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Understanding management through analysing films and television

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Stephen Allen September 2017

Understanding management through analysing films and television programmes

[Please cite as - Allen, S. (2017) 'Understanding management through analysing films and television programmes'
Unpublished]

"But, I signed up for a business degree not film studies!"

This was what one rather frustrated undergraduate student said to me whilst I was teaching a
module exploring ideas about management and organisations by analysing film and television
programmes. I suppose that the student's comment is a fair one in many ways. There are not many
Business and Management School modules that use the analysis of film and television as the key
resource for students’ learning. Consequently, like any significant departure from the expected or
traditional way of doing things, some substantial explanation is generally sought about the benefits
of taking a different approach from some of the more accepted forms, such as case studies. That is
where this chapter will begin, by explaining the value of drawing on film and television as a key
resource to help us learn about managing and being managed. After I have made the case for film
and television as an excellent resource to help to reflect on our assumptions about and images of
'good' and 'bad' management, I will then introduce four approaches to analysing films and television
programmes which can help you to learn about and interrogate key ideas about managing, working
and organising. The chapter is concluded with a suggested process to work through when applying
the approaches to develop your analysis. Hopefully at the end of the chapter you will understand
the potential value of considering film and television as a business and management student and
will feel some enthusiasm to getting started and developing your skills of analysis.

The significance and value of film and television in management education

"The sheer scale and potential impact of this powerful medium [film and television] in
shaping our understanding of the world and who we are within it ... provides a reasonably
good argument for studying how it represents management and organization" (Bell, 2008, p.
1).

Although people are spending more of their time on the internet, in the UK the average person is
suggested to watch as much four hours of television per day1. Which means that the sounds and
images we encounter through watching films and television are significant to how we develop our
perceptions about people, places and organisations (Bell, 2008). Consequently, interest in how our
views about management and organisations are informed by 'popular culture' as expressed and
produced through film and television has grown over recent years (Bell & Sinclair, 2016;
Panayiotou, 2010; Parker, 2017). This growing interest has meant that the analysis of films and
television programmes is now well established as a highly valuable resource to students wanting to
learn about management and business. There are a range a reasons why analysing film and
television programmes is a particularly valuable aspect of education about management and
organisations.

Reason 1: To see places and ways of life that we would otherwise not know
Although as we will explore, we need to be careful not to read the places and people that we
encounter through films and television programmes as 'real', they do provide us with a view upon
"places and ways of life we might not otherwise know" (Bordwell & Thompson, 2013, p. 2). This

1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-28677674 (Accessed Sept 7th, 2017)

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includes the possibility of offering us a historically located view which would otherwise not be
accessible, and can help us appreciate changes over time. Or, seeing people performing
organisational roles which we may otherwise not be exposed to, for example "see[ing] authority
figures, such as senior managers or Chief Executive Officers, either exalted or deflated" (Bell, 2008,
p. 33). In the pursuit of entertainment and comedy, characters in films and televisions programmes
can be performed to give us 'extreme' views of managers, for example in the film 'Wolf of Wall
Street'. Taking these as 'real' can mean we become blinkered in our analysis, but considering these
as extremes and analysing the ways they are depicted and how they reproduce certain stereotypes of
management can be highly valuable.

Reason 2: An accessible medium

Films and television programmes are developed to be watched and to entertain. Consequently,
using films and television as part of teaching can offer an engaging and different way to explore
management and organisations alongside other materials such as books, journal articles and case
studies. As Billsberry, Charlesworth and Leonard explain "this material [films and television
programmes] depicts a more complete and more complex picture of work and working life than
management cases and other classroom-bound forms of teaching" (2012, p. xiii). Also, as Hobbs
suggests using popular media such as films and television "help[s] build connections between the
discourse of the classroom and the contemporary cultural world" (1998, p. 262). Although it can be
challenging to change what can be seen as our 'effortless' relationship with watching films and
television programmes to an intellectual and analytical basis for learning (Hobbs, 1998).

