12 Angry Men

We watched "12 Angry Men" today in Organizational Behavior. It is about a jury of twelve beginning their discussion with eleven on the guilty side and one, Henry Fonda, on the non-guilty side. As the movie progresses, Henry Fonda eventually leads each of the eleven over to his side of the argument, helping them see a way that there are completely unable to think about in the beginning of the movie. I thought it was intriguing because of the way some of the men acted. Many had such quick tempers and jumped to conclusions and to their own defense. I thought this was very interesting as it connected to the readings that we also had to do today. People always have their own motives and when attempting to work in a group, this will not work. People have to come to the table open-minded and with equal participation. Some men spoke down to others in a way that was unfair and belittled opinions. Henry Fonda spoke mildly and never raised his voice, but also didn't back down and was open to listening to what others thought... as long as they weren't shouting. It's definitely important to take that into consideration. If you want your opposing party to seriously listen to you and think about what you're saying, you cannot yell at them or degrade them. It is vital that, as Henry Fonda had, an educated, yet unbiased and willing-to-be-challenged mind is necessary to have a reasonable conversation with parties that do not agree. And maybe you will change their mind... or eleven minds.