12 ANGRY MEN

BLDR ASSIGNMENT

Submitted By:-
FAS Group: AJ1

Abhishek Sharma 15F603

Romit H. Gandhi 15S637
Krishna S. Savani 15S624
Sonam R. Singh 15S645
Vidur Mayor 15S652
Ques. 1. Who set the focus and what was it? Why do you say so? (Give a maximum of three
reasons) Not more than 6 lines.

Henry Fonda set the focus of the jury members of the case where a 16-year old boy was on
trial for the murder of his father. He was the only one out of the 12 jury member team who
had considered the possibility of the boy being not guilty. He set the focus on the possibility
of the boy being innocent as there was room for a reasonable doubt. He wanted to talk about
the facts of the case once again as he was not convinced of the evidences proving the boy's
guilt. He had pursued his doubts relentlessly yet patiently while listening with respect for the
other juror's opinions. By encouraging to have a discussion on the reasonable doubts he had
about the case, he helped the jury members focus and to remove any prejudice and biases
against the case and the boy.

Ques. 2. What are the Leadership competencies that created an impression on you? (focus more
on the core leadership competencies).

Following competencies had an impression on us

Managing Self Henry Fonda was calm and confident throughout the movie. Not
even once, did he lose his calm, or waver from his stand that there was a reasonable
doubt in prosecutors facts. Despite this strength of personal opinion, he was flexible
enough to hear others opinions out and discuss with them

Communicating and Influencing During the course of the movie, Henry Fonda only
spoke when he had a valid, logical point. He was able to align his thoughts, and
present them in a convincing manner. Based on only his communication and
influence, the vote changed in favor of not guilty, and he was able to build
collaborative relationships to turn the remaining ones

Presenting and solving problems The movie presents 2 very strong examples of the
analytical thinking exhibited by the protagonist

o The fact that the train would pass through the window in about 20 seconds,
and during that time, it would be making a lot of noise, and hence, the
statement of woman could not be taken as a fact
 o When he replicated the building plan and ran like the old man would, and
presented in front of others the fact that the old could not have been at the
stairs in such a short time

Fostering team work In the very beginning, he turned the old man sitting next to
him, and slowly, as the others turned to his side, he was able to work with them,
making them think about the situation and facts, and helped them contribute more

Empowering others Whenever there was a person who wanted to talk, but was not
allowed to, or who wanted to contribute but could not, Henry Fonda always gave the
right push and helped others speak out. He imparted confidence in others just by his
fierce, yet calm personality

Providing motivational support The strongest example of this competency is one of

the final scenes in the movie. We will just recreate it, to make the point the man who
gets easily excited breaks down about his son, started crying and accepts not
guilty. Everybody is quiet, jury gives the verdict, and all 11 men walk out. It is at this
point that our protagonist is in the room, and pats on the excited ones back lightly
and looks into his eyes to provide support. Despite all that happened, despite the man
being against the protagonist from the very beginning, he provides support, and this,
shows his competency.

Ques. 3. Elaborate on how the change was led by Henry Fonda keeping the steps of
change management in mind. (Apply only relevant steps. Be sure to read on Kotters 8
steps of change before answering this question).

The following steps of changes were applied during the course of the movie by Henry Fonda-

Creating Urgency In the very beginning of the movie, nobody was worried about
the boys life, and they were all determined to give a guilty verdict. It was Henry who
was the first one to suggest that he had doubts, and would want to discuss

Form a powerful coalition Nobody was with him in the beginning, but soon he made
a team, beginning with the old man sitting next to him, and later with the addition of
the guy who was brought up in slums. These were the people who initially stick
together, and later added more as the story progressed. They were the advocates of
change
 Create and communicate a vision for change These are 2 different steps according to
kotter, but we think that in this case, they went hand in hand. The vision that Henry
Fonda presented was that a young, 18 year old innocent could be sent to the gallows if
they did not discuss. This vision of jeopardizing a life by hurrying the verdict struck a
chord with others also

Remove obstacles This particular point was clearly evident during a lot scenes in the
movie. Whenever the discussion hit a roadblock, he would identify a person who was
not on his side and ask him to speak out the reason why he is voting for guilty.
When the man had spoken, Henry Fonda would then refute his facts by his own facts,
and turn him towards the not guilty side. He destroyed all the roadblocks in the same
manner

Create short term wins, build on the change and anchor change in corporate culture
According to our analysis, we do not think that these points are particularly relevant
in the context of this movie