In the film The Bridge on the River Kwai, the leadership techniques and styles of the two key leaders, Colonel Saito and Colonel Nicholson, are in constant conflict . The two men have very different personalities and both come from conflicting cultural backgrounds. However, these two have a common goal: to build a bridge. The two men have conflicting leadership styles and approaches to achieving this goal. This film is a wonderful exploration of how leaders in conflict can eventually learn to work together to achieve a common goal. By studying the themes of leadership style, effectiveness, and power demonstrated by both leaders, we can see how these contradictory characters achieve their common goal. Colonel Saito and Colonel Nicholson demonstrate a different leadership style that is essential in military command and any other organization. unit. At the beginning of the film, it can be noted that there is a clash of egos and differences of opinion between Nicholson and Saito. Saito is determined to ensure that all men work, regardless of their setting, which is at odds with Nicholson's strict discipline which makes him assert that his men are not expected to offer manual labor. Their approaches to work management and project execution seem to differ and this can be highlighted as shown below. Colonel Saito behaves like a transactional leader while Colonel Nicholson shows himself to be a transformational leader. These styles can be supported by the fact that Colonel Saito attempts to command and direct from the front by forcing the English military prisoners to work alongside their men and he takes control when he feels that the engineer has no not provided the desired results (Bourke 65-8). Middle of paper...... aders bridging the gap between cultures and personalities. Saito and Nicholson were able to negotiate despite their different cultural influences and personalities in order to complete the task. Overall, Nicholson was successful in achieving his personal goal of retaining the pride of his troops while Saito lost his personal goal of trying to break the soldiers. This came at the expense of achieving his other personal goal: avoiding seppuku at all costs. Unfortunately, once men achieved their common goal, their success was destroyed by outsiders. Those who destroyed this cultural bridge were unaware of the bond between the two leaders and how hard they had worked to reach an agreement. Despite the bridge's destruction, Saito and Nicholson were able to appreciate their ability to collaborate together when it seemed impossible..