Office Space, Chapters 2 and 3 and my Driving Forces

Office Space


Peter-The thing is, Bob, it's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care.
Bob - Don't... don't care?
Peter - It's a problem of motivation, all right? Now if I work my ass off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don't see another dime; so where's the motivation? And here's something else, Bob: I have eight different bosses right now.
Bob- I beg your pardon?
Peter - Eight bosses.
Bob - Eight?
Peter - Eight, Bob. So that means that when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled; that, and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired.

I think that this shows that these employees feel that they do not have any power, who has eight bosses? I understand that there is hierarchy in the workplace but for eight people to be your 'go to', that would make me feel confused and intimidated. So what happens when employees feel that they have no power and go through their day feeling intimidated?

The concept I found to use with this quote/scenario is 'communication as information transfer'. Peter clearly wants to fly by in his office unnoticed and not to e reprimanded by his eight bosses and to work just hard enough to not get fired. This is a form of miscommunication between him and his eight bosses. Cleary he does not want to hear it when he makes a mistake from eight people, because it will get annoying and eight people vs. is a little intimidating, therefore no or few messages are being sent/received with Peter and his bosses.


Chapter Two Comments

In chapter two I found the concept of communication as transactional process the most interesting. This concept looks at the way messages are sent and received, what each person is actually encoding and decoding, how the message is sent and how important the feedback of that message is. Many factors can be a part of how a sent message is received, including non-verbal communication, not what you say but how you say it (we have all heard this many times from our parents I'm sure!). This concept can be used in any conversation and I think it goes well with our movie, Office Space, in the aspect of leadership (the eight bosses and the one employee). When you are in a leadership position you can mold your followers to learn what and how you are sending your messages. This concept also fits in well with the parent-child relationship and the intimate relationship too. We are all in some kind of relationship and whether you think about it when you're doing it or not, you are sending and receiving messages all the time and some of the time your messages may be contaminated by your non-verbal communication, causing your message to be received the opposite of what you had originally intended.



Chapter Three Comments

In this chapter I found the resistance to domination concept the most interesting. This concept explains the resistance of dominance by those who feel powerless to those in charge (i.e. you and your boss). The resistance can be in any form but the main point is that a person(s) is trying to loosen the tie that restricts them in a less powerful position.

Driving Forces

Critical Uncertainty: My driving force is global warming. What can and will we do, and what will happen? More and more people are driving/commuting, although that environmentally safe car has been introduced and is available to the general public, more can and needs to be done, not just better cars. We are hurting out environment everyday. We have to move farther away from where we work and go to school because homes are more expensive everyday, we have to commute everywhere. Public transportation is always an option yes, but it is not very convenient, what will we do?

Predetermined Element: My driving force is electronic communication devices (cell phones, lap tops, wireless internet, internet in your phone and so on). This is something that we know we can see in the immediate and far future, it is something that will only get better. As we go on we seem to realize that we do need these things, whether we want to admit it or not. Would you leave the house without a cell phone? I wouldn't, what is you need roadside assistance or have an emergency? Whether we like it or not, electronic communication devices are something that we need and we will continure to need.