Office Space

Running Head: Leadership & Group Development

Office Space: Leadership & Group Development

Organization Change & Development

September 13, 2007

Table of Contents

Page Number Introduction..................................................................................................................... 3

Diagnosis.................................................................................................................................4

Reviews

A) Leadership......................................................................................................7

B) Group Development.................................................................................8

Conclusion..............................................................................................................................10

Reference.................................................................................................................................11

Introduction

This paper discusses the film office space within the context of corporate leadership and group development. It examines the way in which the movie represents conflicts and issues with superior subordinate relationship dynamic and how and why they are important to understand in today's business.

At the group development level the paper shows that an effective group deals with challenges and issues.

Diagnosis

The diagnosing of Initech Corporation (office space) the Lewin's planned change model will be used to better understand the reaction within the organization. It consist of three basic change model of unfreezing, changing, and refreezing to be a theoretical foundation upon which change theory could be built solidly.

Unfreezing

In this stage, a company must be awakened to a new reality and must disengage from the past, recognizing that the old way of doing things is no longer acceptable as in the case with Initech Corporation(Kanter, R. et al. 1992). Disengaging from the past is critical to the "unfreezing" process because it is difficult for an organization to embrace change until it has isolated the structures and routines that no longer work and has vowed to move beyond them (Kanter, R. et al. 1992). Unfreezing is initiated by recognizing the need for change by identifying driving and restraining forces." Initech employees were affected by the fact that there is no leadership quality, low relationship support and lack of communication.

Moving

This step shifts the behavior of the organization, department, or individual to a new level. As for Initech Corporation they had brought in two men to help with cutting expenses by downsizing and outsourcing. The workers at Initech are then interviewed for the purposes of determining which employees are to be shown the door.

The relationship between an employer and employee or any situation in which one person is culturally perceived to be in a position of power or above another person are all examples of superior subordinate relationship. Initech was lacking the ability to empower and motivate the employees; it is always good to let the employees be a part of the planning or ideas of the business.

Refreeze

This step stabilizes the organization at a new state of equilibrium. In the case of Initech the relationship with the employees and the managerial team is very bad. They need to put in to place a training program so that they can be educated on the business aspect of making the employees happy and motivated. The leaders need to adjust their leadership styles so that their followers can perform in a given situation.

Leadership

What do we mean by Leadership?

Although he term leader and leadership are freely used in the literature as well as in everyday language, there is a great deal of misunderstanding of what we really mean by them. In layman's language, the leader is someone who is a little larger than life, one who draws people to him like a magnet by 'charisma'.

'Leadership is the exercise of authority and the making of decisions' (Dubin, 1951)

'Leadership is the initiation of acts that result in a consistent pattern of group interaction directed toward the solution of mutual problems' (Hemphill, 1954)

As we approach the infamous Y2K, there is a pronounced shift in the leadership demands confronting organizations, demands that are distinct from those of the '80s and '90s. Obviously these changes reflect shifts in the global economy, competition, and human resource needs. There are