Introduction
Ensuring the smooth operation of any business requires qualified and motivated employees in the work process. This task often falls on the shoulders of the manager, who exemplifies to subordinates how to achieve the enterprise’s desired result. Without motivation, any human action would have no meaning, as this indicator is an essential component of human activity in any aspect. The movie The Devil Wears Prada presents a motivational model that works effectively for employees who want to devote their entire lives to their chosen jobs. Miranda Priestley, the head of the fashion store, uses various cognitive theories of motivation to get her employees to do what she needs. The inspiration of intimidation in the event of failure to succeed encourages staff and is quite successful but short-term; however, motivation is essential in the workplace.
Discussion
To analyze motivational theories and models, an interesting case is the movie The Devil Wears Prada (2006, June 22). The story is about Miranda Priestley, the owner of the fashion store Runway in New York City, who dedicated her life to business, sacrificing her personal life. Miranda demands the same level of commitment from her employees, so she needs to motivate her employees and does so through intimidation. The problem of motivation permeates the movie’s entire plot and is an integral part of it, as it is on which the relationship between the chief and subordinates is built. The manager inspires his employees from the lowest to the highest level, and there is no difference in how the motivation will be used depending on the person’s qualifications. Miranda threatens the employee with dismissal if he makes the slightest mistake in his work, so each employee does everything possible and impossible to stay in office. This method of motivation is the most effective for the supervisor, and the staff really try to please her in every way, so the movie is such a way to inspire them to work.
Motivational Theories and Models in Movie
Analyzing the movie, one can pay attention to the presence of motivational theories that are most clearly reflected in the plot. In the case of the work The Devil Wears Prada, the task of determining a particular view is quite difficult. However, the movie mainly uses the category of cognitive and motivational theories. The essence is that an employee’s behavior is determined and shaped by the processing of information, and expectations of achievement of goals contribute to creating competitive behavior. The movie has a particular theory from this category called McClelland Theory. This idea asserts that a person acts according to the needs of achievement, belonging, and power that an employee can acquire directly during work (Baptista et al., 2021). This motivation is presented in the movie, as the goal of the employee is to achieve success, and everyone enters a personal race that should lead to the desired result. The proof from the movie is Miranda’s words that everyone wants to be in a staff position (Frankel, 2006). Such statements give importance to a person’s work, which feeds the motivation for success and the belief that this is everyone’s leading professional goal.
Finally, the success of motivation and its importance to a coherent work process still needs to be solved. Miranda’s method of inspiration is generally successful, but it works in the short term and on certain people. When paying attention to the example of the main heroine Andrea, one can notice that during the work girl begins to gradually forget about her personal life and entirely devote herself to work. In general, cognitive theories are characterized by the fact that the need to achieve goals has become paramount and most decisive in models such as McClelland’s Theory (Baptista et al., 2021). Miranda uses this method because she has given up everything that is not her career and has devoted her life to her business. However, sooner or later, an employee may face personal problems, the solution of which will put him out of a permanent race if the person is not ready to sacrifice everything for the sake of work. Nevertheless, motivation is essential for a person in the workplace, but it must be right without the goal of intimidating the worker and making him work more productively.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is essential to say that the movie The Devil Wears Prada is cult and instructive for man, and everyone can draw their own conclusions from it. The head of the company Miranda uses different methods of motivating his subordinates, but not all of them are genuinely effective workers. Staff members succumb to constant pressure from the chief, forcing them to work effectively under the threat of dismissal and failure. Essentially, the work uses cognitive categories of motivation: the employee’s expectations of the result should become his or her motivation for success. McClelland’s Theory, which clearly describes the situation in Miranda’s team, encourages employees to think that their primary needs are achievement and strength. Thus, the motivation in the movie is successful in the short term, but the working conditions are too harsh for most people, and they can give up and quit their jobs. Motivation is an essential component of the work process, but it should encourage the person to be cheerful and willing to work and should not be based on fear and the possibility of dismissal.
References
Baptista, J. A. D. A., Formigoni, A., Silva, S. A. da, Stettiner, C. F., & Novais, R. A. B. de. (2021). Analysis of the theory of acquired needs from McClelland as a means of work satisfaction. Timor Leste Journal of Business and Management, 3, 54–59. Web.
Frankel, D. (2006). The Devil Wears Prada. 20th Century Studios.