compiled by
Beard, V. (1994). Popular culture and professional identity: accountants in the movies. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 19(3), 303-318.
Champoux, J. (1999). Film as a teaching resource. Journal of Management Inquiry, 8(2), 206-217.
Chmapoux, J. (2000). Management: using film to visualize principles and practices. Cincinnati: South-Western Publications.
Chmapoux, J., Szilagyi, J., O'Neill, J., & Bloom, R. (2000). Organizational behavior: using film to visualize principles and practices. Cincinnati: South-Western Publications.
Corbett, J. M. (1995). Celluloid projections: images of technology and organizational futures in contemporary science fiction film. Organization, 2(3/4), 467-488.
Hassard, J., & Holliday, R. (1998). Organization - representation: work and organization in popular culture. London: Sage Publications.
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/archives/film-philosophy.html
The AoM OMT division Listserve has list of films at: http://www.aom.pace.edu/omt/teachmat.html
Warren Smith, Mathew Higgins, Martin Parker and Geoff Lightfoot have recently (2001) released an edited collection of papers dealing with (and entitled) Science Fiction and Organizations, published by Routledge. It has papers dealing with film and literature, some of which might be helpful to anyone wanting to pursue David's suggestion.
The amazon ref is:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0415215889/qid=1002 116283/sr=1-5/ref=sr_sp_re/026-4077826-2288467
----- David Robotham <drobotham@DMU.AC.UK>
Sociology: TEACHING WITH FILMS web page. social class ,race and ethnicity:
http://csf.colorado.edu/gimenez/film.html
Champoux, J. 2001. Organizational behavior: Using film to visualize principles and practices Cincinnatti: Southwestern College Publishing.
This is a text and instructor's manual with 25 topical chapters that offer suggested films and study guides/activities for each.
Call: 800-876-2350 *7283
Journal of Management Education. The Feb. 2001 issue includes two film-related articles.
Management Live An OB text that emphasizes the use of videos that accompany it. Out of print
Changing nature of work. A new video series produced and directed by Paul Goodman and Denise Rousseau. See www.workvideos.com. For ex: Nurse, Lobstermen, Plant Closing, and Chamber Music Quartet.
Films for the Humanities and Sciences at www.films.com
"The Moral Imagination: How Literature and Films Can
Stimulate Ethical Reflection in the Business World," by Oliver
Williams, 1997,
(I've listed folks who (seemed to) indicate that they have some experience in classroom use. Apologies in advance for errors and omissions!)
|
American Me |
(Edward James Olmos) - power in orgs |
|
|
"21st Century Jet: Building the Boeing 777" PBS |
use bits and pieces of the 5 part series |
Ken Ehrensal <ehrensal@kutztown.edu> |
|
12 Angry Men |
negotiations, group/team processes, decision making,
organizational culture, diversity "of opinion" The |
|
|
60 Minutes segment on SouthWest Airlines |
Cross-cultural communications |
|
|
Adam Patch |
hospital setting |
"Bernard J. Goitein"
<bjg@hilltop.bradley.edu> |
|
Antz |
useful for exploring tensions between the individual and
the collective in terms of an ant colony and how they should respond to both
internal threats and external foes. |
Peter Hamilton <P.M.Hamilton@durham.ac.uk> |
|
Any of the first Star-Trek: The Next Generation episodes
to feature the Borg (e.g. 'Q Who?' or 'The best of both worlds parts one and
two') |
-- these are useful for getting students to critically
reappraise some of the more utopian rhetoric on 'the organization of the
future' (networked, acephalous, knowledge management etc.) |
|
|
Barbarians at the |
(corporate re/structuring) |
|
|
BBC documentary series, "Back to the floor". |
managers going "back to the floor" and
experiencing the front line operations again.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/work/trouble/floor/index.shtml has a list of
three of the four series and how to purchase the video. |
|
|
BBC-documentary "Peoples century" |
concerning the relationship between mass production and
mass consumption. It gives a good overview and nice images of the original
(and still ongoing) Ford production system and the way it has(n't) been
embraced by European car assembly plants. |
"geert van hootegem"
<geert.vanhootegem@hiva.kuleuven.ac.be> |
|
Being John Malkovich |
Innovation |
Kirstie Ball <k.s.ball@BHAM.AC.UK> |
|
Blue Collar |
hilarious comedy with Richard Pryor about auto workers
struggling againts mgt..and against indifferent union bureaucrats |
|
|
Brassed off |
Organisational culture Organisational structure Communication Perception and stereotyping Motivation Leadership Gender Groups/teams |
Elisabeth M. Wilson, elisabeth.wilson@man.ac.uk |
|
|
-- bureaucracy pathologies |
|
|
Bread and Roses |
Ken Loach film about the Justice for Janitors organizing
