Analysis of the Film the Internship - Admission/Application Essay Example

Management and Organizational Behavior Concepts as Applied in the Film, “The Internship” Today’s workplace has evolved to accept a variety changes to benefit more people. The film “The Internship” shows how a globalized company like Google adapts to such changes (Levy, 2013). The story revolves around two middle-aged, old school salesmen who suddenly found themselves out of work. They were able to wield their way to become interns at Google and work with a team of very young tech-savvy co-interns to win the much desired full-time jobs at the prestigious company. Technologically challenged and way older than the other interns, the main characters, Billy McMahon (played by Vince Vaughn) and Nick Campbell (played by Owen Wilson), found it difficult to keep up with their co-interns’ modern knowledge on the latest technology. It is their unorthodox views and out-of-the box ideas, most likely the outcome of their wisdom gained from their sales experiences that helped them survive the competition. Two prevalent themes related to management and organizational behaviour were observed from this film. One is employability and the other is teamwork. The two main characters struggled prove their employability. Both of them were obviously not qualified for the internship if it was based solely on its academic and skill requirements. Their mature age is actually a salient factor which may automatically disqualify them because the company is run by people much younger than they are. However, the cliché belief that with age come wisdom and experience, seemed to work in their favour. McShane and Von Glinow (2008) discussed that age belongs to the primary category of workforce characteristics and recently, trends in the changing workforce have included a wider age range of workers in various fields. Older people are still capable of learning new concepts and skills if they try hard enough. This was evident in the film as Billy and Nick strived to study a totally different field from what they have known all their lives. They had to learn a new set of vocabulary and how various technological gadgets, applications and social networking sites work, all in the span of one summer while they were working as interns. Since they were both willing to learn, it made it easier for them to embrace newer strategies of working. Brown & Hunning (2010) claim that if an employee adopts a learning goal orientation, he focuses on improving his abilities, he is likely to have job satisfaction even if he is not intrinsically motivated. This is because of his intrinsic desire for the job due to the learning it brings him. Indeed, Billy and Nick found satisfaction in learning new things because it brought them closer to their goal of being hired in their desired company. Aside from being avid learners despite their age, other employability skills Billy and Nick manifested were creativity, leadership, problem-solving, communication and persuasive skills, all honed from their vast previous experiences in sales. From their interview, the people at Google already saw their potentials as future employees because of how they handled the interview, showing their good communication skills and creative reasoning. They were identified as “out-of the box” thinkers, which the company was in need of. Notar & Padgett (2010) argue that successful people are not constrained in a “box”, which is associated with limits. “Thinking outside the box” means not thinking in a finite space but broadening their minds to infinite possibilities. It also means being open to take new perspectives and being able to do things differently from how they were accustomed to (Bernacki, 2002). So, from the interview, despite the awkwardness of two men “skyping” from a public library computer, their future employers found their unorthodox views refreshing and well-suited to the company. Perhaps, due to their maturity, they were natural leaders of the team. At first, their younger team mates were wary of their ideas, thinking they were ancient and would not work anymore in today’s modern workplace. However, the two older men were able to prove them wrong. This was especially shown in the scene where their team was losing in a sports challenge. Billy was able to motivate the team with an inspirational story of perseverance, which was the plot of the movie “Flashdance”. Because he was very persuasive in his motivational technique, the team was able to work together and played very well, even getting close enough to win the challenge. They lost the game, but they were all aware that they won the challenge to work together well, and that was the beginning of their unity as a team. Team work was the other strong theme of the movie. This concept applies to organizations that emphasize the value of collaboration in order to achieve their goals. Upon gaining the respect and trust of the other members of the team, Billy and Nick kept their team cohesive, with each member contributing their ideas and skills towards their team efforts. The team was composed of members who were “left-overs” from the team-picking, meaning they were all unwanted by the other teams. Each of them had very different personalities, and initially, they conflicted with each other. Such diversity may actually be good for the team because they have access to a broader range of ideas, suggested options and viewpoints and putting all these together may help them in creating newer ideas and approaches. However, if the team members are not open to compromising their ideas so they all work well together, then it may result in division and taking sides (Suwannarat & Mumi, 2012). In the movie, it was fortunate that as the members learned to adjust to each other, they realized they can work better together. It