Biopic Film, The Social Network - Movie Review Example

Movie Analysis of the Social Network

The movie, ‘The Social Network,’ is a biopic film about Facebook Inc. and the stories behind the creation, steps, and challenges that co-founders faced and overcame to make it a multi-billion dollar corporation (The Social Network 2010). The story starts in the fall of 2013, when a heartbroken Harvard undergraduate and computer programming genius, Mark Zuckerberg, created a website that compared the physical appearances of all the ladies at Harvard as a way to get back at his ex-girlfriend, Erica, for breaking up with him (The Social Network 2010). The social network he created collapsed the entire computer security system at Harvard thus gaining the attention of two wealthy students who sought to contract him to create a social network, called the ‘Harvard Connection’ that would connect the students at the school. Mark agrees to help them but instead, creates his parallel site with the financial help of his friend, Eduardo, which stirs a legal row between him and the proprietors of the ‘Harvard Connection.' The movie gives a detailed account of all the struggles, challenges, and victories that the organization went through to become the leading social media network. The film shows the extent to which the lives of Mark and his friends changed, thus making him the youngest billionaire, albeit it comes at high financial, legal, personal costs. Moreover, the film explores the legal battle, boardroom meetings, and how various organizational skills and communication can make or break a company. Therefore, the film depicts an excellent example of a firm that explores diverse themes of an organization from communication, power, and politics, leadership, as well as social factors like ethics, gender, age, and injustices within an institution.

Communication

Communication is a very fundamental element in an organization as it can solely build or dismantle a company. It acts as the foundation of all facets of a business organization. The presence or absence of an effective communication system in an organization is the difference between flourishing institutions and failing ones, as witnessed in some of the highest success or failure stories (Tofanelli 2012). Effective communication is integral to the development of any organization as it is critical to ensuring that leaders can perform the essential management functions. Furthermore, core functions, such as planning, organizing, controlling, and motivating employees, are founded on the efficacy of the communication skills of staff and managers of any given business activity. For instance, in the film, Mark is not an excellent communicator mainly since he has problems interacting with other people. His inability to adequately communicate with his friends, co-founders, and employees has been credited as a major contributor to the numerous legal battles. Also, a breakdown of communication is witnessed when Eduardo signs a document that later forces him out of the company. Furthermore, the failure of communication between the two top officials of Facebook creates a disagreement that costs the organization millions of dollars in a lawsuit settlement.

Communication is critical to ensuring that all members of an organization are adequately motivated by keeping them informed, thus influencing their attitude (Graber 2013). From the film, Eduardo and Mark relocate to various cities, with the former moving to New York and the latter to California. Mark meets with the creator of Napster, Sean Parker, who exploits the distance between Eduardo and Mark to create a disconnect that causes a rift between them (The Social Network 2010). The communication breakdown is seen as the reason for Eduardo, who is the organization’s Chief Financial Officer, freezing the bank accounts to get his comrade’s attention. The lack of communication between Mark and Eduardo was the reason Mark did not know that the latter had grievances as he assumed that he was okay with Sean Parker taking an active role in the company. Thus, communication is one of the primary features of management and serves as a tool that motivates employees either verbally or non-verbally, thus allowing for vertical and horizontal flow of information within an organization.

Communication helps in socializing since no company can survive in isolation without cooperating with the outside world. Currently, with the emergence of new businesses every day, organizations require being in constant communication with their current and potential consumers and clients. Hence, this type of communication ensures that management teams and other departments are aware of the expectations of their clients. Also that the complaints from what a company puts on the market (Tofanelli 2012). Furthermore, to successfully introduce a product in the market, advertisement is very crucial to push and communicate its existence to potential clients. In the film, Mark and his friends contracted the help of Dustin Moskovitz, who they feel would play a significant role in communicating the ideas of Facebook to the outside world, which in turn increases the number of followers on the site. On the other hand, Eduardo maintains that after quitting his internship in New York, he had been using his days to communicate and advertise Facebook in universities, which is a factor that contributed to the increased popularity of Facebook. Thus, it is informed to say that communication not only plays a vital role in ensuring the smooth running of an organization but it is the key in socializing it with potential investors and consumers in the external business world.

• Leadership

Management is the action of leading employees to achieve the set goals of an organization. It plays a critical role in influencing the performance and productivity of all members of an institution. It is a managerial function that is required at all levels of management. For instance, at the top level, it is vital in the formulation of cooperation in the development of visions, plans, and policies of an organization (Yukl 2012). On the other hand, at the middle-level, leadership is central to the interpretation and execution of set policies and plans. At the same time, at a low level, it is used to provide guidance and motivation to the subordinates towards achieving the vision and objectives of an institution.

Leadership is tasked with setting a clear vision for any organization for the short and long term expectations of a company. Setting the goals, plans, and policies for an organization is not enough as a leader has to communicate the policies and anticipations of all individuals in the said institution. Moreover, managers are tasked with the responsibility of appointing or delegating duties to various members of their teams according to the expertise and ability to accomplish the set policies (Ikinci 2014). For instance, in the film, ‘The Social Network,’ Mark, who is the leader, is tasked with the responsibility of creating Facebook, which includes detailing what the site is expected to accomplish as a social networking tool for students at Harvard. Additionally, when he decides to expand to other Ivy-league colleges in the United States, the delegates Eduardo to deal with the financial aspects of the company while Dustin is tasked with advertisement and informing the schools about the launch through the newspaper. Mark initiated action by identifying the need to expand to other universities and started the process that would ensure that the goal is achieved without any hitches or delays (The Social Network 2010). Furthermore, he is seen as a hands-on manager who leads by starting the work throughout the film, which echoes the role and importance of good leadership. His management skills turn the small company into a multibillion-dollar organization with thousands of employees and millions of followers from across the globe.

