Michael Scott Leadership Analysis

“The Office” is an American television comedy series that follows the office lives of a small paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The Scranton branch is the focus of the show, and throughout the nine seasons the audience is able to observe the dysfunctional office dynamic of this small firm. Michael Scott, played by Steve Carell, acts as the office manager for the majority of the show, and the viewers are able to laugh as he continually acts inappropriately in the workplace and provides memorably dumb quotes. For this reason, many downplay Michael as a poor leader taking on the role as a lovable fool in a manager position. However, after closer examination, Michael possesses several leadership qualities that are hard to see, and for this reason and despite his unconventional nature, he operates one of the most successful branches within the company while also maintaining close relationships with his team. For our assignment, we chose to examine the motivation tactics, idea creation, and team composition displayed by Michael in the show.

In class we began by defining what makes teams successful in a general sense. Establishing good roles and strategy is one of the ingredients of a good team, and as regional manager, Michael Scott acted as the one in charge of determining the right roles and strategy for the team. Successful teams also realize that each member has vital information…