mission.
The main characters in the movie are as follows:
Jim Lovell Commander of Apollo 13
Jack Swigert Takes Mattingly’s place as Command module pilot
Fred Haise Lunar module pilot
Ken Mattingly Replaced by Swigert
Marilyn Lovell Jim Lovell’s wife
Gene Kranz Prime Flight Controller.
Your task is to identify and assess the leadership skills on display. To do this we use the Taxonomy of Leadership Skills advanced by the renowned leadership scholar
Gary Yukl.
This groups the skills as follows: Technical Skills, Interpersonal Skills, Conceptual Skills.
Tasks and Questions
1 Set out your understanding of Yukl’s ‘Taxonomy of Leadership Skills’.
2 Demonstrate your understanding of Yukl’s Technical skills by answering question below
• Once the accident happened how did flight controller Gene Krantz rely on the skills and expertise of his people?