Leadership plays the role of coordination through the reconciliation of personal interests, organizational goals, and the efforts of employees. Managers ought to be in a position to coordinate and evaluate the progress of employees and an organization. In most cases, it is done by reconciling personal interests of leaders and the organizational goals that help them gauge appropriate motivational techniques for employees, as well as the necessary changes that are required to achieve the set goals (Yukl 2012). Hence, coordination goes hand-in-hand with building the confidence of employees, providing guidelines on protocols, and goal attainment as well as providing motivation for workers. In the film, after the company is restructured and has new investors, Mark decides to throw a party for his employees. He intends this to be a sign of boosting their confidence in the company, raises their morale to work harder, as well as motivate and reward them for their efforts in ensuring that organizational goals are met.

• Power and Politics

Power and politics play a significant part in organizations as it impacts on governing how decisions are made to how employees interact with each other and with the management. Politics may directly or indirectly influence who has the power in an institution and even determine whether the organizational culture at the workplace encourages or discourages productivity. Positive authority in any organization encourages productivity and is characterized by the management giving employees the power to make decisions, reward good work, and appoint strong and capable employees to supervise others (Pfeffer 2012). Besides, it builds employee confidence and ensures high worker retention rates owing to the amount of power and liberty that are given to employees to make their contributions to the success of a company. Conversely, negative power could involve prompting the staff’s productivity by threatening them with termination and other forms of punishment. Therefore, this approach may increase the turnover of an organization. In turn, it can affect the quality of the work that is done.

Positive work politics create a climate focused on the collaboration and equal treatment of all employees, thereby reducing conflict and by extension, increasing productivity. Furthermore, negative workplace politics creates a breakdown in the chain of command, which confuses employees leading to more time being used to fix problems than completing quality work. The film gives a clear depiction of the role played by power and politics in the workplace. One instance where positive control was used is when Mark delegated the responsibilities to his initial team, giving them the power and authority to make decisions regarding their respective departments. On the other hand, workplace politics are in play when Mark and Sean fail to communicate the particulars of the meeting that Eduardo is ambushed prompting the lawsuit that caused the organization an undisclosed amount of settlement money.

The nature of an organization can be established from two points of view. It can occur as an entity or structure or a process. As a process, the organization is a process that integrates different types of activities that are all geared at achieving the organizational goals and objectives (Hernes 2009). The film teaches that organization involves operations like the division of labour and determining the activities necessary for the accomplishment of set goals. It is evident when Mark appoints and divides the roles tasking Eduardo with finances and Dustin with advertisement leaving him with the creation and development of Facebook (The Social Network 2010). The organization is the delegating authority, especially in assigning duties to individuals with the necessary competence. Mark appoints Eduardo as the CFO of the company owing to his economics background; he was charged with development in respect to his computer programming skills while Dustin was accused of advertising for his connections with people that would help promote the site.

Moreover, the film teaches that there are a lot of challenges associated with living and working in an organizational world. The analogy evidences the life of Mark and the co-founders of Facebook. Building a company requires shrewdness and legal at all times, seeing as has Eduardo employed that he would not have been tricked into signing the papers that cost him his position in the company. The personal lives of most people working in the organizational world on most occasions, suffer seeing as what is in the best interest of an organization may not negatively affect personal relationships (The Social Network 2010). Mark's friendship with Eduardo and his ex-girlfriend comes to an end in his pursuit of building Facebook as a business organization.

In conclusion, ‘The Social Network’ depicts a good example of a company that explores various themes of an organization from communication, power, and politics, leadership as well as social factors like ethics, gender, age and injustices within an organization. Communication is a fundamental element in an organization that acts as the foundation of all facets of a business organization. The presence or absence of an effective communication system in an organization is the difference between success and failure of an organization. Power and politics play a significant role in organizations and determine how employees interact with each other and with the management to ensure quality production. Leadership plays a critical role in influencing the performance and productivity of all members of an organization. Additionally, the film gives insight into the nature of an organization both as an entity and as a policy. It also provides some of the significant challenges experienced by individuals working and living in the organizational world.

Reference List

Graber, D 2013, The power of communication: Managing information in public organizations. Washington, DC: CQ Press.

Hernes, T 2009, Understanding organization as process: Theory for a tangled World. New York, NY: Routledge.

Ikinci, S 2014, ‘Organizational change: Importance of leadership style and training. Management and Organizational Studies,’ vol. 1. No. 2, pp. 122-126.

Pfeffer, J 2012, Managing with power: Politics and influence in organizations. New York, NY: Harvard Business Review Press.

The Social Network 2010, [Film] Directed by David Fincher. United States: Relativity Media.

Tofanelli, D 2012, Communications organizations. ‎Bloomington, IN: Authorhouse publishing.

Yukl, G 2012, leadership in organizations. 8th ed. London: Pearson.