9 To 5: Film Review

9 to 5 is a 1980 comedy film starring Jane Fonda as Judy Bernly, Lily Tomlin as Violet Newstead, Dolly Parton as Doralee Rhodes, and Dabney Coleman as the boss Franklin Hart Jr. The film focuses on a department that is being poorly run by a "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot" boss. After finally getting over their differences, the three main ladies develop a friendship, vent to each other, take down their boss and eventually help each other run the company.

Describe the organizational culture and pecking order of the central characters’ jobs.

The film opens up with Judy Bernly (Jane Fonda) showing up for her first day of work. It is quickly shown that this is her first job and she comes off as very naïve and scared. She was married and never had to have a job until her husband left her for his secretary. She seems to want to win him back so she decides to enter the workforce and also become a secretary. Judy meets Violet Newstead (Lily Tomlin). She has worked for the company for over 12 years and made it to the supervisor of her department. However, she can’t

seem to go any higher and constantly gets passed over for promotions. Violet has seniority and even trained the department executive, Franklin Hart, Jr. (Dabney Coleman). Doralee Rhodes (Dolly Parton) is Hart's personal secretary. Both Doralee and Hart are married, but that doesn’t stop Hart from being inappropriate towards her, sexually harassing her and telling everyone that he has been sleeping with her. The upper management of this company is all run by men, they don’t listen to the ideas and wishes of the female employees and often treat them as dumb, subpar people who are there solely to do the men’s bidding and don’t deserve common decency or respect.
To what degree do the central characters work in a profession versus performing professionally?
In this film, everyone is working in a profession but rarely perform professionally. Franklin Hart Jr. is working in his profession as a Department executive, however he is a Human Resource nightmare. He uses foul language in front of the women of the office, treats the women like brainless slaves, sends Violet and Doralee on personal errands like shopping for his wife (or for Doralee), filling his car up with gas, or fetching his dry cleaning. The worst issue is his sexual harassment. When Judy first gets hired he tells her “You’re a welcome addition, and a damn pretty one, too. And I mean that you should see some of the crones that have been coming through here, real pathetic. The person who gets the brunt of his sexual harassment is Doralee.
Saying things to her like “Will you grab your pad and bring your pretty face in here please?” Asks her to turn around to look at her. Knocks his pencils down so he can see down her dress. Grabs her hand and they talked about how he had her go to a convention out of town that wasn’t happening to get her alone. And to top off the harassment, he insults her telling her that she means more to him than just a dumb secretary.
Doralee is working in her profession as Hart’s personal assistant. However when she finds out about Hart spreading rumors about her, she hardly acts professionally when she threatens to shoot him.
“So that's why everyone around here treats me like some dime-store floozy. They all think I'm screwing the boss. And you just love it, don't you? It gives you some kind of cheap thrill like knocking over pencils and picking up papers. I've put up with all of your pinching, poking, staring and chasing me around the desk because I need this job. But this is the last straw. I've got a gun out there in my purse. Up until now I've been forgiving and forgetting because of the way I was brought up, but I'll tell you one thing. If you say another word about me or make another indecent proposal, I'm gonna get that gun of mine and I'm gonna change you from a rooster to a hen with one shot. And don't think I can't do it.” (Doralee)
Violet Newstead works in her profession as the supervisor of her department. She however is not professional when she helps to spread rumors about Doralee and Roz when showing Judy around the office.
How is the concept of the “organization man” depicted in the film?
In the film, the typical “organization man” is a bossy, rude, condescending person who belittles his staff, steals their ideas as his own and makes it up the corporate ladder just by being a man even though there are women in the company that have seniority, and are a better fit for the position.

The main man depicted in this film is Mr. Hart. He is constantly referred to as a "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot" boss. He continually tries to get Doralee to have an affair with him, lies to everyone by telling them they are having an affair, buys her gifts and purposefully knocks pencils on the floor so she'll lean over and pick them up. He insults all of the women and makes them run personal errands like shopping, laundry and fixing his coffee. Even the top men in the organization are aloof. Violet has worked for the company for over 12 years and never met the chairman of the

board.
Where are evidences of alienation, emotional labor and meaningful work exhibited?
When Hart spread rumors about Doralee having an affair with him, and these rumors cause all of the other women in the office to ignore her and treat her badly creating a hostile work environment. They would talk about Doralee, watch her every move and gossip. They would not talk to her and even ostracized her. She left work everyday upset and feeling horrible. She tried her hardest to be nice but to no avail. She had to keep the job in order to pay her bills but she was miserable. Her emotions took a toll on her every day but she persevered and made sure she kept a bright smile on her face, treated everyone kindly and did her work to the best of her ability.
Describe how the work ethic of fear and PWE/intrinsic motivation are present.
Hart continually threatens people’s jobs and promotions. When talking to Violet he asks her to go shopping for his wife and when she tries to refuse he states that he’d been standing there talking about teamwork and she failed to take the hand off. “I like people around me who are flexible and get along. So when I ask an employee, especially one who wants to be promoted to manager, I expect cooperation, savvy?” Violet reluctantly agrees in hopes that she will get the promotion she has been waiting on. Throughout most of the movie the girls continually do their job because they know it was the right thing to do. They performed their jobs to the best of their ability even under the horrible circumstances they were forced to endure. They didn’t let the constant job threats deter them from doing their jobs. Even when Hart stole Violet’s idea of color-coding she didn’t call Hart out in front of his boss. Also on Judy’s first day she’s in the copier room and the copier messes up when Hart comes in and starts yelling at her stating “Any moron can operate, you’d better straighten up or your first day will be your last!” But she pulls herself together and presses on.
How are the four values that shape our choice of work depicted and what tradeoffs have the central characters chosen?
Judy was very upset with being humiliated on her first day, but she was motivated to keep her job in order to survive. Since her husband left her for his secretary she had to support herself. If she wanted to eat, and have shelter she needed to keep that job. Even though Violet was passed over for promotions and treated poorly she kept persevering because she too needed the job for her family. She also had safety and security because she’d been there for twelve years and knew more about that company than anyone else, and had also trained them. She was really needing respect and self-esteem boost. She knew how smart she was, but needed others to see her competency. She wanted the recognition for her work and appreciation. Doralee had social needs she needed to fulfill. She wanted to feel a sense of belonging but couldn’t achieve it because of the rumors. She tried day in and day out to make friends she is unable to due to these rumors.
This movie was meant to be a satirical view of women in the work force. It used humor to show a lot of the issues that women have to face everyday. Even though this movie was made in the 1980s, surprisingly, not much has changed. When the women were able to run the company on their own they instituted quite a few changes. They started small by allowing people to put their personal items out on their desks. You could see an immediate change in the atmosphere, people were happier and more relaxed. They even brightened up the place by painting in loud colors and decorating so the place wasn’t so drab. They also started an Alcoholic Rehabilitation Program and turned the life around of one worker. They brought in a daycare center so working parents could have their children there, which cut down on absenteeism. They started a Job Sharing program where people could work part time and leave when their relief came in. They had flexible hours so people could choose their own hours. They got rid of the time clock, rehired the girl who was unfairly fired and even started equal pay for men and women. These changes made a huge difference. The chairman of the board stated that the changes gave a 20% rice in productivity in just 6 weeks, and that the place was more livable and personable. He did state that they would not keep the Equal Pay. Sad to say most of these changes haven’t been made standard practice in companies, even though they are wonderful programs!