robots carrying out everyday task that would eliminate jobs is very futuristic

8/4/2019 Robots Carrying Out Everyday Task That Would Eliminate Jobs is Very Futuristic

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Futuristic Management is still in the Past


Jennifer Styers

Queens University of Charlotte


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Abstract

This paper will touch on Chapter four in Daniels, Papa and Spikers text book

Organizational Communication: Perspectives and Trends (2008), and the theory of Organization

Theory in comparison to the Disney movie Wall-E. This research will examine Scientific,

Classical and Transitional theories of management along with Human Resource development.

This paper will show how Wall-Eprovides examples for these topics and how they are beneficial

in the work place.


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Robots carrying out everyday task that would eliminate jobs is very futuristic, but it is

shown in Disneys movie Wall-E. If robots ruled the world completing our everyday task the use

of Organizational theories such scientific and classical management theories, and Human

Resource Development would be obsolete. Until that day however the movie can be used in

comparison to the management theories that have been in place since the early twentieth century,

these Scientific and Classical management theories can be seen throughout Disneys movie, and

how they affect the organization.

Wall-E (2008) is a lonely robot that was left on planet Earth to clean up the mess that

human beings had made, with his only friend a cockroach (who are said would make it through

nuclear war) by his side. Earth has been abandon by human life because of the mass amounts of

pollution and trash that has been disposed improperly. One day to his surprise a ship lands in his

area dropping of another robot named Eve who is looking for sustainable resources and life still

on earth. Wall-E and Eve befriend one another creating a robot romance, until Wall-E shows

Eve a plant that he had found before her arrival (Stanton, Wall-E, 2008)

After giving Eve the plant she shuts down and waits until her ship has returned to take

her back to the main ship. After the return of the ship Wall-E follows Eve into space where the

audience seess how humans are living today. The human have become lazy having everyday

jobs and task now being performed by robots instead of themselves, even simple things as

putting on makeup and steering the ship that they are on are all electronically done. Those these

task are being completed by robots we can still see how classical and scientific management

theories affect their every day task. After a whirl wind drama of the plant being taken by robots,

so humans would not return to earth, the ship is finally taken back over by the humans who now

plan to return to earth to start cleaning up the mess that had been made (Stanton, Wall-E, 2008).


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Classical and Scientific management theories according to Daniels, Papa, and Spiker

(2008) who are Scholars in the Communication field and Authors ofOrganizational

Communication: Perspectives and Trends were put into place by three people. Fredrick Taylor,

Henri Fayol and Max Weber, these three theorists each had their own ideas on how an

organization should be managed sufficiently to create the most productivity though different,

they all have similarities on what they think is best (Daniels, Papa, & Spiker, 2008).

The Research that Daniels, Papa and Spiker (2008) found, states that Fredrick Taylor

theory was mainly scientific. He believed that there was a best way to do the job to achieve

highest efficiency and that people should be assigned to a job scientifically. In his theory he also

believed that management should plan the work and the workers should follow the plan. To him

management could be in many different levels, a worker could report to one person for a task or

have multiple people that the needs to report to. Taylor stressed that if everyone could work

together then the organization could achieve high proficiency and profit (Daniels et al., 2008).

Henri Fayol also has his own theory on basic principles of Organizational Structure in

management. Daniels, Papa and Spiker (2008) introduce that Fayol believed that each worker

should only have one job, and that only authority has the right to give orders. Unlike Taylor

Fayol believed that for the highest efficiency workers should only receive orders from on

superior, but they had the same thoughts with the groups working together as a whole. Fayol also

thought that the interest of the organization was the most important, and that authority should

have clear lines of command. For a productive workplace he stated that a person should be

treated with kindness but that did not exclude sternness and forcefulness(Daniels et al., 2008).

Brunsson and Karin authors ofSome Effects of Fayolism(2008) suggest that Henri Fayols main

goal is that an organization be efficient, effective, and prosperous(Brusson, Karrin, 2008).


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Max Weber was one of the last theorists in the Scientific and Classical Theories of

Management, Webers theory was one that was bureaucratic, like Taylor and Fayol precision

was key and he wanted the highest proficiency in speed, certainty and continuity. Also like the

other theorist before him he also said that there needed to be clear lines of authority, jobs should

be designated by specialization, duties should be told to the employees, and there would be high

expectations for work performance (Daniels et al., 2008). Berdayes and Vicente show in their

article Traditional Management theory as Panoptic Discourse (2002) that Weber differed

because he believed that organizations should be machine like, and he thought all control

should be in managements hands (Berdayes, Vicente, 2002).

In the film Wall-E(2008) there are visible examples of each theory. All of the robots in

the movie have one task; each robot has a specific job that they carry out and that only. This is

visible when Eve shuts down after receiving the plant from Wall-E or Wall-Es job of cleaning

up the trash that is left on planet Earth. In Taylors Scientific Management theory he states that

employees could listen to one foreman or multiple foremen, in the film the robots have a

hierarchy inside themselves, some robots govern over others, but the head of the organization is

the captain. There is a lack of compliance in the organization when the robots hide the fact that

they have found natural plant life like they were told to hundreds of years ago of the old

President of the United States. When the Capitan orders them help him go back to Earth they

disobey, until the Capitan states that it is an order, showing that the robot has to listen to his

authority (Stanton, Wall-E, 2008).

