Katrena Uelese - Office Space Response

After watching the film “Office Space” I asked myself this question, if the company had paid more attention to their employees and the messages they communicated, would the end result have been so tragic?

There were two characters that aroused my attention the most, the boss, Bill Lumburgh, and the employee that stutters, Milton Waddams. Mr. Lumburgh did not pay attention to his employees and the way he communicated with them was the source of many problems. He often ignored the employees while they tried to speak, and also repeated himself to get his mind spoken. In the beginning we see how he hassles Peter about the ‘memo’ and shows no empathy for his mistake. This relates to chapter 2 and the term empathic conversation. He was not able to understand the position of Peter, and how Peter could have mistakenly done the reports wrong. Mr. Lumburgh also ignores everything Milton tries to communicate to him. Although Milton has trouble speaking his mind, as chapter 2 discusses strategic ambiguity, trying to communicate a message but it comes across unclear. Milton mentions if they take his stapler he will burn the office down. This message was not said loud and clear, but it was said and the manager opted to ignore this form of communication. Chapter 3 discusses the hierarchy at an organization, and this film definitely displays examples. Mr. Lumburgh walks around the office, never productively working, but supervising and constantly making sure he is superior to others. When the consultants come to the office to evaluate every employee they have an interesting view on Peter. They interpret Peters feelings about the office has Mr. Lumburgh’s problem of not challenging Peter. Overall, this film had several great examples of organization communication and the terms illustrated in chapters 2 and 3.