Analysis of the Movie Marginal Call - Coursework Example

Strategic decision making Name Tutor Date Introduction Strategic decision making is the process through which an organization makes vital decisions that affect the organization in one way or the other. It is well thought-out as the most fundamental part of a business that can be termed as good. The biggest factor of this is how well the decision is made. People of high intellect should be involved in this process. The movie Marginal Call is intended to put forward the notion of morality in the decision making process. Marginal Call seeks to explain the decision making process by trying to separate the decision makers from the decisions they make. It seeks to humanize rather than apportion all blame of wrong decisions on all people involved in the decision making process. The film is a portrayal of the way decision making processes in the major Wall Street firms or in businesses in particular works. It portrays the amoral nature of Wall Street particularly through its major characters such as Spacey who are responsible for making of decisions which threaten people’s livelihoods and the very existence of Wall Street. Plot of the Movie The movie, Marginal Call is a drama film which was produced in the year 2012 in America. Chandor was the person behind directing and writing of the film. The film is carried out at a period of 36 hours along a street with large wall investment bank, which brings out the crisis of financial status in the year 2007 to 2008. Focus is made on the actions that a team of employees undertake in the course of the financial collapse that is subsequent. Exploration is done by Magical call on capitalism, fraud on investment and greed. Seth Bregman, who is the junior analyst in charge of risk, Peter Sullivan, who is his senior colleague and Will Emerson, who is the head of trading desk; all lookout at a team from the human resource department, who are on contract temporarily, go about with the laying off of a mass though unannounced, on their trading floor. Their firm has hired this team. This exercise of mass layoff takes place on a normal working day. Among the employees who have been fired, the boss to Peter and Seth called Erick Dale, who heads the risk management on that very floor is among them. Despite Dale’s advice to the firm to continue focusing on his work, the hired team hurries him out of the building with no interest on his point. In the course of being accompanied out, Dale hands over a USB that contained his project before entering an elevator, of which he asked Peter to be cautious. Several meetings are held by the employees who survive the laying off procedure, with several executives that are senior. Some of these senior people include the head of the division, Jared Cohen; officer in charge of the risk management overall, Sarah Robertson; and the Chief Executive Office, John Tuld. The plan that Cohen has in mind is to advice on the selling of all the assets that may harm the business. This should be done before the learning of the firm’s worthlessness by the market. This would limit the exposure of the firm, which was an act that Tuld supported despite Rodgers objecting it strongly. Rogers gives a warning to Cohen, as well as Tuld that the spread of the risk will take place if at all dumping of the toxic assets of the firm is made. This would occur all the way through the sector of finance, which will cause weakening of the relationship the firm has with its counterparties. Rogers continues to discourage Cohen of his plan that there might be a discovery by the customers of their strategy if at all they engage in selling of the toxic securities that the firm owns. The struggle to locate Dale finally bears fruits as it was a challenge before to find him due to the switching off of his company phone. Persuasion of Dale back to the company on a fee that is generous, which he is promised, as well as the warning of challenging his severance package on failure to go. In the process, it is discovered that Cohen, Robertson and Tuld had knowledge of the weeks that had the risks, which lead to that predicament. To be part of creation of a witty idea, Tuld, devices a tactic, where he would offer the resignation to the board belonging to Robertson. Interpretation of the Movie Margin call makes a turn of the financial meltdown that was convoluted in 2008 into a drama that was thought- provoking. David Denby, who is the film critique of New York, said, "easily the best Wall Street movie ever made". The movie talks about the selfishness of most of its characters, who only think of their corporation welfare. The goods of the public are not taken into any sensible consideration. There exist an amoral nature of the corporations, who are only in existence for survival and succeeding no matter what it takes. The protesters of the Wall Street are angered by the fact that these people are not honest and also embrace greed however, the complainants still support capitalism. The story brings out the meaningless lives and company of the cast. According to A.O Scott (2011), described as a thriller, Marginal call is a movie that moves through the shadows that are ambient to the tempo that is anxious of the hush of Nathan Larson that had an anxious score (Joe, Corey, & Chandor, 2011). The story that hovers around Marginal Call is the capital dark romance; which includes the number elegance, the money kinkiness and the power allure that is erotic, deep and rotten (Quinto, 2011). The film ignores any firm in Wall Street that is real. There is similarity of the plot with the 2008 event of the crisis that affected the finance, whereby Goldman Sachs made an early move to the hedge, whereby, he engaged himself with the reduction of the position of the securities that were mortgage- backed, at the expense of the two employees. The Lehman Brother’s firm, as well as that of the Bear Stearns got themselves in a similar situation of securities that were mortgage-backed with leverages that were elevated. Factors of Good Decision Making A good decision made for business is done through considering a number of factors. These factors include: looking for the best information as possible before conducting the decision, experience of the decision making process is also crucial to this exercise (Keeney, 2012). Consultation before making the decision should be done thoroughly so that no mistakes are made during the decision