Reason 3: Helps us to empathise with characters and situations

Emotions represented in film and television programmes create and an emotional response felt by
the spectator (Bordwell & Thompson, 2013). In so doing helping us to see characters responses to
situations, in this case involving work and management, as well as our own emotional responses to
characters and the situations we see in film and television. Film makers may seek to tap into certain
typical emotional responses (e.g. "smile at a gurgling baby and recoil from acts of torture"
(Bordwell & Thompson, 2013, p. 57)) to draw us in and seek to manipulate how we feel about and
respond to aspects of the storyline, characters or context. The emotional connections we make to
films and television programmes can help us to reflect upon how we might feel about and react to
similar situations that we may encounter in real life. Such as "encountering a male film character in
late middle age who has been working in the same organization for twenty years can help us to
anticipate feelings about work that a younger viewer might not experience first hand for several
decades" (Bell, 2008, p. 33).

Reason 4: To explore how popular culture can shape our expectations and attitudes
Through watching films and television, as a medium which is often seeking to draw us in
emotionally and entertain, we may feel that we want to emulate (or disassociate with) what the
characters are doing and how they behaving. As Bell suggests "film characters can also provide us
with models of behaviour which can be imitated" (2008, p. 33). The influences might also extend to
shaping our attitudes to what types of jobs we see as valuable and worth doing. As Bell describes:

"Through seeing what people in films desire, such as demanding, high-status career where
they wear expensive suits, get promoted, exercise power over others and earn lots of money,
we learn to desire these things from our own everyday experiences of working, managing
and being managed. Conversely, when we see things in film that apparently make people
unhappy in their working lives, such as working in a routine clerical job where there is no
excitement or possibility of promotion, we learn not to desire this kind of work for

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ourselves .. the fictionalised representations we watch on screen are significant in

determining our behaviour in an everyday sense" (2008, pp. 25–26).

The complexities of analysing management in film and television

Although we can appreciate film and television programmes as important for conveying meaning
about managing, working and organising they are complicated mediums to analyse and assess, in
large part because of the overlapping purposes of being an 'art' and 'business' (Bordwell &
Thompson, 2013). Where art can be understood as relating to challenging the viewers' or readers'
perceptions of how they see people and society, and business being concerned with making
productions attractive and gratifying enough to become widely watched (Bordwell & Thompson,
2013). Consequently, producing film or television as art or business, or most likely a combination,
can be associated with different intentions of those producing it which means completing our
analysing will be in some way dependant on our assessment of how much it can be understood as
art and how much as business. However, the underlying idea is that films or television programmes
are conveying messages and meaning to us (the audience) which is intended by the producers that
we can analyse and reflect upon. Which means that exploring the ways management is represented
and expressed through film and television provides us with some rich resources to think about
management in its different contexts (historical, social and ecological) and the various cultural
influences on how it is portrayed to us, and how we perceive it. Although, as already mentioned,
we must be careful not to see the managers and those being managed in film and television as 'real',
but to analyse the ways in which they represent and embody different ideas about working and
managing.

To give a simple example, images from the hit TV programmes like 'Friends' might give us an
impression that if we were to move to New York, where the programme is set, we will inevitably
find ourselves an impressive and spacious apartment as that is how living in New York appears to
us. We may not have been there so how could we know any differently. Whereas in reality what is
possible and affordable as accommodation, if you are not doing a job that is highly paid, is most
likely a 'shoe box' of an apartment in a far off corner of the city. Hence we need to shift our
attention away from seeing the film as representing some particular place, or organisation, which
we can comment on as 'good' or 'bad' just like the city or town in which we live, to thinking about:
Why is it represented in this way? What assumptions and ideas are being communicated about the
people and places? To continue the example, the spacious apartment may be partly about the
technicalities of filming in this primary space (or stage) of the programme, but also about showing a
certain comfort or affluence of living which can be appealing to viewers who might aspire to a
lifestyle involving being financially successful, living with attractive friends in a big city, a place of
excitement and opportunity. By developing these appreciations we can start to draw on a television
programme, in this case Friends, to reflect on our ideas and aspirations about working in order to
learn more about the challenges and possibilities associated with future career choices we might
make.

