Employee of the Month
“EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH” – from a HRM perspective THE PLOT: Vince Downey is the head cashier and winner of 17 consecutive Employee of the Month awards at Super Club. If he wins one more Employee of the Month, he will be put in the Super Club’s Hall of Fame and win a new car. Zack Bradley, who is the ultimate slacker, has been working at the Super Club for 10 years, and is still at the bottom job, working as a box boy. Then Amy enters the picture; she is a new cashier transferring in from another Super Club store. Amy has a reputation of dating men who have won Employee of the Month at the other store, so Vince and Zack want to date Amy.
Situation at the Company: Other employees are jealous of Vince’s success, possibly as a result of his aggressive behavior. An autocratic and fear-based style of leadership prevails in the company, with the corporate manager, Glenn Ross, being a bully to his younger brother, the bureaucratic store manager. Vince Downey’s character portrait goal-oriented even at the cost of ethics and office relationships aggressive towards co-workers disliked by most other employees of Superclub very motivated towards promotions and incentives.
Zach Bradley’s character portrait well-liked by colleagues doesn’t mind breaking office rules for benefit of customers and colleagues uses office property after office hours for personal purposes low motivation towards structured goals rebellious towards establishment (possibly due to past failure). His friends are work-shirkers like himself, although they portray surly attitudes towards customers, while Zach doesn’t. HRM CONCEPTS FOUND IN THE MOVIE: Maslow’s need hierarchy theory Source: http://www. abraham-maslow. com
The company aims to improve employee performance through need for self esteem. Zach initially aims for the award in order to win the affections of his female co-worker, Amy (physiological needs). Zach’s friend Iqbal advises him to aim for the employee of the month award not just for physiological motives, but for self actualization. This advice is what motivates Zach and helps him overcome his rebelliousness towards the establishment in the end. Employee Initiative During the course of the month, a sea change is visible in Zach’s attitude towards his job.
He shows initiative by volunteering for the vacant post of cashier at short notice. He also volunteers to solve management problems by finding storage space for mistakenly received goods. However, these activities, as well as his new perks, estrange him from his old colleagues. Leadership Skills He also shows leadership at the softball game at the end of the month, by motivating his team to win the game. But he breaks a promise to his colleague in doing so, which results in a loss of friendship with his old colleagues.
Ethical Conduct In the end of the story, Zach wins the Employee of the Month award through ethical means, and Vince is fired for his unethical behavior in course of aiming for the award. CONCLUSION: The movie portrays the work relationships and attitudes of Theory X motivated workers in a company, in a funny and entertaining way. However, a lot of crude humor and language, as well as sub-plots that demean women, are included in generous quantities, so feminists better find other alternatives to identify their HRM concepts in real life situations!