The movie shows Fayols General Management theory by the robots job, like stated

before each robot had a specific job and task that it was to do, whether this be putting make up

on a human being, or cleaning up foreign contaminate each had a specific task. In Fayols theory


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he has a step according to Daniels, Papa and Spiker (2008) called Esprit de Corps, this means

Management should strive to promote a sense of unity, harmony and cohesion (Daniels et al.,

2008). The robots had great cohesion, though they all had different task they worked together,

when one was done cleaning the next robot would move in to do the next step of the process of

whatever was suppose to be happening (Stanton, Wall-E, 2008).

Wall-E(2008) could be more than Weber bargained for, if he wanted machine like then

Wall-Es organization is it. Though futuristic the organization in the film is showing what it

would be to be machine, the robots complete the same task day in and day out at high

proficiency levels, they do these jobs better than humans could do. The captain dose not even

steer the ship, he has a robot that is in the shape of a ships steering wheel to do that for him.

Weber also states in his theory that he wants every worker to have a job title; the robots are given

names cleverly in the movie such as Eve who finds plant life on Earth, and Ship for the steering

wheel (Stanton, Wall-E, 2008).

The one thing that these theorists did not care about was the emotions and feelings of the

workers, their relationships with one another and management. Mary Parker Follett was a

theorist who was a part of Transitional Theories. Daniels, Papa and Spiker introduce that Follett

thought that Human interaction had to reciprocal and that differences create creativity (Daniels

et al., 2008). Author Nancy Smith tell in her bookThe Collected Paper of Mary Parker Follett

(1994) that Mary Parker Follett believed that conflict was inevitable, she didnt believe that

domination nor compromise was the answer to conflict, that creativity was the only way (Smith,

1994).


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Folletts Transitional Theory sparked events such as Human Relations Movement and

Human Resource Development. Daniels, Papa and Spiker (2008) Talk about Human Resource

Development in their Chapter of Organizational Theory, they say Work is meaningful, workers

are motivated by mutually set goals, and workers should be self directed and that this will

increase efficiency and that management needs to create a successful environment. Within

Human Resource Development Maslows Need Hierarchy is included. This hierarchy states the

five needs that and organization and people need. There is a Physiological need for basic

requirements to sustain life such as food and oxygen, safety is needed for security and protection

from danger, there is a social need of love and affection along with acceptance. Esteem is need

for recognition and status and self- actualization is needed to realize ones full potential (Daniels

et al., 2008).

Management soon realized that using these needs and the practices of Human Resource

Development made their work place, a better place and motivated their workers to work harder

and fulfill their full potential. In Wall-E(2008) we see that the Robots do have feelings though

machines. Wall-E has been left on Earth for hundreds of years not having a companion other

than a cricket; he creates a close bond with Eve because she is the first person that he meets.

Also the robots who have feelings because, the cleaning robot gets frustrated that there is so

much to clean when Wall-E comes on board. Also the group of misfit robots who have been

recalled, were angry at the authority because they were not able to perform a task, though they

were able to work together in a time of need (Stanton, Wall-E, 2008).

To think of an organization to be machine like seems to be outdated, and wrong, that

there couldnt be a way that these practices are still happening today. However they are, there are

still many organizations that use Scientific and Classical Management theories though outdated


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there are still parts of the theories that are beneficial in the work place. Having workers do one

task that they are good at can be efficient for the company, however if the worker does not get

variety in the work, work will become boring and dull for the employee. One profession that still

does base itself off of Scientific and Classical management theories is the field of accounting.

Authors Lee Parker and Neil Lewis Talk about the relevance of Classical management in the

realm of accounting in their article Classical Management Control in Contemporary

Management and Accounting (1995). They talk about how accounts run like machines in their

every day task having to repeat many of their steps in work and how Scientific control creates

the best efficiency (Lewis, Parker, 1995)

Most organizations use Human Resource Development to their advantage, and is required

in many offices having a Human Resource department. Today management has to be careful

with the conditions that the employees are working in and the way they have been treated. When

the theories of Classical and Scientific Management were put out, they relevant for that time

because of the mass amounts of factory jobs and industrial work, at that time the thought was the

quicker the better. Now organizations know that quality of the work and quality of the employee

is key and it is something that organizations strive for.

Wall-Eis a great example of we dont want the world to be or our organization, for

human beings cant be machine like; it cant happen because of feelings emotions and

communication that needs to happen. For a successful organization and work place, the needs of

the workers need to be met, and communication needs to be able to flow through the

organization. With the help of Transitional theories and Human Resource Development this has

been made possible.


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References

Berdayes & Vicente. (2002). Traditional Management Theory as Panoptic Discourse: Language

and the Constitution of Somatic Flows. Culture and Organization, 8, 35-49.

Brunsson & Karin. (2008) Some Effects of Fayolism. International Studies of Management and

Organization, 38, 30-47.

Daniels, T. D., Papa, M. J., Spiker, B. K. (2008) Organizational Communication: Perspectives

and Trends. United States of America: Sage Publications, Inc.

Lewis, N. & Parker, L. (1995) Classical Management control in contemporary management and

accounting: the persistence of Taylor and Fayols world.Accounting, Business and Financial

History, 5, 211-236.

Smith, N. J., (1994) Dynamic Administration: The Collected Paper of Mary Parker Follett.

Educational Studies, 25, 199.

Stanton, A. (Producer/ Director). (27 June 2008). Wall-E. United States: Pixar.

robots carrying out everyday task that would eliminate jobs is very futuristic

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