To explore ideas and images in teaching about management and organisations through drawing on
films and television programmes Hobbs (1998) suggests understanding that the 'messages are
constructions' is a key appreciation. What Hobbs means by this is that films and television
programmes "are created by authors or producers who have complex motivations, goals and
purposes" (1998, p. 266). Consequently, it is important to be aware that the producers have certain
motivations and so are selective about how the film or television programme is produced and the

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way they use "techniques to attract attention and inspire emotional response" (p. 266). Additionally,
producers’ motivations are culturally located (such as relating to art versus business) so they are
developing the messages that they want to convey through film and televisions in relation to living
within certain societies that may have some particularly dominant ideas, in the case of our main
interests, about management and organisations. As Bell suggests "because films tend to reflect the
economic and social conditions within which they are produced and disseminated, historical
changes in the structure of these myths are likely to be reflective of the changes in dominant social
institutions of the time" (2008, p. 25). For example, negative attitudes towards 'big business' and a
cynicism about the ethics of people working for such organisations will be informed by the social
and economic circumstances such as the financial crisis of 2007-8 relating to excessive risk taking
and so aversion to large financial institutions.

The examples included and focus of this chapter is substantially about British and North American
film and television in English as I grew up and have spent most of my life living in the UK. Of
course television and film is produced across the world in many different languages and would also
be open to the analysis and reflection that I encourage in this chapter. However, like us all my view
of the world is limited. Although with the dominance of ideas and theories from the UK and North
America in studying management and business, analysing film and television that is substantially
from these two geographies is perhaps particularly interesting due to the continuing influence of
media from these places on other parts of the world. As Bell states in her book which explores
reading management and organization in film "although this book attempts to incorporate a range of
cultural perspectives, the majority of films analysed originate from the United States, reflecting
cultural understanding of work and management that are specific to this society. Consequently, film
tends to be somewhat ethnocentric, encouraging a view of management and organization based on a
predominantly Western, Anglo-Saxon perspective" (Bell, 2008, p. 3). Including examples to bring
greater national cultural and perhaps organisational cultural diversity to explore ideas about
management would undoubtedly be a valuable addition. Particularly, as Panayiotou (2010)
describes in her analysis of male managers in a selection of Hollywood films, there can be limited
variety to how managing is depicted:

"A manager is constructed in very concrete, perhaps even stereotypical, ways in popular
films: managers are heterosexual, foul-speaking men who show their financial power
through the objects they buy—clothes, cars and women. They like to control those around
them and their own bodies; managers can go without food, although interestingly they must
satisfy their greed through power and sex. They work many hours (although they say they
do not believe in ‘hard work’), have no home other than the office and devalue formal
education." (Panayiotou, 2010, p. 671)

Analysing films and television programmes

Four approaches (aesthetics, semiotics, genre and ideology, and role of audience) are next presented
to introduce some key possibilities which might be chosen when seeking to analyse films or
television programmes (Bell, 2008). They are intended to give an analytical basis to how you go
about making sense of the meanings of films and televisions programmes and how this helps us to
learn about, and reflect upon, managing and being managed. Like any approach to research to show
the quality of your work you need to have a rationale for the choices that you make about your
processes of analysis, alongwith a clear explanation of how these methods inform the findings from
your analysis. By presenting these approaches I am not seeking to overlook the complexity of film

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and media studies, but the focus here is more upon the form and style of films and televisions
programmes than on considering the technicalities of their production. I have developed some key
associated questions under each type of approach to help you to consider how you might draw on
each approach when analysing films or television programmes. These approaches are intended to
give you a good basis to develop your analysis so that you can thoroughly consider the ways in
which management and work are portrayed. Completing such an analysis will give you a basis to
explore the ideas and assumptions that you have about meanings and practices associated with
managing and how these inform your everyday choices. After presenting the four key ways of
reading film and television programmes I present a way for thinking about the stages and processes
involved in developing a high quality analysis.

1. Aesthetics

The idea of a narrative is central to how meanings are communicated through the duration of films
and television programmes. Narrative refers to ideas of story and telling a story, "a chain of events
linked by cause and effect" (Bordwell & Thompson, 2013, p. 73) or a pattern of activities which we
can relate together into an understandable whole. Bell explains that "aesthetic analysis is concerned
with the meanings [and messages] which can be attributed to a film [or television programme],
which may be more or less explicit" (Bell, 2008, p. 14). Being explicit would involve meanings or
themes 'directly' communicated through the narrative of the film or television programme, and
implicit would be meaning indirectly suggested or inferred. In film analysis Bordwell and
Thompson (2013) suggest that there are four different types of meaning which can be understood
when exploring aesthetics. These meanings vary, between those that we are guided to by the
producers, and others that we find ourselves:

a. What is the overall plot or storyline (the main messages communicated)?