campaign among immigrant workers in LA. Gender, race, class, organizing |
|
|
Carry on at Your Convenience (1970) |
A personal favourite of mine! This reflects some common
and enduring stereotypes of industrial relations. Look out for the lazy but
ingenious workers, the union official and his rulebook, the stupid but
devious manager, and the bemused workers. |
Graham Sewell <g.sewell@ecomfac.unimelb.edu.au> |
|
Cheaper by the Dozen |
(scientific management |
|
|
Chicken Run |
for pros & cons of bureaucracies, leadership,
motivation, hegemony. |
"Ann Cunliffe" <acunliff@csuhayward.edu> |
|
Clerks |
An antidote to the problems faced by the fast food
employee in Falling Down. Might have been called, "The Revenge of the
Customer Sales Representative!" |
Graham Sewell <g.sewell@ecomfac.unimelb.edu.au> |
|
Cool Runnings |
- building a team |
|
|
Crimson Tide |
--hierarchical authority, moral leadership, class
structure |
|
|
David & Lisa |
Interpersonal Communication. It takes place in a mental
hospital and provides four or five dyads each revealing qualitative and other
differences in patterns of communication between two people. The main
characters move from rather bizarre interaction to a mutually developmental
level of communication which becomes therapeutic to both. |
|
|
Desk Set |
--technology vs. workers |
|
|
Disclosure |
Presented as a story of everyday folk in the hi-tech sector,
in fact Disclosure puts a novel (if rather implausible) slant on a major
problem in many contemporary organization: sexual harassment. We will use
this video to make some comments on matters relating to organizational power
and culture. |
Graham Sewell <g.sewell@ecomfac.unimelb.edu.au> |
|
Elizabeth |
Leadership |
Kirstie Ball <k.s.ball@BHAM.AC.UK> |
|
Enemy of the state |
Surveillance in organziations |
Kirstie Ball <k.s.ball@BHAM.AC.UK> |
|
episode from Fawlty Towers titled Waldorf Salad |
-- a hilarious British TV series about the worst-managed
hotel/restaurant in the world. The debrief involved discussion on how can
Fawlty's be improved. It was fun and you can drive home many important issues
in (mis) organization through it. |
|
|
Exterminating angel |
the human group |
|
|
Falling Down (1992) |
An odyssey of an "angry white male." Our hero
cannot come to terms with the drudgery of everyday working life and goes on
the rampage through Los Angeles. This excerpt concerns his problems in a
local fast food outlet that makes some interesting observations relating to
bureaucracies (especially the problem of "non-member frustration"). |
Graham Sewell <g.sewell@ecomfac.unimelb.edu.au> |
|
Ghandi |
--leadership |
|
|
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) |
describing the life of real estate agents. |
"Levine, Sheen S."
<Levine@management.wharton.upenn.edu> |
|
Gung Ho! (1987) |
This is the fictional story of how a US car plant is
"saved" by Japanese management techniques. It is particularly
interesting in terms of the stereotypes it attributes to American and
Japanese employees, as well as asserting a typically "American"
view of individual triumph in the face of uncertainty. Watch out for the
surveillance camera! |
Graham Sewell <g.sewell@ecomfac.unimelb.edu.au> |
|
Haiku Tunnel |
For temps in law firms |
|
|
Hobson's Choice |
(pre-industrial labour) |
|
|
Hospital |
(Paddy Chayevsky) - bureaucracy |
|
|
I'm Alright Jack |
(Scientific Management, industrial relations) |
|
|
Jerry Maguire |
- small family business/self-employed entrepreneur with
heart vs ruthless combine. |
|
|
Lawrence of Arabia |
--authority systems |
|
|
M*A*S*H |
the military organisation, how members cope under adverse
conditions with humour. |
|
|
Matewan |
strike in a coalmine in southern USA early 20th century |
|
|
Meeting Venus (Itzvan Zabbo) |
cross cultural management |
|
|
Mindwalk: A Film for Passionate Thinkers, starting Liv
Ullmann, Sam Waterston, and John Heard. |
A film I use in a formal theory and methods course. It is
based upon Fritja Capra's The Turning Point. open systems theory |
<greg.daneke@asu.edu> |
|
Modern Times (Chaplin) |
A classic parody of the trials and tribulations of life in
a factory. Although the film is old and reflects a lot of our observations of
the alienation associated with a traditional mechanistic type of
organization, look out for prescient futuristic touches (especially relating
to surveillance and managerial control). |
Graham Sewell <g.sewell@ecomfac.unimelb.edu.au> |
|
Network |
-power, international business |
|
|
Norma Rae FIST Salt of the Earth Black Tie (Brazilian) Matewan Hoffa |
union organizing theme: Norma Rae - of course FIST - Stallone's 2nd film. Too often overlooked about the unholy alliance of labor w/ the mob Salt of the Earth - union Organizing Black Tie (Brazilian) - same |
|
|
Office Space |
interesting (and cynical) look on organizational dynamics
