The White Rose and Tribal Leadership

Posted by Jo Murphy Jan 17, 2009

If teachers have read the book Tribal Leadership and have listened to the free download from Zappo's.com they may come to a point where they would like to introduce the concept of "Working as a Tribe" to their drama class.

This would not be an easy thing to do. Tact would be required when facilitating a process whereby students self assess their own ability to work together. With care a teacher could guide her class to a point where they may wish to assign themselves a level when engaging in group projects.

Using "Die Weiss Rose" as an Historical Example

The movie Die Weiss Rose [1982]provides Drama teachers with a perfect model with which to exemplify level four behaviour as descrbed in Tribal Leadership. [Logan et al 2008] The story of the White Rose is far enough removed from the everyday common experience of the average student, that it comfortably provides a context within which they can see the point of asigning levels of behaviour. There is little risk that the students take the point personally.

Stage Four cultures and leaders exhibit the following behaviors:

• A desire to work together will be stimulated once individuals have passed through stage 3 due to disenchantment with the limitations of personal success.
• Shared core values, which facilitates members of the group making decisions in line with a shared set of values.
• A "noble cause" as a shared goal.
• The use of "triads" to decentralize communication in contrast to stage 3 communication where knowledge is power.
• Using values and a noble cause to work toward an outcome, ensures that actions are informed by the values which flow toward that cause.

When discussing the movie, students wll be quick to see that Hitler experienced life from the point of view of a level three person. "I am great and you are not." They may find it harder though to pick their way through some of the trickier aspects of level four and five, when discussing baviours of the White Rose group of students.

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