Referential meaning refers to a "very concrete, close to a bare-bones plot summary" (Bordwell &
Thompson, 2013, p. 58). The meanings are understood as 'referential' as they "refer to things or
places invested with significance in the real world" (Bordwell & Thompson, 2013, p. 58).

In relation to Wall Street (1987) Bell (2008, pp. 14–15) gives the following example:
"A young man from a working class background struggling to build a career gets a job which
brings financial success and status. He is asked by his boss to obtain information about companies
illegally, betraying his own father by using information about the film where he has been employed
for many years. Only when he realises his boss plans to liquidate his father's company does he
realise the error of his ways and seek to bring his corrupt mentor to justice"

b. What main messages are being communicated by the producers?

Explicit meaning relates to how you might respond "if someone were to ask you the point of the
film – what it seems to be trying to get across" (Bordwell & Thompson, 2013, p. 58) which may
well include multiple and potentially contradictory meanings which are associated with different
aspects of the storylines (narrative), characters or contexts of the film or television programme.

In relation to Wall Street (1987) Bell (2008, p. 15) gives the following example:
"A young man is corrupted by an older, highly successful man whom be admires into believing that

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'greed is good' and hard work is 'not enough' in the intensely competitive world of finance. In the
process he realises how important that value instilled in him by his father are to his identity"

c. What main messages do you understand from the film or television programme?

Implicit meaning - "When perceivers ascribe implicit meanings ... they're usually said to be
interpreting it" (Bordwell & Thompson, 2013, p. 59). As this type of meaning refers to viewers'
processes of interpretation implicit meanings will likely vary.

In relation to Wall Street (1987) Bell (2008, p. 15) gives the following example:
"A young man's need for social recognition and esteem is not fulfilled through material wealth and
status symbols but instead through the values of family, hard work and honesty communicated to
him by his father"

d. How can you relate themes in the film or television programme to social trends or issues?

Symptomatic meaning refers to how the film can be understood in relation to societal trends and
social ideology (the set of values that are revealed). As Bordwell and Thompson (2013) explain
"many meanings of films are ultimately ideological; that is, they spring from systems of culturally
specific beliefs about the world. Religious beliefs, political opinions, conceptions of race or gender
or social class, even our most deeply seated notions of life's values – all these constitute our
ideological frame of reference" (2013, p. 60).

In relation to Wall Street (1987) Bell (2008, p. 15) gives the following example:
"In a society which explicitly promotes the idea that hard work and determination inevitably leads
to career and economic success, those who are unable to attain this ideal can take comfort from the
love and support they receive from their family"

2. Semiotics

a. What images and objects are associated with how managers and those being managed are
depicted?

Semiotics is about appreciating the role of signs and symbols in films or television programmes and
how they signify. or give meaning to who managers are, or what managing entails (Bell, 2008).
Such signs and symbols might relate to the clothes that are worn by different organisational
members (e.g. suits, ties, overhauls, short skirts), objects which they use or possess (e.g. jewellery,
cigars, sports cars, briefcases), and the physical space of organisation (e.g. skyscrapers, factory
floor, desks in cubicles). These aspects can be read as signifiers (or metaphors) of what being a
manager or working in a particular role or organisation means and are used in films or television
programmes to give particular meanings by making associations. Signifiers move attention to one
set of ideas and associations about management and in so doing move them away from others. If
we consider the Competing Values Framework (Quinn, 2011) and the various ideas about managing
that this informs then different signifiers relate to certain ideas about management. For example,
managers implied as wealthy through suits, jewellery, watches and sports cars may help to signify a
'rational goal' management model with manager as 'director and producer' removed from those
people 'below' who need direction and control. Hence trying to read and analyse these images and

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objects can help us to explore the assumptions we and others make about who managers are and
what managing involves.

b. How does the way the film or television programme is produced, i.e. camera angles (close up,
wide angle etc.) and movement between shots and scenes, help to communicate meanings about
management and organisations?

