Leadership Analysis - Devil Wears Prada

Nowadays, the number of women who are taking up leadership roles in their workplaces is increasing. The notion that says women are supposed to utilize feminine ways in their leadership roles is not always true. In some cases, there are some leaders who use masculine ways in performing their leadership styles. Miranda Priestly in the movie of The Devil Wears Prada is one of examples to illustrate how a female leader breaks traditional gender stereotypes and uses masculine leadership style.

The Devil Wears Prada is a snappy comedy-drama elevated above the normal summer fare by Meryl Streep's searing performance as fashion czarina, Miranda Priestly. The story is backed up with outstanding performances by Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt in supporting roles. As it is, The Devil Wears Prada is not dressed to kill, but considering its strong underlying structure, it is both pleasing to the audiences. The Devil Wears Prada is the story of the simple yet smart Andrea "Andy" Sachs, a Northwestern graduate, and her professional journey in the pursuit of her becoming a serious journalist. However, Andy had a chance to be interviewed for the job that was deadly wanted by a million girls at fashion magazine Runway, the fashion bible of New York. The position was not as a journalist, but to be the second assistant to the merciless editor-in-chief, Miranda Priestly. Under the consideration that she would get support to pursue other opportunities, even as a journalist, the job that she really wanted to have, Andy started performing her job of being Miranda's second assistant. This was the lure that enticed Andy to take the job, even though her intention was to be a writer, not an errand girl. However, she understood that she had to start at the bottom, and this was the way to do it. However, the thought that she had in mind to learn about the magazine business could hardly be achieved since her position primarily took care of Miranda's personal needs for 24/7. In this movie, Miranda Priestly is the impact character. What she wants, she has to get it, and she always wants it now. In other words, she does not care how her assistants to fulfill her needs. When she is questioned or disappointed or denied, her displeasure manifests itself in her stares and caustic remarks questioning Andy's worth to her. Andy almost gave up being her second assistant because her unrealistic expectations.

In the movie, Miranda Priestly, the editor-in-chief of Runway fashion magazine, uses masculine and authoritarian ways to do leadership. She is really unpleasant, direct, task-oriented, picky and demanding. All her subordinates viewed her as a devil boss. In addition to her dictator-leadership style, Miranda often asks her subordinates to do impossible task. For example, she asked Andy to get her jet during a hurricane. As a leader, she seldom praised all the good job performed by her subordinates and always used explicit forms in commenting or complaining about others. Miranda always judges and evaluates her subordinates, but no rewards or recognition given when her subordinates did a good job.

Another business ethical issue is stealing, which was illustrated when Miranda demanded that Andy to get the unpublished Harry Potter manuscript otherwise Andy would be fired. This impossible task of attaining unpublished material should have been the breaking point for Andy and it almost was when she called her boyfriend and said that she quit from the job, but from a business contact that had access to the manuscript, she was able to obtain that unpublished manuscripts. Andy felt relieved that she actually did something right, and then she found herself back in the culture that had shaped her recent norms and morals.

The way Miranda speaks showed clearly that her leadership style was a masculine one. When Miranda chaired meetings, it was relatively direct and fast way. Instead of waiting for others to come up with arguments or new ideas or solutions about the issues discussed, she kept getting the information that she needed in a very fast pace. Meetings are supposedly places to share and exchange information between teammates and making decisions what ideas are usable in the next publication. After her subordinates responded to the question, Miranda immediately asked another