was the two older men who were able to glue the team together. The bond of the team became even stronger when they invested more in their personal relationships. Billy and Nick took the kids out to a bar to have a good time and to leave the stress of their internship behind at least for one night. Since it was a new experience for the younger team members, they relished it and appreciated the efforts of their older team mates. The group experience actually led them to be more open to each other, and in knowing each other better, they were able to understand each other’s issues, eccentricities and over-all personalities. In organizations, it is recommended for teams to spend time outside the workplace for team-building purposes. Maintaining positive relationships with each other is necessary to sustain a mutually beneficial relationship with the organization (Edwards, et al., 2008). As their team encountered the many challenges throughout their internship, they experienced successes and failures together. At one point, Billy was responsible for the failure in one challenge because of a technical issue. Although it was evident that he shined in his performance in the task of customer service through the Google Helpline, he was not able to record his transactions. That mistake caused the whole team to fail, as was indicated in the rules. Because of that, Billy was too embarrassed that he quit the team, thinking they were better off without him. He decided to go back to what he thought he did best, which was sales. The next and final challenge for the internship teams was sales. Billy and Nick’s team members were all aware that it was the best skill of their older members and knew they needed Billy back in order for them to win the challenge and have a greater chance in winning the competition. Nick was able to persuade Billy to come back to the team. He showed Billy that the change they have been experiencing in the past few weeks was good for them, and coming out from their comfort zone, which was sales, further developed their skills as professionals. This gave Billy hope that he and Nick can still make it in another field. Besides, the new work also entailed their sales skills along with their other employability skills, so he decided to come back to support their team towards victory. True enough, Billy and Nick’s sales expertise made the whole team win the competition, earning them all full-time jobs at Google. An important side story in the film showed a rival team of theirs being threatened by the sudden improvement of what they expected to be a “loser’s” team. This other team was led by a brilliant, although arrogant leader who tried his best to put Billy and Nick’s team down. He resorted to dirty tricks to win challenges and dangled his team’s victories over Billy and Nick’s team. Although this leader seemed efficient in winning challenges with his team, his personality did not fit the profile Google wanted for an employee. He was very competitive instead of collaborative and he insulted his team members instead of uplifting their morale. These negative behaviours did not pass unnoticed by Google’s secret observers, and were points against him. On the contrary, Billy and Nick’s supportive approach in keeping their team together was applauded by Google’s hiring team. In addition to their employability skills, their interpersonal skills were likewise noted. “The Internship”, showed various employment trends as well as the necessary skills sought by employers in their prospective employees. It was relevant that the film used the company, Google, which is an ideal company to work for. Their employee-oriented approaches as shown in their provision of many perks such as free food, a napping station, a gym and sports complex, attracts a multitude of aspiring employees. These facilities reflected Google’s philosophy of work-life balance. They expect their employees to be very efficient hard workers but also reward them with a very positive work environment that meets all their needs and wants. In sum, the film depicted that other than academic achievement and skill level, employers nowadays search for people who possess good interpersonal traits, a consistent drive for learning and development, creativity and problem-solving skills effective communication and leadership skills as well as the ability to collaborate in teams. It also provides hope for older, less qualified workers that they can still be desirable candidates if they only improve their personalities and professional skills and prove that they can be prospective assets to the companies that are willing to take a risk with them. References Bernacki, E. (2002). Exactly What Is Thinking Outside The Box? Retrieved October 10, 2014 from Http://Www.Canadaone.Com/Ezine/April02/Out Brown, S. & Huning, T. (2010) Intrinsic motivation and job satisfaction: the intervening role of goal orientation, Proceedings of the Academy of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict, 15(1) New Orleans Edwards, B.D., Bell, S.T., Arthur, W. and Decuir, A.D. (2008), Relationships between Facets of Job Satisfaction and Task and Contextual Performance, Applied Psychology: An International Review, 57 (3), 441–465 Levy, S. (director) (2013) The Internship, Regency Enterprises, 20th Century Fox. McShane, S.L. & Von Glinow, M.A. (2008) Organizational Behavior, 4th Edition, Mc Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. Notar, C. & Padgett, S. (2010) Of The Box Thinking…Is Thinking Outside The Box 21st Century Code For Imagination, Innovation, Creativity, Critical Thinking, Intuition?, College Student Journal, Jun2010 Part A, 44, (2) Suwannarat, P. & Mumi, A. (2012) Examining The Effects Of Cultural Diversity On Team Performance And IJV Performance, International Journal Of Business Strategy, 12 (3). Read More