Another aspect which Bell (2008) associates with semiotics, could appear to be overly technical to
consider in an analysis of management in film and television. However, the ways in which images
are presented to us through the filming can be significant to the meaning conveyed and hence the
ways in which managing is depicted and understood. For example, Berger (2005, p. 34) considers
some ways that camera work and editing techniques can signify and inform meaning.

Signifier Definition Signified (meaning)

Pan down Camera looks down Power, authority
Pan up Camera looks up Smallness, weakness
Dolly in Camera moves in Observation, focus
Fade in Image appears on blank screen Beginning
Fade out Image screen goes blank Ending
Cut Switch from one image to another Simultaneity, excitement
Wipe Image wiped off screen Imposed conclusion

Such camera techniques are potentially important for how we make sense of the relations between
organisations and societies and the historical, social and ecological contexts of those managing and
being managed. Whilst these could appear overly subtle and issues that are more appropriate to be
considered by producers of film and television programmes than students of management,
recognising their involvement in producing meaning can be crucial in our analysis. For example, at
the beginning of the Hudsucker Proxy when Norville Barnes (the lead character), a recent business
college graduate arrives in New York City looking for a job, he is shown looking a job board with
many opportunities flashing past all requiring experience. Disheartened he finds himself standing
on his own as those around him have left (inferring that they have gone to apply to the available
jobs based on them having suitable work experience). The camera shot switches to an overhead
looking directly down upon him from several metres above, he picks up his case and shuffles away,
appearing to us as a small, insignificant and ordinary figure on the street of New York City. This
can be appreciated as conveying a very different meanings and associations about power and
importance as compared to the later camera pan which draws out to reveal the huge towering office
building in which Hudsucker Industries is located (the company around which the film is based)
inferring its scale and significance. Consequently, like the other aspects of analysis discussed in
this chapter we can move away from being passive accepting observers of film and television to
asking questions about the meanings of how management and organisations are portrayed and so
how we and others hold expectations about what becoming and behaving like a manager might
entail.

3. Genre and ideology

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a. How does the film or television programme relate to ideas and theories about management?
And, what is common or uncommon with the ways this differs from other depictions of managing
and organisations?

Genre in film studies generally refers to the 'kind' or 'type' i.e. science-fiction, action, comedy,
musical etc. (Bordwell & Thompson, 2013). Understanding genres is seen to be important to
appreciating and analysis the differing conventions, "recurring elements" (Bordwell & Thompson,
2013, p. 331) associated with film production. These dimensions may well be important to
understanding the depiction of management in film and television, however genre in this sense is
probably not as focal as other elements for students interested in analysing management through
film and television. As Bell states:
"Thematic content is expressed through recurrence of certain topics, such as the meaning of
work, the desire for career success, the fear of technology or the evil of bureaucracy. It is by
focusing on the thematic aspect of the genre that we are able to identify the ideologies of
management and organisation as communicated by it." (Bell, 2008, p. 24).

What this means is that we are more interested in the genres of management that we can appreciate
(such as the different management models of the Competing Values Framework (Quinn, 2011) or
Morgan's (2006) 'Images of Organisation') rather than the different genres of film. So in this sense
the themes of management can be related to certain ways of understanding and appreciating the
meanings and practices of management. What I mean by this is how we can relate the themes of the
films and television programmes to theories of management and what we can understand from the
re-occurrence or absence of certain themes across films and television programmes. As introduced
in this chapter the importance of film and television to understanding our world means noticing how
certain themes, relating to certain ideas and theories about management, can be very revealing.
This is because we inevitably find some images and ideas (perhaps performed by a character we
want to emulate) about managing more influential.

