Week 8 EOC: The Power Behind the Throne

  "Recently employed staff must acquire the knowledge and skills needed to become proficient in their positions. Their more-experienced peers must obtain new knowledge and skills to keep up with an ever-changing workplace" (172).
In the film 9-5, Consolidated is the workplace in which there is a lot of wrongdoing from an HR perspective. Judy is the new girl in the office and she has to quickly learn the ropes of risk being let go on her first day. She receives very little training to equip her with the tools necessary to make her transition into her role a successful one. In one scene, Violet her supervisor, is showing her how to use the copy machine and after about 5 seconds of explaining to her, she leaves and let's Judy do the rest. Well, suffice to say, the copy machine goes haywire and Judy is left to frantically clean up the out of control mess. Mr. Hart, the boss, comes in and immediately berates her for screwing up and threatens her with her job if she does not get things under control. Instead of learning all the office gossip on her first day, Judy should have received adequate job training to get her familiar with how to perform her duties effectively.

"Stress created by interactions with supervisors who are upset about improper work outputs, with peers who must take the time to do rework created by the employee's errors, and/or with frustrated guests about service and/or quality defects will be reduced" (175).
Stress created by an unpleasant work environment is a major theme in the film. It is apparent from some of the first office scenes that the morale of the office is very low and work suffers from interactions with each other and supervisors alike. It becomes a trickle down effect when the boss, Mr. Hart, is unprofessional and demeaning, and his employees work in such a manner. It also is cyclical as no one seems to be performing their jobs correctly. In a scene of the film, Violet informs Judy to beware of Roz as she is the eyes and ears of the boss and anything you say around her will get reported. This perpetuates the hostile work environment, not to mention the other serious infractions happening like sexual harassment (towards Doralee), improper language (used all the time by Mr. Hart), and performing job duties while inebriated (like the office lush).

"Training can help staff members feel good about themselves and their employers. These positive attitudes can have a significant influence on one's overall perceptions of the workplace" (177).
By the end of the film, the 3 central characters, Judy, Violet, and Doralee, make some changes around the office for the better despite the egocentric chauvinistic boss, Mr. Hart. The ladies implement some fantastic programs to bolster productivity and reduce absenteeism like child daycare, work sharing program, and open work hours. This in turn improves the office morale and the output is increased because of a sense of security from the employees. The additional training and programs available to employees are key to making a new staff feel set up for success and seasoned employees feel equipped with the ever changing technologies and work advancements.