-- org. design is merely implied Comedic tale of company .workers who hate their jobs and
decide to rebel against their greedy boss |
|
|
Oleanna by David Mamet |
Mamet's dialog is typically infuriating to follow and the
plot is exasperating but emotionally engaging. Is it sexual harassment or
not? |
|
|
On the Waterfront |
unions (as mafias) |
|
|
Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone) |
shows - contra Chandler - what strategy and structure
built around communications really might have been. |
|
|
One flew over the cuckoo's nest |
Organizational Politics |
Kirstie Ball <k.s.ball@BHAM.AC.UK> |
|
Other people's money Solid Gold Cadillac |
great feature films about corporate governance and the
role of shareholders |
|
|
Patton |
--leadership |
|
|
PBS: "People's Century: 1924 On the Line" |
Goes from 1900 to around 1960. Focus on Fordism, mass
production, role of consumerism, some alienation and unionism. Available on
PBS web page, but gotta search a bit to find it. |
"Luhman, John" <jluhman@nmhu.edu> |
|
Rising Sun |
-organizations |
|
|
Roger & Me |
--downsizing Ostensibly a documentary, Michael Moore (more recently of
SBS's "The Peoples' Republic of Television") goes in search of
Roger Smith, the CEO of General Motors, to ask him why exactly he closed down
a car plant in Moore's home town. We will use this film to reflect on the
problems associated with a "factual" or impartial representation of
organizations. |
Graham Sewell <g.sewell@ecomfac.unimelb.edu.au> |
|
Save the Tiger |
--leadership, ethics |
|
|
Solid Gold Cadillac |
--corporate governance |
|
|
some Yes Minister episodes |
I use some Yes Minister episodes in my Business and
society class - a lot about business influence on public orgs, but also
internally, the power of information, alliances, media leaks |
|
|
Spartacus |
- hierarchy vs. self-organizing |
|
|
The Apostle |
(Robert Duval) building a congregation |
|
|
The Big Picture |
--labor relations, politics, conflict |
|
|
The breakfast club |
Groups and teams |
Kirstie Ball <k.s.ball@BHAM.AC.UK> |
|
The Devil's Playground |
a "total institution" |
|
|
The Efficiency Expert (distributed outside US as "Spottswood") |
--business improvement starring Anthony Hopkins (post Hannibal Lechter and
without mask). Hopkins comes to Spotwood to turn around a local moccasin
factory staffed by a group of oddballs. |
|
|
The Godfather |
|
|
|
The Hudsucker Proxy |
--organizational politics. Writing credits Ethan Coen (written by) & Joel Coen A naive
business graduate is installed as president of a manufacturing company as
part of a stock scam. Look at especially the beginning, the mailing room and
its tayloristic division of labor. |
|
|
The Insider |
whistleblowers, corporate power |
|
|
The Matrix |
Knowledge Management |
Kirstie Ball <k.s.ball@BHAM.AC.UK> |
|
The Simpsons (1994) The Simpsons (1998) |
One of the best satires of American culture ever, the Simpsons
frequently uses stereotypes of organizations and workers to make important
points about contemporary society. In the 1994 episode Homer requires some remedial
off-the-job training. In the 1998 episode Homer gets a new job and soon finds
out what it is like working in a company that takes HRM seriously! |
Graham Sewell <g.sewell@ecomfac.unimelb.edu.au> |
|
Things to do in Denver when you're dead |
Power in organizations |
Kirstie Ball <k.s.ball@BHAM.AC.UK> |
|
Titicut Follies |
documentary of a US mental institution |
|
|
Tucker |
entrepreurship |
|
|
Twelve o'clock High |
a classic on overidentification of management with rank
and file. Theory X vs. Theory Y attitudes, expectations, power and
authority |
|
|
Vacuuming completely nude in paradise/Odishon |
Gender |
Kirstie Ball <k.s.ball@BHAM.AC.UK> |
|
What women want |
has lots of interesting org theory in it - glass ceiling,
org politics, leader succession, population ecoology models- plus nice
treatment of teams and team meetings and their (dys)functions, in the absence
of member telepathy (point is made based on movie premise that our male hero
now can read women's minds..). |
|
|
Working class man |
with Micheal Keaton in the automotive industry with the
introduction of quality / Japenese management style of car manufacturing. |
|
|
Working Girl |
-- transformation, promotion |
Dvora Yanow <dyanow@haywire.csuhayward.edu> |
|
Working Girl |
(Corporate Culture) |
|
|
American Dream, |
|
Barbara Koppel's academy-award winning film about Local
P-9's strike at Hormel |
|
The Company of Men |
|
This is about organizational behavior in a competitive work environment, and it's absolutely corrosive. |
|
Hoffa |
|
“one of the best characterizations of class ever to appear
on film in the US” |
|
Collision Course |
|
about the attempt to institute participation at Eastern Airlines and the self-destructive spiral that brought it down |
|
Harlan County |
|
about a strike in the coal fields that reminds people why unions are or
were necessary |