By privileging particular views we shape our aspirational behaviours about being a 'good' manager
or employee. For example, exploring how managers are regularly depicted as self-interested and
seeking to dominate their subordinates (such as in The Wolf of Wall Street, Office Space and The
Devil Wears Prada) opens up questions about the ways 'successful' managers work to succeed
within a taken-for-granted Darwinian world of 'survival of the fittest'. Connecting with, for
example, particular ideas that see organisation as 'instruments of domination' whereby selfish
interests are pursued at the expense of others (Morgan, 2006). However, as Bell (2008) suggests,
analysing genres in relation to theories about management and organisation can be challenging as
there can be variety portrayed within a film or television programme. Consequently, when we are
analysing with attention to genre, we need to appreciate how the depiction of management can shift
between different and potentially competing ideas about management. For example, as per the
earlier example of Wall Street 'bad' unethical management and life choices (e.g. the pursuit of
financial wealth at all costs) can be set against 'good' ethical choices (e.g. valuing family relations
as more important than financial success). Hence moving between what might be seen (referring to
the Competing Values Framework (Quinn, 2011)) as a 'rational goal model' that sees the profit
making organisation as the centre of the universe, to one of 'open systems' that de-centres the
organisation to be embedded within, and in need of being appreciative of, a web of social and
ecological relations. Our analysis can help us to place ourselves in the situations in which the
characters of film and television are faced and gives us opportunities to reflect on our own choices
and associated assumptions about work and managing.

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b. How does the way that managers and those being managed are portrayed relate to societal
ideologies (e.g. consumerism)?

Analysing ideologies (a set of beliefs or principles) can be understood as similar to, as just explored,
how films and television programmes portray certain themes of management. When discussing
'symptomatic meaning' under aesthetics we saw how this aspect of analysis involved understanding
the film or television programmes in relation to social trends and ideologies which are informed by
differing value perspectives. This attention to symptomatic meaning overlaps with considering
ideologies associated with images and depictions of management which can be understood in
relation to "our ideological frame of reference" (Bordwell & Thompson, 2013, p. 60) and the socio-
cultural values which underpin it. Consequently, there is a comparison to the values associated with
the views of management portrayed which we can diagnose and explore using conceptual tools such
as the 'Competing Values Framework' (Quinn, 2011) or 'images of organisation' (Morgan, 2006).
Hence we can explore how a film and television programme represents management in respect of a
range of possibilities, and how chosen possibly as presented as positive or negative. For example –
in reference to the competing values framework – presenting management as a hierarchical process
of command and control ('rational goal') versus showing the manager as mentor and facilitator who
promotes participation and consensus ('human relations'). A film or television programme may do
this as a form of comedy to make the controlling manager appear self-absorbed and unethical (Bill
Lumbergh in Office Space), or provide humour by portraying managerial attempts at engaging and
motivating employees as inept and cringe-worthy (for example, David Brent in the 'The Office' UK
television series).

In the different depictions of management in films and television programmes certain values can
become naturalised (i.e. seen as normal or expected). Some examples are: white men as senior
managers (for example, in Hudsucker Proxy - albeit with some humour); successful women in
organisations as a 'career bitch' (for example, Meredith Johnson in 'Disclosure'; Karen Crowder in
'Michael Clayton'); and challenge conventions of expected relations between managers and
subordinates (for example, the 'New Tricks' television series where senior police officers authority
is regularly challenged by subordinates). By paying attention to the different values which are
associated with and challenged by depictions of management, which like genres will have variety
and overlap different ideologies, we can not only explore what they reveal about the meaning and
practices of management, but reflect on our analysis to challenge our assumptions about
management, which are embedded in ideologies about good and ethical societies and organisations.
As mentioned in the introduction because films and televisions programmes tend to be evocative
and emotive they give us the opportunity to place ourselves in relation to them, which we can draw
upon to help to prompt our self-awareness and learning.

c. How does this presentation of ‘real’ or fictional situations relate to everyday (work) situations,
and help you to reflect on those situations?

This aspects of analysis is about being closely attentive to seeing films and television programmes
as something that is distinctive from our social and work realities i.e. focusing on considering what
we can understand through analysing how management is depicted as opposed to considering how
well films and television represent social and work realities. Consequently, being attentive to some
of the recurring and dominant themes that appear in relation to managers and organisations across
film and television can help us to reflect on how these types of people, work and organisations are
regarded by society and how these can be substantially aligned to certain view points that might
elevate managers to heroes or villains. In doing so we do need to be aware of the desire for film