making. There are other existing aids that may help in the process of making a decision. These techniques are used to enhance clarity of information, as well as better analysis. Addition of precision that is numerical and objective to the process of making of the decision reduces the level of subjectivity (Kirkwood, et. al, 2008). In the movie Marginal call, the firm at Wall Street hired a resource management expertise to carry out the decision making of that organization. This concurs with the fact that a firm has to engage knowledgeable experienced people to conduct the process of decision making since it will later affect the performance of the business. Decision making program has several reasons: • Make decisions even when in circumstances that are not certain • Adaptability building into the decisions made • Providing of leadership that perform mitigation of biases that are cognitive • Understanding of ethics and emotion roles during the making of decisions • Development of tools that assist an individual in improving the making of decisions in an organization (Crainer, 2008). The sessions of the decision making include • Ability to understand the decision biases of the individuals • Seeking and taking of advice • Making of decisions with several stakeholders • Agility that is strategic that involves decisions being built from adaptability (Etorre, 2008). Members included in Decision Making The decision making process should be attended by the executives who engage in tactical, as well as roles that are strategic within the organization (Hammond et al, 2008). The Wall Street organization did not involve the members of that firm in making of decisions. Instead, they depended entirely on this resource management team to make decisions for them. This lead to the laying down of some people such as Erick Dale, who held vital information of the firm’s future finance in his memory stick USB. Sullivan consults his seniors on how to go about with this crisis that may affect the financial future of the organization. Manager’s Role In some circumstances, managers are often trained to perform decision making that would favor the interests of the organization to avoid negative criticisms, as well as down fall of the firm. This was seen by Cohen, who was planning to dispose of the assets that were toxic before the learning of their worthlessness by the market, which would limit the exposure of the market. This was not the best decision to be made but it was for the benefit of the name of the organization (Clemen, 2006). The manager in a business is usually charged with the responsibility of making the hard decisions as amoral as they may be. Amoral decision making is part of the manager’s job since his foremost duty is to protect the firm rather than protect other interests such as the employees or the clients. This is evident in the movie Marginal Call in that John Tuld the CEO makes some major decisions which are not moral for the sake of ensuring the survival of the firm. The manager has to be sold to capitalistic ideals which assert that in life there must be winners and losers. A such the manager is employed to ensure that his employers who are the firm are not the losers even if it means the clients get the short end of the stick. Criticism In the process of decision making, criticisms may take place so as to find the best decision to make for the organization. Cohen advocated the disposal of the toxic assets of the firm but Rogers argued out that this would only bring complications to the relationship the organization has with the counterparties it has. Preservation or the making of money for the owners of the business or the firm is an important aspect of the capitalist economy. Decision making should not be made so rigid that it becomes immoral. The firm benefits from amoral decision making since managers will always make decisions that are for the financial good of the firm. Decisions such as the laying off of employees in times of financial meltdown will ultimately help the firm get back on its feet. Nevertheless a firm that lays off its employees causes much suffering by such a decision.. On the other hand while a manager may make amoral decisions for the furtherance of capitalist ends of the firm, he can never be completely removed from the consequences of his decisions. For instance while Spacey was laid off the formula he had already written was critical and nearly resulted in the collapse of the firm. Conclusion In conclusion, decision making in an organization is a vital aspect of the future of that organization. This calls for a proper team to carry it out. As a movie on decision making it is a very good movie that tries to decipher the workings of Wall Street by demystifying it mythical impregnable nature. The amoral nature of Wall Street financial institutions in the making of important decisions is brought about by the management of the firm making a decision to dump worthless shares of the company in the market in order to protect the firm. The firm failed in not including all members of the organization in the decision making process which resulted in decisions being made from a purely financial perspective. Conscientiousness is a critical component which ought to be incorporated in leadership training of managers of organizations. Amoral decision making may be a good thing but maybe there needs to be checks and balances for managers in order to ensure that the interests of the public are also protected. References Brooks, D. G. and Kirkwood, C. W. (2008). Decision Analysis to Select a Microcomputer Networking Strategy: A Procedure and a Case Study, Journal of the Operational Research Society, Vol. 39. Clemen, R.T. (2006). Making Hard Decisions: An Introduction to Decision Analysis, Second Edition, Duxbury Press, Belmont, California. Crainer, S. (2008). The 75 Greatest Management Decisions Ever Made. Management Review. Ettore, B. (2008). Absolutely Great Decisions. Management Review Hammond, John S., (2008). The Hidden Traps in Decision Making. Harvard Business Review. Joe. J., Robert. O. B. Corey. M. (Producers), & Chandor, J. C. (Director). (2011). Margin Call [Motion Picure]. United States: Lionsgate Keeney, R.L (2012). Value-Focused Thinking: A Path to Creative Decisionmaking, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Kirkwood, C. W. (2007). Strategic decision making: multiobjective decision analysis with spreadsheets. Belmont, CA, Duxbury Press. Read More