Analysis
The main objective of this analyses paper is to discuss the movie “We the People: The Market Basket Effect” in the light of organizational issues any corporate business entity faces. In the movie, the discussed business entity is The Market Basket. When in 2014, its CEO was ousted, chaos was generated among the employees as well as the consumers (IMDb, 2016). In my opinion, this is a spectacular dynamic this film chose to act on. In the movie, the CEO, who was an efficient leader with a hefty amount of compassion for others, was named Arthur T, and his cousin Arthur S was the head of the board of directors. Arthur S ousted his cousins because he, along with the board, was not happy with the way Arthur T handled the company. Market Basket was an establishment whose roots went back to a century ago, and from a grassroots level, it became a multimillion successful business venture. Needless to say, for directing a successful venture, there are several organizational issues that need to be addressed. I think the issues on which this movie mainly focused on were improving the interpersonal skills of the employees on how they must interact with the customers; managing the diversity of the workforce, which encouraged people to work hard; helping employees balance their work-life and compensating them appropriately; improvising customer services; stimulating innovation by investing more on growth and maintaining an ethical environment in the workplace (Cerezo-Narvaez et al., 2018). The following sections are going to analyze these organizational issues and will determine the specific course of action regarding the frames on which the organizational theories stand.
In this movie, the makers had focused on the well the customers and employees got treated when the Market Basket was just a butcher shop. That trend was continued even when this entity became a multimillionaire one. While studying the issues an organization faces in its daily operations, we must keep in mind the basic structure and functions of a business entity. Any corporation of this world has primarily two aspects. One deal with the production of goods and services, and the second deal with customer satisfaction. As we know, for the companies who regularly conduct business with their clientele, client satisfaction is the most important attribute of their successful business conduction, which brings me to the first theory of this paper that is the consumer behaviour theory (Spangenberg & Lorek, 2019). Before an individual chooses to buy a product or avail a service, he will consider several social and psychological attributes in his mind. Like, if I want to buy a new laptop, there are certain things such as my budget, needs and preference which I will consider before choosing the brand. The consumer behaviour theory emphasizes this choice. In the movie, Arthur T, following his ancestors’ footsteps, gave great emphasis on customer satisfaction. They were a supermarket chain and naturally had other competitors. The main reason why customers chose their brand to purchase from was that Arthur took the initiative to keep the pricing at a low level so that people struggling with money could also have food in their fridges. This gained the supermarket chain a massive amount of loyal customers.
Course of Action
The second significant theory, according to me, is the Classical theory. This theory delves into the functional dynamics of a business entity. Under this dynamism comes the division of labour, which means employing people on segments in which their skill is the most efficient. In this way, a business will have higher profit with a lower cost of training the workers. Next, this theory also influenced the structure and controlling attributes of an organization. In other words, a strong leader who can motivate the employees and also become compassionate towards their problems deserves to be the chain in command of any business organization (Larson & Foropon, 2018). In the film, Arthur T was such a leader who not only made an impression on his employees but also managed to compensate them well so that the employees get their livelihood sorted and do not wish to leave the organization. After all, we as human beings always have a knack for compliments and belonging, which brings me to my third theoretical approach, the Neo-classical one. According to this theory, for the workforce of any company to sustain longer, the board of directors must take the initiative so that the employees feel valued. Arthur T did exactly the same. Besides giving his employees a sustainable remuneration, he also reinvested acquired profit for their well being of them. As a result, when he got ousted, the entire workforce and clientele revolted against the board.
The movie which we are discussing has strong credentials of leadership. The revolt of the employees and clientele is a dramatic turn of events, but the storyline develops based on the leadership differences between Arthur T and Arthur S. Thus while analyzing leadership styles, I cannot leave behind the Bolman and Deal’s 4 Frame Model. This model describes four frames which are basically the perceptions a leader should concentrate on while addressing the issues of his organization (Holmes & Scull, 2019). These four perceptions are – firstly, Structural, which deals with the improvement segment of the working style. More clearly, in accordance with this framing strategy, goals and tasks are determined for optimum allocation of the employee and the resources. Secondly, the Human Resource frame, according to which more emphasis must be given to workers as they are not equivalent to a paycheque. The relationship between the employees and the organization goes both ways; one is incomplete with the other. Thirdly, the political frame described the differences among members of the high command. This frame also specified that beliefs, perceptions and interests are bound to be different among different individuals. What matters the most is how to optimize the use of scarce resources. Finally, the last frame was named as Symbolic Frame, and it dealt with the cultural diversities among the people of an organization.
In my opinion, in the movie, we can witness the conceptual framework of the second and third frames. Arthur T treated his employees with dignity and respect, which aligned with the Human Resource frame, and he was also a strong and powerful leader who negotiated with the board for the sake of reinvesting profit for the betterment of resources, namely the employees. This aligned with the political frame according to which conflicts are normal, but more important is the resource emphasis.
I feel most associated with the frame of Human resources. It is depicted in the film; more specifically, its existence is the main reason why the employees of Market Basket revolted against the injustice which took place. We as human beings always seek acceptance and appreciation from others. Moreover, since early childhood, we have been taught that man is a social animal; he cannot live alone. Thus we always carry the need of belonging with us. The Human Resource frame addresses the belonging attribute. Often we can see that organizations treat their employees as machines. They are not empathetic or considerate towards the workforce. Moreover, it is often heard that employees are underpaid, and they do not have a work-life balance (Samat et al., 2020). I think these issues can tarnish a work environment, and the employees become dubious about their skills. Hence, if companies follow the framework and treat their employees with dignity and respect, then naturally, the employee-employer unity will be much better, and the entire workforce will be committed and loyal towards their organization. In the movie, Arthur T did exactly the same. He knew without his people, the entity would not work out. Further, Market Basket operated in a service sector where the sales personnel had to interact with different kinds of customers. Sometimes they even had to endure backlashing. Therefore, when their employer started to treat them with healthy compensation and added benefits, the workers felt a sense of belonging. Finally, they stood beside Arthur T in his life’s one of the hardest times.
References
Cerezo-Narváez, A., Bastante-Ceca, M. J., & Yagüe-Blanco, J. L. (2018). Traceability of intra-and interpersonal skills: From education to labor market. Human capital and competences in project management, 87-110. https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/57566
Holmes, W. T., & Scull, W. R. (2019). Reframing organizations through leadership communications: the four-frames of leadership viewed through motivating language. Development and Learning in Organizations: An International Journal.
https://doi.org/10.1108/DLO-09-2018-0107
IMDb. (2016). We the People: The Market Basket Effect (2016) – IMDb. IMDb. Retrieved 6 March 2022, from
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4392342/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl.
Larson, P. D., & Foropon, C. (2018). Process improvement in humanitarian operations: an organizational theory perspective. International Journal of Production Research, 56(21), 6828-6841.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2018.1424374
Samat, M. F., Zaki, F. S. M., Rasidi, E. R. M., Roshidi, F. F., & Ghul, Z. H. (2020). Emotional Intelligence, Social Supports, Technology Advancement, Work Condition and Work-Life Balance among Employees. https://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v10-i5/7169
Spangenberg, J. H., & Lorek, S. (2019). Sufficiency and consumer behaviour: From theory to policy. Energy Policy, 129, 1070-1079. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2019.03.013
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