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and television to entertain, and so the associated exaggeration and sensationalism which is often
present. However, whilst characters or organisations may be portrayed in extreme ways to add to
the humour or hard-hitting quality there is still much we can reflect upon and consider in relation to
how these mass communication mediums inform and disrupt images and perspectives about
managing and being managed. For example, Hassard and Holliday (1998) give some examples of
dominant themes in film related to organisations. One such example is the 'entrepreneurial success
story' (e.g. Big (1998), The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) and The Secret of my Success (1987)) which
they describe to:

"take organisations as their focus and portray them as boring, unadventurous, mechanical
institutions, rife with internal wrangling and powerplays, organised by corrupt managers
whose financial motives outstrip ethical concerns for the health of 'the company'. Into these
scenarios come oddballs, social misfits, outsiders, who transform the organisation and its
members through enthusiasm, creativity and entrepreneurialism. These characters' lack of
cultural capital and naivete in the business world is exactly what contributes to their
eventual success. But the organisation is portrayed as their 'home' - the place where they
can best achieve what they have the potential to be" (Hassard & Holliday, 1998, p. 8).

4. Role of audience

a. How do your interpretations about what is happening and being communicated about
management differ from other peoples'?

Exploring the role of the audience, i.e. us the viewer, in our analysis is an acknowledgement that
based on our different life experiences and the societies in which we live we will interpret films and
television programmes in different ways. Which means that the meanings we find in films and
television programmes may be distinctive to those intended by the producers (as mentioned above
the differences between explicit and implicit meaning). Comparing and contrasting the differing
interpretations we may have not only adds to the potential depth and richness of any analysis, but
also opens up possibilities for conversations with others to explore our different ways of making
sense of films and television programmes. Doing so can help us to reflect on our perspectives and
appreciate how people and events in our past have become significant influences on how we might
think about work, organisations and management. We can also find others' interpretations via their
reviews of films and television to compare with our own via internet sites such as IMDb
(www.imdb.com) or Rotten Tomatoes (www.rottentomatoes.com).

How viewers find meanings in film and television programmes relates to the different associations
we make with certain events, institutions, people or objects. For example, if you grew up in the UK
the way in which you might understand and make associations and so meanings from the 1982 war
with Argentina over the Falkland Islands may differ significantly from somebody who grew up in
Argentina. The ways those events would be portrayed in popular media in the two countries to
reflect to the different national interests would likely give differing view points and feelings about
the war. Bell (2008, p. 35) refers to the work of Hall (1980) and three different ways of
understanding the relationship between the encoder (producers of the film of television programme)
and decoder (the viewer). Hall refers to the types of associations of meaning as codes and coding.

1. Dominant-hegemonic – when the viewer fully shares the codes in the film or television
programme so accepts the preferred or intended reading.

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For example, in viewing Jerry Maguire (1996) we would accept the meaning of how it is
challenging to live out your ethical values in the corporate world and that love and friendship
is more important than money and career, but ultimately you can find a balance.

2. Negotiated – where the viewer partly shares the codes and so broadly accepts the preferred
reading "but sometimes modifies it in a way which reflects their social position, experiences
and interests" (Bell, 2008, p. 35).

For example, in viewing Jerry Maguire (1996) we could accept that love and friendships is
more important than money and career, but that finding a 'successful balance' between them in
the corporate world is impossible.

3. Oppositional – where the viewer's "social situation places them in a directly oppositional
relation to the dominant code, understands the preferred reading but rejects this in favour of
an alternative frame of reference" (Bell, 2008, p. 35).

For example, in viewing Jerry Maguire (1996) we could see the depiction of a significant
imbalance in gender roles with a women, Dorothy Boyd, being largely passive and submissive
to the whims and associated highs and lows of a man who is the one who can decide to make
the relationship and family succeed or fail based on how he is feeling about his career.

Processes of analysis

So far in this chapter we have considered the value of analysing film and television in the study of
management and organisations. Then we have looked at four approaches to analysing film which
enable us to develop our understanding about the meanings that others attach to, and that we
interpret about, different aspects of managing and organising. Such approaches allow us to explore
how we are understanding film and television and how these can be helpful in prompting reflection
about our assumptions and values associated with work and management and so inform our
understanding of management and future practice. In this final part of the chapter we will consider
a process by which we can complete our analysis of film and television programmes with quality
and rigour.

