Review the 12 Angry Men video clips, create a Worddocument, answer the questions using supporting content from your text, then upload to the Assignments tab. Make sure to include your name and use page numbers in your paper.
Use the format below for your paper. Specifcally, list the Clip number and the original questions, along with your answers to each question.
Clip 1. The judge has given the jury their instructions. They have assembled in the jury room and are just settling down to the business at hand. This scene introduces us to most of jurors. You’ll probably recognize several of the actors. As you watch, notice the group roles being performed by the various jurors. It will probably be helpful to print out the group roles sheet in this week’s Content. It is very helpful to watch the clips more than once. Respond to each set of questions before going on to the next clip.
Specific task skills or roles can be broken down into:
- Initiator
- Information seeker
- Information giver
- Opinion seeker
- Opinion giver
- Elaborator
- Coordinator
- Orienter
- Evaluator-Critic
- Procedural technician
- Recorder
There were some discriminatory comments that will be interesting to follow up on in later clips and discussion. For now, answer the following questions. Be sure to support and justify your answer with examples or by explanations.
- Which group roles do you see being performed?
- Which Situational Leadership style does the foreman seem to be using?
- Which body language gestures and facial expressions did you notice, and how would you interpret their meaning?
Clip 2: As the group seems to be in the Storming stage, they continue to go around the table.
- Using the 5 approaches to conflict, how did the group – and/or individual members – deal with the conflicts we see in this segment?
- How was the challenge to the foreman’s leadership handled?
- Which nonverbals did you notice?
Clip 3. We learn more about the facts in the case in the following segment.
- Which roles do you see being performed here?
- Which nonverbals did you notice?
Clip 4. They have gone around the table and each person has had a turn. No one has changed their mind as we watch what happens next.
- Do you think the results would have been the same if the voting had been by show of hands instead of secret ballot?
- What is the group’s reaction to the results of the secret ballot?
- Which nonverbals did you notice?
- Which role was the older man who voted not guilty performing?
Clip 5. Although there is still conflict, the group has moved into the Performing stage.
- What about the dynamics of the group are different in this segment, that would indicate a move from Storming to Performing?
- Why do you suppose several of the men were playing tic-tac-toe?
- What do you notice about the conflicts in this segment, compared with the conflicts in previous segments?
Clip 6: The group continues to examine the evidence in the case. Most of them are now working collaboratively together.
- Which individual role is this member using?
- Who is the leader of this group now?
- Why do you think so?
- How would you describe the group’s cohesion now, compared with the beginning of the film?
- Give specific examples of behavior.
Clips 7 & 8. The jury continues to deliberate but seems to be stuck, when this scene opens. The noise of rain can be heard in the background.
- How are the conflicts in this segment different than those earlier in the film? Does it indicate a “slip” back into the Storming stage? Why or why not?
- Why do you suppose the foreman decided to use a hand vote this time and not a secret ballot?
- What type(s) of conflict – task, relationship, or process – do you see here?
- How has the group’s attitude toward diversity (that is, differences in background) changed since the beginning of the film?
- Which of the 4 leadership styles do you think the character played by Henry Fonda is using in the beginning of Clip 8?
The group goes on to discuss the possibility that since the woman saw the murder scene immediately after she got out of bed, she probably wasn’t wearing her glasses. The fact that she wasn’t wearing her glasses casts serious doubt, for most of the jurors, that she could have clearly seen the murder and identified the murderer. Two members change their vote to not guilty, leaving one lone juror voting guilty.
Clip 9. The picture that the lone juror tore up is of him and his son. He had previously said that he and his son hadn’t spoken for years, and that his son was “rotten”.
- Why do you suppose the lone juror changed his vote to “not guilty”?
- How were the dynamics of this jury similar to those of a work-related team?
- How were the dynamics here different than what we typically see on a work-related team?