Denzin (2004) describes a process involving four phase which we can use to organise our analysis
of films and television programmes. An adapted version of this is presented below. Throughout
completing such an analysis you need to keep track of the choices that you are making (i.e. noting
down the steps you have taken) so that alongside your findings about the management themes and
issues that your are exploring you can give a clear description of the analytical processes that you
followed to interpret your selected film or television programme. The adapted version of Denzin's
(2004, pp. 241–242) is presented as one possible way of think about how to structure your analysis.
However, dependent on the aims of your investigation and whether you are working with others or
not you will need to develop processes which means that when you write about what you did there
is a coherence and logic to how you have undertaken your analysis. To show the quality of your
work clearly explaining how you arrived at your findings is as important as the findings that you
want to present. Indeed if you don't tell people what you did then it will likely appear that your
findings have appeared out of fresh air, and so lack quality.

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1. Phase One: 'Looking and feeling'

a) Watch the film or television programme in its entirety
b) Record your impressions and reactions as you are watching
c) Write down questions that occur to you about what you are watching
2. Phase Two: 'What question(s) are you asking?'
a) What is the main attention(s) of your analysis (e.g. gender dynamics, racial stereotyping,
subordinate relationships, ecological themes etc.)?
b) What analysis approaches are you drawing upon (aesthetics, semiotics, genre and
ideology, and role of audience)?
c) Inventory the evidence, note key scenes, and images
3. Phase Three: 'Structured micro analysis'
a) Do a scene by scene, microanalysis - describe scenes, take quotes
b) Write detailed descriptions
c) Keep a focus on the research question(s)
d) What different social values and ideas about management are present?
4. Phase Four: 'Search for patterns'
a) Watch the film or television programme in its entirety
b) Return to the research question(s). How does what you have recorded and written about
speak to and answer your question(s)?
c) What are the different possible readings?
d) Write up your process of analysis and key findings

In this chapter you have been introduced to the importance of film and television as part of popular
culture and so how it can inform our view points on managing, organising and working. We
discussed the value and challenges of reading and analysing film and television to support learning
about management in its various historical, social and ecological contexts. We then considered four
approaches which related to different questions and attentions for how you might conduct an
analysis of films and television programmes. Finally, I presented a possible way of thinking about
the stages and processes of analysis that you might go through to complete a thorough analysis
regardless of the type of approach(es) which you are drawing upon.

References

Bell, E. (2008). Reading management and organization in film. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Bell, E., & Sinclair, A. (2016). Re-envisaging leadership through the feminine imaginary in film

and television. The Routledge Companion to Reinventing Management Education, 273.

Berger, A. A. (2005). Media Analysis Techniques. London ; Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Billsberry, J., Charlesworth, J., & Leonard, P. (2012). Die Another Day: Teaching With Film and

Television in the Management Classroom. In J. Billsberry, J. Charlesworth, & P. Leonard

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(Eds.), Moving Images: Effective Teaching with Film and Television in Management (pp. ix–

xxvii). Charlotte, NC: IAP.

Bordwell, D., & Thompson, K. (2013). Film Art: An Introduction. McGraw-Hill.

Denzin, N. K. (2004). Reading Film: Using Films and Videos as Empirical Social Science Material.

In U. Flick, E. von Kardoff, & I. Steinke (Eds.), A Companion to Qualitative Research (pp.

237–242). London: Sage.

Hall, S. (1980). Encoding/decoding. In D. Hobson, A. Love, & P. Wills (Eds.), Culture, Media,

Language (pp. 128–38). London: Hutchinson.

Hassard, J., & Holliday, R. (1998). Introduction. In J. Hassard & R. Holliday (Eds.), Organization-

representation: Work and organizations in popular culture. Sage.

Hobbs, R. (1998). Teaching with and about film and television: Integrating media literacy concepts

into management education. Journal of Management Development, 17(4), 259–272.

Morgan, G. (2006). Images of organization (Updated ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif; London: SAGE.

Panayiotou, A. (2010). ‘Macho’ managers and organizational heroes: competing masculinities in

popular films. Organization, 17(6), 659–683. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508410366275

Parker, M. (2017). Employing James Bond. Journal of Management Inquiry, 1056492616689305.

Quinn, R. E. (2011). Becoming a master manager : a competing values approach (5th ed.).

Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

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